Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #13290 in DVD
• Released on: 2005-08-01
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Dubbed, PAL
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: Arabic, Dutch, English, French, German, Greek, Hindi, Hungarian, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Turkish
• Dubbed in: French, German, Italian, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 121 minutes

Amazon.com
Even a genre film looks different in the hands of writer-director John Cassavetes. In Gloria, he casts a wonderfully hard-boiled Gena Rowlands as the title character: a former Mob moll who picked up a few tricks along the way. She becomes the unexpected guardian of a young boy (John Adames) who has just seen his parents wiped out. Worse, the Mob is after him as well, seeking a book he has--and the overdue fine is a killer. Though Cassavetes lets his actors have a little too much rein, it pays off in the complex--and surprisingly funny--performance by Rowlands as an unlikely nanny who discovers that, though she is an unwilling bodyguard, she actually learns to care for the tough little guy she's trying to keep out of harm's way. --Marshall Fine

Synopsis
A former mistress to a mobster, Gloria is asked to look after Philip, the son of her neighbours. When they are killed, the arrangement seems to be a permanent one, and when she discovers that Philip possesses a diary which details Mafia activities, Gloria must fight to protect his life...

Customer Reviews

One of the very best in the Gangster genre.
Gloria remains one of director John Cassavetes most accessable films. It is also his most commercially successful, being one of 1980's biggest hits at the Box Office.
Cassavates cast his wife, Gena Rowlands in the title role of a former Mafiosa Moll trying to get on with a life, in a post Mob existence. This, however, is turned upside down when she finds herself with a six year old boy whose family has just been wiped out by the very Mob with whom she used to consort. Realising the magnitude of the situation, she cynically first of all tries to get rid of the lad but later forms a maternal bond with him. Both go on the run together, in a desperate struggle to survive and flee the city. Before long, the Mob have despatched their hitmen. However, and unfortunately for the Mob, Gloria definitely ain't a lady for the burning, and instead is a very tough individual who uses her streetwise knowledge and considerable skill with a firearm to terrible effect. Soon a trail of Mob bodies begins to pile up as various gangsters lethally underestimate Gloria, in their attempts to snatch the boy....
Rowlands is simply superb in the role, and at times strides across the screen like a female Bogart. Her wardrobe complements this, and the overall effect is that of a tigress protecting its young. This is underlined by one scene where she guns down a hitman and retrieving his pistol, snarls contemptuously "Huh, he had to use a Magnum on me!"

The music by Bill Conti is superb and sax riffs have seldom sounded so good as in this film. Ultimately this is a bleak film to watch, colour is very subdued and the atmosphere is raw and gritty. The ending is very ambiguous and Cassavates has pretty much left it up to the viewer to interpret what is actually happening.
This is a truly great film though and I recommend it unreservedly.

AT LAST !!!!!
At last this raw gritty movie is on DVD.I have the VHS version,and quality is not that great.

Gena Rowlands is superb.She acts and looks like a woman that's had a tough life,but yet retains the glamour of the old hollywood movie stars.

The film looks like it has been shot low budget, with a suberb saxaphone soundtrack which all adds perfectly to the atmosphere.

The re-make with Ms Sharon Stone has a gloss coating,but seems cheap,nasty,and is unnessaryly foul mouthed.It certainly falls short of this original(Not that I've anything against Ms Stone)

The DVD at last,but if you get chance to see it again on the big screen,it's worth it! Enjoy.

Craig

silly movie, no idea
Very bad movie. Starting with a story and finishing with another one without finishing the story? You can't understand why a whole family been killed for a cd? what does the cd contain?...

agian, it is very bad...avoid