Customer Reviews

Gloria

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

Movies which are remakes, such as Gloria, can make things difficult for yours truly. My first instinct is to compare them to the original. Then I realize that, more often than not, most of my readers haven't seen the original, unless it's famous, like Psycho or The Mummy. The situation is akin to that tag-line at the start of all movies on video these days. That's the one that tells you the movie has been formatted to fit this [TV] screen. What that means is that about a third of the movie image has been chopped off. Yet, if you didn't see the film in a theater, you don't miss what you never saw.

For the record, the original Gloria came out in 1980. It was a small independent film by John Cassevetes starring his wife, Gena Rowlands. I recall it's being a tight, first rate thriller about a gangster's girlfriend's one chance of doing good. The role was tailored for Rowlands, and her performance alone is well worth seeing the movie, if you can find it. My other memory of it is that it was shockingly violent for its time.

The new version of Gloria is fairly faithful to the original plot. Gloria, this time played by the underrated Sharon Stone, has just gotten out of prison, where she has served three years to save the skin of her gangster boyfriend, Frank [Jeremy Northam]. During her stay in the slammer, she's had a lot of time to think. She thinks, for instance, about how Frank never once visited her. She goes to Frank and tells him that the relationship is over and that all she wants is the large sum of money he promised her for taking the rap for him. He refuses to give it to her.

Meanwhile, the gang's accountant has tried to give himself some protection by creating a computer disk which has the names of all those involved in the outfit's criminal activities. The plan backfires, and, in trying to get the disk, one of Frank's trigger happy henchmen kills the accountant, as well as his wife, mother and daughter. Only his eight-year old son Nicky [Jean-Luke Figueroa] escapes, but is quickly caught and brought to Frank's apartment. It is there that Gloria and Nicky's paths cross. Gloria must decide whether or not to risk her life in order to save the boy.

Gloria was directed by Sidney Lumet, whose credits include Serpico, Dog Day Afternoon and Murder on the Orient Express. This sophisticated New Yorker here fails to deliver a superior film. The photography of the New York locales is superb, and Howard Shore delivers a great music score. Gloria is one of the screen's most memorable characters and certainly one of its most unlikely heroines. She is streetwise, tough, shrewd and very self-centered. Doing the right thing does not come naturally to her. Sharon Stone undoubtedly could have given a performance equal to Gena Rowland's, if only the movie had stayed more focused on her. This new version is also hampered by a couple of plot holes, each bigger than the one that sank the Titanic. Still, assuming you have not seen the original, this should be fairly decent escapist entertainment.

In a comment on our times, the violence in the new version is much more graphic, yet by modern standards, it's fairly tame.

Sharon Stone has proven that she is capable of handling any acting role! But it is up to us to go with what ever character type we like most. Here we see her as a caring woman after she gets cheated by her gang and rescues a child to whom she became a mother figure!

The element of suspense is there. The element of sweet unique drama is there and the satisfaction shall be there too if you can accept Stone in this new mold..

PS The point that we are not used to see Sharon Stone in such a role... doesn't mean we can't accept her out of the sexy manipulative character as in Basic Instinct or Diabolique!

I advise you to rent at least! It's worth it.

I have read the other reviews on this rendition of "Gloria", and I believe every one of those ranks the Gena Rowlands original as the better production. I disagree. I much preferred the Sharon Stone version. I rented both versions and saw the Gena Rowlands version first. The next night a saw the Sharon Stone version. I much preferred the Sharon Stone version, and I placed an order to buy a copy tonight.

The language is more poignant in the Stone version, and some people may be turned off by this. But I see this as being typical of the type of characters being portrayed. Remember, Gloria has just served 3 years in prison for a crime she did not commit. Then her boy friend would not give her the money he promised for taking the rap. The language is similar to that being heard today on the Soprano series.

The original version was good, the remake is better. Photography is better - I loved the car chase scene.

This is an enjoyable suspenseful film to watch.

Gloria, Gloria, Gloria! What can I say. It is an outstanding film, with top of the line preformances by the whole cast, especialy Sharon Stone. This is her best work since Antz! A real tearjerker. And now the best part of the whole film..... The music! This lovely line up of music shows that "the little thing's" don't matter. You must save a special place in your heart for Gloria!

Sharon Stone and Jeremy Northam are outstanding in this movie. Their performance is absolutely fantastic. Not only does Sharon take on Jeremy but also finds the courage within herself to rescue a little boy who finds out that both of his parents were killed.

Okay, so Sharon Stone isn't Gena Rowlands, but hey she never pretended to be and her rendition of gangster's moll Gloria is a pretty good 1999 remake with a few changes that help rather than hinder the plot. I have to admit that the original film is still my favourite but I still think this is worth watching.

Sharon Stone gives a cracking performance as a tart with heart when she takes on a child orphaned by the mafia and sets about saving his life and her own. This is an up-to-date Gloria with little Nicky clutching a computer disc rather than a book of names that could bring Gloria's ex-friends crashing down from their villainous thrones. Unlike Gena Rowlands version, Sharon Stone's version of the film is not so overtly violent, relying instead on short bouts of brutality that doesn't leave too many people dead and dying in the gutter. There are also some memorable moments, most of them containing Stone wearing the most outrageous outfits I have ever seen on a woman! Her black dress in the opening jail scene is a cracker, she looks like Liz Hurley at the Oscars, only better looking, and her choice of clothes to take little Nicky to Catholic School, played by newcomer Jean-Luke Figueroa makes you laugh out loud. What on earth will the Nuns make of this brassy young thing???? I mean a skirt so short it makes your eyes water and those shoes, how on earth did she walk in them?

All in all Sharon Stone gives a gutsy performance, and so does her little co-star Nicky, dodging bullets, gangsters and crooked cops as they struggled to stay alive, relying always on Stone's survival instinct and biting humour. The film isn't as fast paced as the Gena Rowlands version but it is entertaining enough and it has times when it is touching and thought provoking. The wonderful George C Scott is excellent as the mobster Ruby who has a soft spot for Gloria, and it is through him that Gloria and Nicky find a form of salvation and safety.

Worth watching as long as you don't compare it too closely with the Gena Rowlands version. I enjoyed it anyway.

I remember seeing this movie when it first came out and thought it was great. Viewing it again, I can see it doesn't stand the test of time as well as I thought it would. Leggy Sharon Stone plays a mobster's girl who gets out of prison after 3 years, taking the rap for her boyfriend. Meanwhile members of this mob murder a Latino family who has crossed them, except for an asthmatic, unlikable, seven year old boy who left via the fire escape (Why the rest of the family didn't go, I don't know.) The mob catches the boy outside and takes him to "head quarters" an apartment that once belonged to Gloria.

Gloria shows up back at the apartment and the money promised to her for taking the rap isn't there. She leaves, and in an unlikely scene, takes the boy with her who grabs a floppy disc (remember those?) of all the mob connections. The mob hunts them down as she looks for a way for the two of them to survive because catching a plane out of there to buy time hasn't occurred to her. Stone's street-wise accent wasn't that great. George C. Scott as a godfather? If you have never seen this movie, it might be worth a peek if it comes on TV especially if 80's women in split skirts is your thing.

It is what it is another Sharon Stone classic. I really like Gena Rowlands as an actress however, I think Sharon Stone did a better job at portraying Gloria. I really like the part when she comes home after being released from jail and the scene with her boyfriend & his goons in the Apartment. She acts & talks just like a tough moll gal from New York. I love this movie, that's why I bought it to add to my collections of DVD's so I can watch it over & over when ever I want. Sharon Stone is not given the credit she deserves for this movie. Sharon Stone is one classy woman.

I thought everything about this was excellent. I found it to be extremely touching at a deep level. I'm not really sure what movie the people who reviewed this negatively watched. I thought that Sharon Stone's performance in this was outstanding. The screenplay & characters were written with extreme sensitivity & realness. By and large they weren't meant to be sympathetic. That's what makes this special. A beautiful film.

Totally unrealistic and Sharon Stone really shouldn't have accepted this role.Her acting was fine but in my opinion, not her type of character.