| | | The Criterion Collection.
Features: DVD
Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and screenwriter David Mamet first sat in the director's chair for this sly, merciless thriller, one of the most original and acclaimed films of the eighties. Mamet's witty tale of a therapist and best-selling author (Lindsay Crouse) who must confront her own obsessions when she meets an attractive cardsharp (Joe Mantegna) is as psychologically acute as it is full of twists and turns, a rich character study told with the cold calculation of a career criminal.
"...a deadpan, deviously comic melodrama..." Emanuel Levy, EmanuelLevy.com
"A top-notch psychological thriller about sexual politics, trust and betrayal." Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spirituality and Practice
"Mamet's directorial debut is a cardsharp con game full of tricks." James Rocchi, NetFlix
Editor's Note
David Mamet's directorial debut finds him exploring his abiding interest in deception and inviting his audience to be prepared for endless twists and turns. The film is a character study of Dr. Margaret Ford (Lindsay Crouse), a psychiatrist and best-selling author specializing in addictive behavior. During a therapy session, she discovers that a patient owes a $25,000 gambling debt. When she becomes involved on her patient's behalf, she enters an underworld populated with fascinating characters. Dr. Ford is both strong and vulnerable, and Crouse exploits this ambiguity in a powerful central performance. Joe Mantegna is also a presence as underworld denizen Mike. The strong overall acting and well-crafted plot pleased critics and proved to be at the heart of Mamet's future filmmaking successes.
| Features | David Mamet On House Of Games: A Short Doc Shot On Location | | A Booklet Featuring An Essay By Critic Kent Jones & Excerpts From Mamet's Introduction To The Published Screenplay | | Audio Commentary By Director David Mamet & Consultant & Actor Ricky Jay | | Audio: English Dolby Digital Mono | | Interactive Menus | | New Video Interviews With Actors Lindsay Crouse & Joe Mantegna | | New, Restored High-Def Digital Transfer, Supervised By DP Juan Ruiz Anchia | | Original Theatrical Trailer | | Scene Selection | | Storyboard Detail From The Deleted Scene "The Tap" |
| Entertainment Reviews
 | House of Games - DVD Review By: Christopher Null - filmcritic.com DVD Reviews Published on: 8/10/2007 9:26 PM | |
"A sucker born every minute, huh?" "And two to take him!" So goes one of the greatest exchanges between con-man (Mantegna) and conned-woman (Crouse) in David Mamet's directorial debut, ten years ago. It might be you that plays the sucker, though (and I mean that in a good way), after indulging in Mamet's triple-crossed tale of "dinosaur con-men" having their proverbial way with a hapless (and wealthy) psychotherapist. Mamet's signature staccato dialogue is nailed to perfection, especially by Mantegna, in the performance that put him on the map....read the full review |
| Technical Info
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Release Information
| | Studio: Image |
| Release Date: 8/21/2007 |
| Running Time: 102 minutes |
| Original Release Date: 1987 | | Catalog ID: 1708 | | UPC: 00715515025027 | | Number of Discs: 1 |
Audio & Video
| | Original Language: English | | Available Audio Tracks: English | | Video: Color |
Aspect Ratio | | Anamorphic Widescreen 1.78:1 |
| Cast & Crew
| Awards |
Nominee (1988) | | | Golden Globe, David Mamet, Best Screenplay - Motion Picture | |
Winner (1987) | | | Venice Film Festival, David Mamet, Golden Osella - Best Original Screenplay | | | Venice Film Festival, David Mamet, Pasinetti Award - Best Film |
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| | Professional Reviews | New York Times
"...Entertaining, deadpan, seriocomic melodrama....Mamet's screenplay builds much like a whopping good poker game..." 10/11/1987 p.94New York Times
Included in the New York Times "10 Best Films of 1987" 12/27/1987 p.II, 23 Variety
"...Writer David Mamet's first trip behind the camera as director is entertaining good fun, an American film noir with Hitchcockian touches..." 09/09/1987 Film Comment
"...A real curve ball....Mamet has elevated the dialogue to the foreground....GAMES is smart..." 11/01/1987 p.61-4 Los Angeles Times
"...Coldly absorbing....Mamet gives us the plot in crisp layers....[The] dialogue -- subtly rhythmed, pungent, terrifically well written -- carries the movie..." 10/15/1987 p.C1 Chicago Sun-Times
"...Mamet's dialogue starts with the plain red bricks of reality, and mortars them into walls that are slightly askew..." 10/31/1999 p.5 Entertainment Weekly
"With a parlor-trick plot and neon-lit cinematography right out of Edward Hopper's NIGHTHAWKS, GAMES is a con within a con within a con." -- Grade: A- 08/31/2007 p.54 GoatDog's Movies 9 of 10
This is David Mamet's directorial debut. He is one of my favorite filmmakers, and this is one of my favorite films by him. Many of his films seem like intricate puzzles, which both the viewer and the participants have to figure out. This is the greatest of his puzzles. It also has the most effective ending he has ever filmed. Not bad for the first time out...Lindsay Crouse (Mamet's then-wife) plays a famous psychiatrist who helps people get over their addictions, but she can't seem to find meaning in her own life...There, she meets Joe Mantegna, a cipher, a slightly smiling crook who seems to be able to see right through her...Does Mantegna have an agenda? He shows her potentially damning evidence that he's a criminal; it might be because he likes her. I will leave you to figure that out. The ending, though, is going to be a shock, no matter how you think you have the film figured out.think you have the film figured out. - Michael W. Phillips, Jr.
Chicago Sun-Times 10 of 10
This movie is awake. I have seen so many films that were sleepwalking through the debris of old plots and second-hand ideas that it was a constant pleasure to watch "House of Games," a movie about con men that succeeds not only in conning the audience, but also in creating a series of characters who seem imprisoned by the need to con, or be conned...There is in all of us a fascination for the inside dope, for the methods of the confidence game, for the secrets of a magic trick. But there is an eternal gulf between the shark and the mark, between the con man and his victim. And there is a code to protect the secrets. There are moments in "House of Games" when Mantegna instructs Crouse in the methods and lore of the con game, but inside every con is another one. - Roger Ebert
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