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Addis-Wechsler Productions

Avenue Pictures

Fine-Line Productions

Spelling Entertainment

Not part of a collection.

The Player

Name: The Player
Released: 1992-05-08T00:00:00.000000Z
Rating: 7.2

Now More Than Ever!

1992 • 124 min • ★ 7.2 (971) • Released

Comedy Crime Drama Mystery Thriller

A Hollywood studio executive is being sent death threats by a writer whose script he rejected - but which one?

IMDb ↗

Original title: The Player
Language: EN
Country: US
Budget: $8,000,000
Revenue: $21,706,101

Reviews & Ratings 2

CinemaSerf

Mar 5, 2025 · via TMDB

★ 7.0

It’s the job of “Griffin” (Tim Robbins) to secure good storylines for his Hollywood studio and he’s good at filtering out the wheat from the chaff. The thing is, though, he’s getting on a bit and there are rumours abounding that he is on his way out. When “Levy” (Peter Gallagher) arrives from an erstwhile competitor, the writing looks more like it’s on the wall than on the page. He’s also been having some difficulties with a mysterious stalker whom he’s spurned, professionally, at some stage and who is now bombarding him with threatening postcards. Finally, there’s his more off than on relationship of convenience with “Bonnie” (Cynthia Stevenson) to which he is surprisingly indifferent. Under pressure and under siege, his tormentor starts to get under his skin so he determines to get to the bottom of that whilst cleverly manoeuvring his new rival into a cul-de-sac that can only end one way! What now ensues sees a plethora of genuine stars pepper a film that allows Robbins to show us a character that’s shrewd, ruthless and charmingly shallow whilst at the same time not averse to taking drastic measures. It’s those that attract the attentions of tenacious detective “Avery” (Whooping Goldberg) who has a dead body, nobody to pin it on and is curious about the burgeoning relationship between the girlfriend of the deceased (Greta Scacchi) and this outwardly brash and smarmy film executive. This has all the ingredients of a comedy thriller with loads of glamour, a good deal of pithy dialogue and it sends up the Hollywood mentality satirically and plausibly. Robbins is in his element and exudes a sort of selfish obnoxiousness that’s actually quite likeable as he treads on the eggshells of a fickle and unforgiving business. It packs a lot of story into two hours, raises a smile and an heckle in equal measure and is probably Robbins’s best performance to date.

Filipe Manuel Neto

Jun 9, 2024 · via TMDB

★ 10.0

**A remarkable work.** This is one of those films that I decided to watch without having a clear idea of what I was going to find. I know that there are many people who like to know, read and even watch the trailers to decide what to watch, and I also do this moderately, but one of the sensations I like most in the cinematic experience is surprise, that feeling of pleasure, difficult to describe, that happens when a film pleases us and surprises us. Of course, the opposite could happen, the surprise could be bad, and the film could be magnificent rubbish. It happens! But I think you understand me... Robert Altmann is not a director I know much about. As far as I remember, I've only seen one film of his, “Shortcuts”, and I wasn't particularly impressed. However, I think any director has their ups and downs, and you can't categorize anyone for just one film or two. In this film, Altmann surprises in a positive way, with very careful direction and an attention to detail that I was very pleased with. The cinematography is good, the editing is very well done, and the rhythm is quite pleasant, with no dead moments. The opening scene is a true cinematic masterclass, with almost ten minutes without cuts and lots of camera movement. And throughout the film, the feeling that prevails is that we are led to peek, in secret, into a story that no one wants to be known. The script fits perfectly into this feeling of secrecy, taking us behind the scenes of the film industry through the hands of an arrogant and obnoxious producer who finds himself the target of anonymous death threats. He decides to question the person he suspects of, a screenwriter he ignored for many months, and ends up killing him. From then on, viewers are invited to follow him in his attempts to hide everything, along with the studio he works for, which has little interest in scandals. This is, obviously, a punch in the stomach of the Hollywood industry, where there is no shortage of unscrupulous, arrogant, pedantic, obnoxious people, willing to do anything for ambition, and where the moral conduct of the studios has not always been the most immaculate, preferring to ignore and /or hush up compromising situations whenever possible. With these characteristics, the film had everything to cause hives in many people within the industry. However, it did surprisingly well, garnered a lot of praise, a good box office and was nominated for three Oscars, continuing to be, even today, a film that is regularly shown on TV channels specializing in films. If the technical quality and the intelligent and scathing story are fundamental, the cast also contributed with the union of talents of several renowned actors. Tim Robbins leaves us with one of his most notable works as an actor, with a consistent and impactful acting, and is elegantly accompanied by Greta Scacchi who, in addition to resisting the idiotic idea of appearing naked for no reason, knew how to interpret her character in a deep and controversial. In addition to them, the film also features good performances by Pater Gallagher and Whoopi Goldberg in minor characters, and with a veritable rain of cameos and brief appearances by actors, screenwriters and others, playing themselves, with many of them agreeing to donate the salary for that single day of filming for a social project at the time. The procession of notables is almost endless, making this film perhaps the American film with the most cameos and guest stars in the history of commercial cinema.

User reviews courtesy of TMDB.

Keywords 13

appreciative baffled based on novel or book blackmail death threat harsh hollywood homicide movie business movie mogul movie studio screenwriter studio executive

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Cast 92

Tim Robbins

Griffin Mill

Greta Scacchi

June Gudmundsdottir

Fred Ward

Walter Stuckel

Whoopi Goldberg

Detective Avery

Peter Gallagher

Larry Levy

Brion James

Joel Levison

Cynthia Stevenson

Bonnie Sherow

Vincent D'Onofrio

David Kahane

Dean Stockwell

Andy Civella

Richard E. Grant

Tom Oakley

Sydney Pollack

Dick Mellen

Lyle Lovett

Detective DeLongpre

Dina Merrill

Celia

Angela Hall

Jan

Leah Ayres

Sandy

Paul Hewitt

Jimmy Chase

Randall Batinkoff

Reg Goldman

Jeremy Piven

Steve Reeves

Gina Gershon

Whitney Gersh

Kevin Scannell

Gar Girard

Brian Brophy

Phil

Michael Tolkin

Eric Schecter

Stephen Tolkin

Carl Schecter

Peter Koch

Walter

Pamela Bowen

Trixie

Jeff Celentano

Rocco

Steve Allen

Richard Anderson

René Auberjonois

Harry Belafonte

Shari Belafonte

Karen Black

Michael Bowen

Gary Busey

Robert Carradine

Cher

James Coburn

Cathy Lee Crosby

John Cusack

Brad Davis

Paul Dooley

Peter Falk

Felicia Farr

Katarzyna Figura

Kasia Figura

Louise Fletcher

Dennis Franz

Teri Garr

Leeza Gibbons

Scott Glenn

Jeff Goldblum

Elliott Gould

Joel Grey

David Alan Grier

Buck Henry

Anjelica Huston

Kathy Ireland

Steve James

Sally Kellerman

Sally Kirkland

Jack Lemmon

Marlee Matlin

Andie MacDowell

Malcolm McDowell

Jayne Meadows

Martin Mull

Nick Nolte

Alexandra Powers

Bert Remsen

Bert Ramsen

Patricia Resnick

Burt Reynolds

Jack Riley

Julia Roberts

Mimi Rogers

Annie Ross

Alan Rudolph

Jill St. John

Susan Sarandon

Adam Simon

Rod Steiger

Joan Tewkesbury

Brian Tochi

Lily Tomlin

Robert Wagner

Ray Walston

Bruce Willis

Marvin Young

Ned Bellamy

Aaron Camp (uncredited)

Ted Hartley

Party Guest (uncredited)

Ritchie Montgomery

Ritchie Montgomery (uncredited)

Scott Shaw

Scott Shaw (uncredited)

Patrick Swayze

Patrick Swayze (uncredited)

Marina Zenovich

Studio Executive (uncredited)

Crew 13

Dan Perri

Title Designer

Robert Altman

Director

Allan F. Nicholls

First Assistant Director

Maysie Hoy

Editor

Cary Brokaw

Executive Producer

David Brown

Producer

Michael Tolkin

Producer

Nick Wechsler

Producer

David Jobe

Foley Recordist

Thomas Newman

Original Music Composer

John Pritchett

Production Sound Mixer

Michael Tolkin

Novel

Michael Tolkin

Screenplay

Gallery

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US Release Dates 2

Apr 3, 1992

Cleveland International Film Festival

Premiere

May 8, 1992

R Theatrical