Source: Some information on this page may have been sourced as part of the 2023 Wikimedia Australia Partnership Projects grant, with the purpose of improving and expanding the use of Wikidata on our website. Wikidata is a free and open knowledge base that can be read and edited by both humans and machines. Read more about this project here.
Set in a bleak north-east American beach town, this nihilistic drama circulates around Luane, the bedridden town gossip, who manipulates members of the down-and-out community with her vicious rumour-mongering. Her machinations drive her victims to increasingly desperate acts that cumulate in a final showdown. While the world Greenwald reveals is relentlessly bleak, her portrayal of human sleaze and savagery is achieved by subtle means. She injects Thompson’s novel with a wry black humour and a hint of the surreal.
Content notification
Our collection comprises over 40,000 moving image works, acquired and catalogued between the 1940s and early 2000s. As a result, some items may reflect outdated, offensive and possibly harmful views and opinions. ACMI is working to identify and redress such usages.
Learn more about our collection and our collection policy here. If you come across harmful content on our website that you would like to report, let us know.
How to watch
Collection
In ACMI's collection
Credits
Collection metadata
ACMI Identifier
309455
Language
English
Audience classification
MA
Subject categories
Crime, Espionage, Justice, Police & Prisons → Crime
Family, Gender Identity, Relationships & Sexuality → Manipulative behavior
Feature films → Feature films - United States
Food, Health, Lifestyle, Medicine, Psychology & Safety → Manipulative behavior
Literature → American literature - Film and video adaptations
Sound/audio
Sound
Colour
Colour
Holdings
VHS; Access Print (Section 1)