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I fell In love with this film first time i watched it. Made in 70s but supposedly set in the 30s its fascinating to watch. There isn't a dull moment and the acting all round is top notch especially Scott Wilson with his dark side but then broken as he's fallen straight in love with their ransom victim.. I have to agree she may not really have been the prettiest choice for the character and her looks get real bad as that hair gets fuzzy but she really does give a all out performance especially with the ending so acting wise she was right for the role. The rest of the gag all play their parts well. Tony has that attractive but sleazy quality and Ma is surprisingly quite a hard nut. Can only imagine life back then What gets me though is it looks like the gang already had plenty. Nice home decent food on table and booze when they want so they didn't really need this heist. The set pieces are great but show how relentless people were back then but also that the country was so much more beautiful and natural. The most evil character turns out to be Barbara's dad. A good film and cast should have won awards in my tip 3 gangster fis I've not seen the original British version yet I don't think or miggtve part seen it but I've never got bored everytime I've watched this on repeat.

The Grissom Gang should have been a great film. WIth its vicious comic sense, hard-boiled crime story and Gothic overtones, and of course its episodes of wild violence, this would have made a wonderful 80 minute B-movie. Unfortunately, at 125 minutes, it's way overlong. The middle seems to go on and on, during which not much happens beyond the ersatz courting of the kidnap victim by her psycho-hick kidnapper. Within any one scene, the pacing is rather good, creating a tension that leads one on for at least one viewing; but the pacing scene-to-scene is atrocious, and there are a lot of scenes that should have been cut or reduced to mere snippets. The role of the private detective should have been broader, but he doesn't really figure into the story until the final third and by then there's no real reason to get interested in his point of view. The kidnap victim's changes of heart are not well handled, partly because the role is given to Kim Darby, an unattractive actress of limited range. The acting throughout is intentionally over the top, rather as we saw from the AIP gangster films of the same era (eg., St. Valentine's Day Massacre and Bloody Mama), but those films used the broad performances to quicken the pace. Here the saggy pacing allows the camp of the performances to appear unintentional and thus flawed. Aldritch, taking his cue from the imprisonment of the kidnap victim, has given the film a sense of stuffy claustrophobia - most of the film seems to take place in small rooms. If the film were shorter and the drama heightened by more focused performances, this could have been effective, but as it is, one rushes to the window gasping for air after the movie's over. Finally, one has to note the confusing soundtrack which, though original, manages to sound cut-and-paste.

Aldritch can certainly take credit for the best of the film, but he has to take blame for the worst of it as well. He seems to be trying to make James Hadley Chase into another William Faulkner, and I'm afraid that can't be done. Aldritch needed to let Chase be Chase and make a tight slam-bang actioner; if he wanted to do Faulkner's "Sanctuary," he should have bought the rights to that novel instead.

The Grissom Gang is the best film based on a James Hadley Chase novel hands down! Been awhile since I saw it but it's as great as when I saw it the first time. It was a surprise when I realized that Slim was played by Maggie's dad from The Walking Dead (Scott Wilson). He is such a great actor!

A few years before Patty Hearst was kidnapped and then joined her kidnappers on their crime spree we had The Grissom Gang. Based on a British film and book the scene shifts from working class Great Britain to the midwest of the Depression.

Kim Darby light years from Mattie Ross in True Grit plays the spoiled debutante daughter of Wesley Addy who gets kidnapped after the first gang that kidnaps her botches a robbery and kills the man with her. Then The Grissom Gang kills the original bunch and takes over. Addy pays the ransom, but his daughter doesn't come home.

The brains behind this crew is Ma Grissom who is played with extreme malevolence by Irene Dailey. She wants her killed, but her lunkhead son Scott Wilson wants her for his very own. He's not real good with the social skills.

At first Darby is playing for time, but eventually she works out a strange relationship with Wilson. She knows he's keeping her alive and for the first time it isn't because of her wealth that he's interested in her. A new experience for her even though she's the object of the affection of a stone cold killer very expert with a knife.

The Grissom Gang is one of the bloodiest films I've ever seen so if your taste runs to violence this is the film for you. It also really captures the essence of Kansas City in the 20s, a very wide open town run by political boss Tom Pendergast.

Scott Wilson turns in the best performance. It's a difficult part because you never forget he's a killer. But you almost feel sorry for him with his lack of social skills and his puppy love crush on Kim Darby. There's also good role for Robert Lansing who plays a private detective who unravels the whole mystery about Kim Darby's whereabouts.

All in all a good gangster film is The Grissom Gang.

This little gem of a film was treated as exploitation trash, but a fascinating kidnapping tale with unrequited love and dysfunctional family relations. Scott Wilson (so brilliant in In Cold Blood) is incredible as Slim, the lonely offbeat member of the gang who is somewhat understood (but very edgy). Throw in Kim Darby, Tony Musante, Irene Dailey (more demented than she was in Five Easy Pieces), and Joey Faye as Woppy, how wrong can you go?

There's a good sense of time period. This film is nothing compared to Bonnie and Clyde, but closer to Thieves Like Us. Connie Stevens is an added attraction. Give these folks a chance. Rated 7 out of 10.