The Usual Suspects

Year:

1995

Duration:

106 min

Genres:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

IMDB rate:

8.7

Director:

Bryan Singer

Awards:

Won 2 Oscars. Another 31 wins & 8 nominations

Details

Country: USA

Release Date: 1995-09-15

Filming Locations: Los Angeles, California, USA

Earnings

Budget: $6,000,000

Opening Weekend: $645,363 (USA) (20 August 1995)

Gross: $1,120,000 (USA) (20 August 1995)

Cast

Actor

Character

Dan Hedaya

The Usual Suspects

Stephen Baldwin

McManus

Gabriel Byrne

Keaton

Benicio Del Toro

Fenster

Kevin Pollak

Hockney

Kevin Spacey

Verbal

Chazz Palminteri

Dave Kujan

Pete Postlethwaite

Kobayashi

Suzy Amis

Edie Finneran

Giancarlo Esposito

Jack Baer

Paul Bartel

Smuggler

Carl Bressler

Saul Berg

Phillipe Simon

Fortier

Jack Shearer

Renault

Christine Estabrook

Dr. Plummer

Clark Gregg

Dr. Walters

Morgan Hunter

Arkosh Kovash

Ken Daly

Translator

Michelle Clunie

Sketch Artist

Louis Lombardi

Strausz

Frank Medrano

Rizzi

Ron Gilbert

Daniel Metzheiser

Vito D'Ambrosio

Arresting Officer

Gene Lythgow

Cop on Pier

Bob Elmore

Bodyguard #1

David Powledge

Bodyguard #2

Bob Pennetta

Bodyguard #3

Billy Bates

Bodyguard #4 (as Bill Bates)

Smadar Hanson

Keyser's Wife

Castulo Guerra

Arturro Marquez

Peter Rocca

Arturro's Bodyguard

Bert Williams

Old Cop

Jaime H. Campos

Police Officer (uncredited)

John Gillespie

(uncredited)

Johnathan Gorman

Office Worker (uncredited)

Peter Greene

Redfoot the Fence

Michael McKay

Cop in Hallway (uncredited)

Christopher McQuarrie

Interrogation Cop

Scott B. Morgan

Keyser Söze (in flashback)

Mike Nyman

N.Y. Uniform Cop (uncredited)

Grace Sinden

Nurse (uncredited)

Did you know?

Trivia

The order that the personal packages are given to everyone in the pool room is the same order in which the characters die.

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During the bedside interrogation of the Hungarian survivor of the fire, the interpreter mistranslates a key word. The Hungarian uses the word "pasas" (pronounced "pash-aash") which the interpreter (who speaks Hungarian with a strong American accent and is therefore not native) translated as "we were picking up a 'package'". "Pasas" is actually Hungarian slang for a "guy". Only another Hungarian could have picked up on it, and as a result, no one in the movie did, hence the police's investigation of the non-existent cocaine delivery as the motive for the fire, which allowed Verbal the time he needed to go free.

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In the commentary track, it is mentioned that Benicio Del Toro chose to make Fenster's dialogue unintelligible because Fenster's only real purpose was to die as an example to the other characters, "so it doesn't matter what he says". Kevin Pollak jokingly laments that Del Toro is such a skilled actor that he took what was meant to be nothing but a throw-away character and "stole every scene he was in!"

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Goofs

The robbery of New York's Finest Taxi service is a 5-man job, done with four vans, two of which have passengers not in the driver's seat. The van in front is driven by Keaton with Verbal holding the gun when the back door opens. The van behind rear-ends the car and gunmen hold guns on the cops from the driver's side of the van on the right and the passenger side of the van on the left. Who is driving the van on the left? Three guys (Fenster, McManus, Hockney) are doing four jobs (driver rear, driver left, passenger left, driver right).

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During the line-up scene, as the suspects enter the line-up booth, a microphone can be seen above Hockney's position. This is a standard feature of police line-up booths. (In some releases of the movie this is not visible because the scene has been cropped vertically to change its aspect ratio.)

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In the first hospital scene, the Hungarian's face is burned, but his right eyebrow isn't even scorched.

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Quotes

Fenster: Man, I had a finger up my asshole tonight.

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Hockney: [Sarcastically as a plethora of cops come in to arrest him] Sre you sure you brought enough guys?

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Verbal: [last line of the film] And like that... he's gone.

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Faq

Q

Any recommendations for movies similar to "The Usual Suspects?"

A

Several people have noted that The Usual Suspects reminds them of Basic (2003), about the murder investigation of a hated Army Ranger sergeant and several of his Special Forces on what appears, at first, to have been a routine training exercise during a hurricane in the jungles of Panama. Another movie said to be like The Usual Suspects is Memento (2000), in which a man suffering from short-term memory loss hunts for the killer of his wife. Also, there is Frailty (2001), in which a young man believes that his brother may be the serial killer who calls himself "God's Hands." Other murder mysteries with plenty of twists include, for starters, Identity (2003), The Big Sleep (1946), Mystic River (2003), Primal Fear (1996), Witness for the Prosecution (1957), Se7en (1995), A Soldier's Story (1984), and The Game (1997).

Q

Where does the title come from?

A

The title comes from a line in the classic film Casablanca (1942), where the corrupt police chief, anxious to cover up the murder of a Nazi officer, tells a subordinate to "round up the usual suspects," meaning that the police should find a bunch of random criminals to be questioned. In the film, the criminals are rounded up without any evidence specifically pointing to them. The police are hoping to randomly get one of them to confess. Thus, they are the "usual suspects." because they have been convicted of crimes that relate to the one for which they have previously been arrested.

Q

Is this movie based on a book?

A

American film-maker Christopher McQuarrie wrote the screenplay for The Usual Suspects.

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