Line #67 Film/GrossePointeBlank


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/grosse.jpg]]
2
3	->'''Martin''': Hi, I'm Martin Blank, you remember me? I'm not married, I don't have any kids, and I'd blow your head off if someone paid me enough.
4
5	''Grosse Pointe Blank'' is a 1997 romantic comedy action film about an [[ProfessionalKiller assassin]] going home to attend his 10-year high school reunion. [[HilarityEnsues Hilarity ensues.]] The film stars Creator/JohnCusack (who also receives a writing credit), Creator/DanAykroyd, Creator/MinnieDriver and Creator/JoanCusack.
6
7	Martin Blank is a government-trained freelance hitman living under a decade-long existential crisis. When his latest job takes him to his old home town of Grosse Pointe, Michigan, on the very weekend of his high school reunion, his worlds collide and he's forced to confront some dangling threads of his past life. Complicating matters is the unwanted attention he's receiving from his professional rival Grocer, who's given him an [[AnOfferYouCantRefuse offer Blank can't refuse]] to join his new WeirdTradeUnion of [[MurderInc assassins]]. Blank has to dodge hitmen, elude the NSA, find his target, and (most alarmingly) reconnect with the girl he abandoned on graduation day.
8
9	Final film for Creator/BarbaraHarris, who appeared as Martin's mentally ill mom.
10
11	----
12	!!Contains examples of:
13	* ActionFilmQuietDramaScene: Well, dark action-comedy, but [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hU3hVZf3Vo4 Martin and a baby(Katelyn And Zoey Rosen(who previously portrayed Matilda as a newborn baby in [[Matilda]]]] having a deep and profoundly spiritual conversation about life using only FacialDialogue really stands out for how sweet and moving it is.
14	* AffablyEvil:
15	** Grocer comes off this way. Martin too, to an extent, although he tends to be more "affably amoral."
16	** Marcella, Martin's secretary/assistant/facilitator, is incredibly chipper and friendly for someone who helps her boss in committing murder.
17	* AllGuysWantCheerleaders: Somewhat [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]], as the character played by Jeremy Piven confesses that despite all of his successes, he feels worthless without gaining the attention of the AlphaBitch from high school.
18	* ApatheticClerk: The convenience store clerk is so wrapped up in playing an arcade game and listening to music on his headphones, that he doesn't notice the gun fight going on behind him.
19	* ArmorPiercingQuestion: When Debi finds out that Martin's SarcasticConfession is actually an IgnoredConfession;
20	-->'''Debi''': How come you never learned that it was ''wrong''?
21	* AsTheGoodBookSays: During the final battle, Grocer quotes selections from Revelation 13:1-4.
22	-->'''Grocer''': "...And I saw a beast rise above the sea, with seven heads and ten horns...And they worshiped the beast, saying 'Who is like the beast? Who is able to make war with him?'" Are you, Pinky?
23	* TheAtoner: Martin, near the end of the film.
24	* AudibleSharpness: When Martin uncaps the pen to kill Felix.
25	* AxCrazy: Grocer. There's not a lot of other killers in film that would think it's a good idea to tell someone they're going to kill him by singing a ditty set to "She'll Be Coming 'Round The Mountain".
26	* BadassAdorable: Martin's chipper secretary Marcella (played by Joan Cusack) discusses recipes on one line while hardballing arms dealers on the other.
27	* BlackComedy: Well, the main character is a hitman, and it's about him going home for his 10-year high school reunion. It kind of screams JuxtapositionGag.
28	* BottomlessMagazines:
29	** In [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZt0fAZ018E&feature=player_embedded#! this scene]], the villain is never seen/heard reloading, and fires way more bullets than his guns should theoretically be able to hold.
30	** In the opening, Grocer fires about 27 shots from a pair of 6-shot revolvers.
31	* ByronicHero: Martin. Guy's got a list of neuroses a mile wide and tries to be a good person... except that he's a killing machine and the only way he knows how to make a living is by using said skills.
32	* BurgerFool: The air-headed guy who works at the convenience store which used to be Martin's home and on account of "Ace of Spades" by Music/{{Motorhead}} blaring in his [[HeadphonesEqualIsolation headphones]] is completely oblivious to a brutal gunfight between Martin and another hitman.
33	* CannotTellALie: Martin tries to come up with fake jobs to tell people in private but winds up telling almost everyone he meets that he is a professional killer. [[CassandraTruth No one believes him until they see him actually kill somebody.]]
34	* CarnivalOfKillers: A disenchanted hitman attends his high school reunion only to cross paths with an assassin union who thinks he's trying to steal their hit.
35	* CassandraTruth: Per above; Martin is very open about his job. No one believes him.
36	* CastingGag: As a teen, John Cusack starred in several movies of the 1980s. Now he plays the DarkerAndEdgier lead in a movie filled with 80s nostalgia, both on a meta level and in-universe.
37	* CatchPhrase:
38	** "[[NothingPersonal It's not me]]."
39	** "You're [[AllGirlsWantBadBoys a handsome devil]]. What's your name?"
40	** "[[PreMortemOneLiner Popcorn!]]"
41	** "If I show up at your door, chances are [[PayEvilUntoEvil you did something to bring me there.]]"
42	* ChekhovsGun:
43	** Martin is given a pen by a former classmate, which he soon uses to kill an assassin who attacks him.
44	** He doesn't open the dossier on his target for some time, and it turns out to be [[spoiler: his girlfriend's father.]]
45	** Averted: Terry the security guard shows Martin his gun at the dance with the assassin on the way, and it never comes into play.
46	* ColdSniper: Martin appears this way when first encountered. Later averted, as he reconnects with his humanity and past.
47	* CombatPragmatist: While in the middle of grappling with another hitman out to kill Martin, he winds up killing his enemy by stabbing him in the neck with a pen. He also ends up killing [[spoiler:Grocer]] with a TV set.
48	* ConcealmentEqualsCover: Both combatants use the shelves in a convenience store as cover during a heated gun battle. It works.
49	* ContrivedCoincidence: If Martin's target hadn't been [[spoiler: Debi's father]], the movie would have been half an hour shorter with a DownerEnding. [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] by Martin: "Dumb fucking luck."
50	* CoolTeacher: Mrs. K comes across as this, especially since Martin only refers to her by that nickname. She also seems pretty astute; though she doesn't know anything about Martin's life, when he tells her, "I'm going home!" she asks him wryly, "Are you?"
51	* CorporateSamurai: Martin (and by extension Marcella too) combines the personality of a ruthless businessman with that of an assassin and all of the hits he does during the movie involve him being hired by an auto company to kill whistleblowers.
52	* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Whichever automobile corporation wants [[spoiler:Mr. Newberry (Debi's father)]] assassinated because they thought it would be cheaper and easier than [[spoiler:fixing their newest model's leaky sunroof]]. PlayedForLaughs ([[BlackComedy dark ones, of course]]).
53	* CreatorCameo: D.V. [=DeVincentis=] and Steve Pink, two of the co-writers of the movie, each play former classmates of Martin and Debi's.
54	* CriticalPsychoanalysisFailure: During one of his sessions, Martin revealed out of the blue that he was a career killer, and while his psychiatrist wants nothing to do with him, he keeps showing up.
55	-->'''Dr. Oatman:''' On top of that, if you've committed a crime or you're thinking about committing a crime, I have to tell the authorities.\
56	'''Martin:''' I know the law, okay? But I don't want to be withholding; I'm very serious about this process. ({{beat}}) And I know where you live.
57	* DeadAir: Debi when Martin walks into her studio.
58	* DeadpanSnarker: Martin, Dr. Oatman, Debi and Marcella.
59	* DeadlyEuphemism: Used a good deal by all of the assassin characters (e.g. after botching a hit, Martin complains to his psychiatrist about problems with "concept execution"), and is {{lampshaded}} by one of the NSA agents after his partner refers to "waxing" Martin. He complains about the partner using weasel words like that, wondering why he can't simply say "kill". Recurs briefly later on when the partner talks about "neutralizing" Martin.
60	* DiegeticSwitch: In this case, "Film/LiveAndLetDie"[[IncrediblyLamePun -getic]]. Switches from the Music/GunsNRoses cover to an easy-listening instrumental version when Martin walks into the convenience store.
61	* DisappointedByTheMotive: [[spoiler:Mr. Newberry, Debi's father, is more than a little surprised that whistle-blowing his company placing a leaky sunroof in one of their vehicle models merits the company ''[[DisproportionateRetribution hiring multiple assassins]]'' [[MurderIsTheBestSolution to silence him]].]]
62	* DisproportionateRetribution: [[spoiler:Debi's father is to be killed because he's blowing the whistle on his company's ''leaky sunroof'' in a car they make.]]
63	* DramaticAmmoDepletion: [[spoiler:At the climax, after Blank and Grocer blow away the NSA agents in a brief moment of EnemyMine alliance, they turn their guns on each other only for their guns to click empty. Grocer pulls out another pair of guns and tries to bait Martin into a trap by selling him one of them and tossing it into a place where he'll be wide open to Grocer's fire, while Martin instead improvises and kills Grocer by smashing his head with a TV.]]
64	* EnemyMine: Grocer and Martin briefly team up to kill the NSA agents. Lampshaded by Grocer:
65	-->'''Grocer''': Workers of the world unite!
66	* EvenEvilHasStandards: Martin, to himself, says that he'd kill nearly any of his classmates for the right price. However, earlier in the movie, he flat out refuses a job to blow up a Greenpeace ship on moral grounds, and later gets insulted when it's believed he killed a dog.
67	* FacialDialogue: During the reunion, Martin [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6hQx9PW20E has a deep and profoundly spiritual conversation with a baby]] using nothing but facial expressions. The baby manages to convince Martin that cynicism isn't the way, and that there really is some good in this life, and it's worth pursuing.
68	* FauxAffablyEvil: Grocer plays with it. He is not faking being affable but he has absolutely zero remorse in killing the guy he was being friendly to a second ago and treating it like [[EvilHasABadSenseOfHumor some sort of prank or game.]]
69	* FreudianExcuse: [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]], as in one scene, Martin mentions his childhood problems (an alcoholic father and crazy mother) as probably having a role in his career choice. He even comments that while these don't justify his behavior, they explain it.
70	* FurnaceBodyDisposal: Martin is attacked by an assassin while at his high school reunion. He manages to kill the guy right before an old friend shows up. Convincing his friend to help him, they get the body to the school's basement and load it into the furnace. Points for realism when it's plain the door to the furnace is so hot they can barely touch it.
71	* GraveMarkingScene: After visiting his crazy mother in an asylum, Martin is shown visiting his father's grave and pouring out a bottle of alcohol... then keeps pouring until the bottle is empty... and then drops the empty bottle on the grave. It's clearly not a tribute, and we later learn he was an alcoholic.
72	* GunsAkimbo:
73	** Martin does this during the film's climactic gun battle and the Store shootout.
74	** Grocer perforates his target with two handguns in the prologue, as well as in the climax.
75	* HeadphonesEqualIsolation: A guy in a convenience store playing ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'' and listening to Motorhead is oblivious to a gunfight right behind him.
76	* HeadSmashesScreen: [[spoiler:Grocer]] gets dispatched by a TV set to the face that's thrown above a kitchen counter. Electricity is heard and the body twitches before it stops moving.
77	* HeelRealization: Martin realizes how hollow his life is before the movie plays out, but it isn't until the reunion he's propelled to do something about it.
78	* HeroicComedicSociopath: Martin.
79	* HiddenDepths: The drunken former bully, still very much living the JerkJock persona, is effortlessly talked out of a fight by Martin and tries to read him some of his poetry.
80	* HitmanWithAHeart: The film is one of the best examples of this trope, with Martin showing earlier that he could be one if there was something he gave a damn about and then the rest of the plot being about getting that something he gives a damn about.
81	* HollywoodLaw: The NSA does not have field agents. Also, they're not supposed to do anything domestically. Their job is to monitor foreign communications. FBI agents would be the ones after hitmen like Martin.
82	* IgnoredConfession: Martin admits to everyone who asks that he's an assassin. No one takes him seriously.
83	* ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy: During the climactic gun battle, the NSA spooks burst in through the patio doors and both start firing at Martin, who while hiding from Grocer is in plain sight for them. Not only does neither of them hit him, they both get blown away by Martin and Grocer, when he stands up from where he'd been hiding from Martin.
84	* ImprovisedWeaponUser: "I killed the [[BananaRepublic President of Paraguay]] with a fork". During the film, Martin also kills with a fountain pen, a frying pan and a TV set.
85	* INeedAFreakingDrink: An old schoolfriend of Martin's at the reunion, after helping him dispose of a body. His outrage only increases when Martin only orders a club soda.
86	* InLoveWithTheMark : [[spoiler: Or in this case, his daughter]].
87	* IronicEcho:
88	** Grocer's "Popcorn!", [[spoiler:later used when Martin kills him with a TV.]]
89	** When Martin calls Dr. Oatman because he's stressing out about going to the reunion, Dr. Oatman tells him to "take a deep breath and realize that 'this is me breathing'". After the reunion, Martin calls him again and leaves a message telling him to "take a deep breath and realize that this is me firing you."
90	* IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy: Martin confesses at the climax that the reason he ran away from Debi was because he realised he wanted to murder someone, anyone, and didn't want her to be anywhere near him. The following speech ([[CasualDangerDialogue interspersed with a gunfight]]) yo-yos between a MotiveRant, a HeelRealisation and an AnguishedDeclarationOfLove.
91	* IWantMyMommy: After Martin finds out his old home is now a mini-mart, he calls Marcella and tells her to find out where his mother is - "I want my mom."
92	* JustifiedTitle: His name is Martin Blank, and he returns to his hometown of Grosse Pointe. He shoots people.
93	* KarmaHoudini: Martin murders several people over the course of the film, including at least one who was at least notionally innocent of wrongdoing, and gets away with it.
94	* LameRhymeDodge:
95	-->'''Martin''': I should have brought a gun...
96	-->'''Debi''': What?!
97	-->'''Martin''': Uh... should be fun!
98	* LargeHam:
99	** Grocer. ''BOUDREAUX'S COMIN' FOR YA!'' and singing how he's going to kill Martin to "She'll Be Comin' 'Round the Mountain" at the climax.
100	** Martin's secretary Marcella is a marginally less sociopathic example.
101	* LibationForTheDead: Martin spills wine on his father's grave. A whole bottle's worth. The whole scene plays like LastDisrespects and it's cemented when we find out later that the deceased was an alcoholic.
102	* LickedByTheDog: The baby that really likes Martin at the reunion.
103	* LineOfSightName: Justified in this instance, as assassin Felix gets a good look at the unused name tags before he picks one as an alias.
104	* LonersAreFreaks: Parodied with a LampshadeHanging:
105	-->'''Martin''': I don't wanna join your goddamn union! Loner, get it? Lone gunman! That's the whole ''point''!
106	* MeaningfulEcho: "This is me breathing." Dr. Oatman reminds Martin to say it to himself as part of his therapy, and then Martin repeats it later when cocking his gun.
107	* MeaningfulName:
108	** Blank is dealing with a pervading sense emptiness in his life.
109	** Grocer wants to commodify the assassination industry, turning hitmen into interchangeable products like in a grocery store.
110	* MicrowaveMisuse: Felix puts a potato-sized lump of plastic explosive in a microwave at a convenience store in an attempt to kill Martin.
111	* MirrorMonologue: Blank rehearsing for the reunion dance.
112	-->"Hi! I'm Martin Blank, do you remember me? I'm not married, I don't have any kids, and I'd blow your head off if someone paid me enough."
113	* MoodWhiplash: Most of the fight scenes pop out of nowhere side by side with the "man comes home and reconnects with his past" story. It's hilarious and deftly handled. The fact that [[SoundtrackDissonance 80s hits often play over the fights]] doesn't hurt.
114	* MurderInc: The creation of one of these, to avoid overlapping contracts, is a major plot point. All the way to the climax.
115	-->'''Martin''': Will there going to be meetings?
116	-->'''Grocer''': ...Of course!
117	-->'''Martin''': No meetings. (''keeps firing'')
118	* MurderIsTheBestSolution: In a BlackComedy about assassins it's obvious that a lot of the jokes will revolve around this, but the climax merits mention by TheReveal that [[spoiler:Mr. Newberry, the whistle-blower some automobile corporation wants silenced and it's the main reason all of the murderers are in town, was only revealing the fact that the company's most recent car model [[DisproportionateRetribution had a leaky sunroof]]. Newberry is [[DisappointedByTheMotive actually surprised that his act earned such (literal) overkill]].]]
119	* MysteriousMiddleInitial: Martin ''Q.'' Blank.
120	* NietzscheWannabe: Arguably, Martin's justifications make him an example of this type.
121	* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: It's never stated outright, but basically, Martin's employer for his hits during the film is an automobile company that wants to prevent its execs from testifying against it. That there are several auto companies in Michigan makes this plot sufficiently ambiguous that it doesn't slander any one company.
122	* NoIndoorVoice: Paul at first, because he can't get over the fact Martin's back.
123	-->'''TEN YEARS, man! TEN!'''
124	* NostalgiaFilter: A hyperactive Terry ridicules people pretending how everything was great at school.
125	* NothingButHits: Justified, as the film's soundtrack comprises 1980s hits played by one character on a radio station, choosing this playlist in honor of the reunion.
126	* NothingPersonal: To Martin's continual insistence.
127	-->'''[[spoiler:Mr. Newberry]]''': So design division wants me dead because of a leaky sunroof? You wanna kill me because of ''that''?
128	-->'''Martin''': [[ArcWords It's not me!]] Why does everybody think it's personal?
129	* ObliviousJanitorCut: The Ultimart clerk plays an arcade game while a gunfight rages all around him. He doesn't notice until the protagonist yanks him out of the shop before it explodes.
130	* AnOfferYouCantRefuse: Grocer is anxious to recruit Blank into his Hitman Guild, so there won't be any more "embarrassing overlaps."
131	* OhCrap: Martin's delayed reaction when he stares down a potato bomb in a microwave at Ultimart.
132	* OnceDoneNeverForgotten: The death of little Boudreaux, the retriever. Made even worse by the fact that Boudreaux's death was not only an honest-to-God accident, it was also an accident Martin was not even tangentially involved in. It didn't stop him from being "the guy who blew up a dog".
133	* OnceKilledAManWithANoodleImplement: "What am I supposed to say to people? 'I killed the President of Paraguay with a fork. How have you been?'"
134	* PaperThinDisguise: Felix the Basque assassin claims the name tag of a no-show to gain entry to Martin's reunion.
135	-->'''Felix''': It is I... Sidney Feldman!
136	-->'''Arlene''': Oh, been overseas? [''looks at name badge with yearbook photo''] My, you ''have'' changed!
137	** When you consider the name Sidney can be male or female, it's even funnier.
138	* PetTheDog: In a memorable scene, Martin holds a baby and the infant takes to him immediately. More importantly, Martin takes to the baby just as quickly. Or, at least, has a revelation about people, life, etc... This is somewhat subverted, as the positive impression the audience and his love interest receive of him is shaken by the fact he has to stab a guy to death in self-defense with a pen. He earlier gets very angry (hell, it's the ''only'' thing he gets angry about) at the implication he killed a dog as collateral damage of one of his jobs.
139	* ProfessionalKiller: A boatload of them. The BigBad wanting to make a WeirdTradeUnion is even one of the plot points.
140	* ProtagonistCenteredMorality: Shown somewhat when [[spoiler:Debi accepts Martin's profession and nature in the end (with her father even proudly approving)]]. Though to be fair, there's not really a smoother option, given the film's premise...
141	* PunBasedTitle: The title is a pun on Grosse Pointe (the setting), "point blank," and the main character's last name (Blank).
142	* RedHerring: [[spoiler:One of Martin's old friends brings a gun to the reunion and literally dangles it in front of the camera, but it never ends up being used]].
143	* RedOniBlueOni: Grocer and Blank, respectively.
144	* RippedFromTheHeadlines: Martin receives an offer to target a Greenpeace boat, that happens to be worded in French.
145	-->'''Martin''': ''(crumpling up the fax)'' No way! I have scruples.
146	* SassySecretary: Marcella.
147	* SchoolyardBullyAllGrownUp: He tries to reestablish his bullying relationship with Martin, who's moved on so far in his life that he can't even be bothered to beat him up. In response, the bully tries to open up to him and read some poetry, with Martin's (admittedly rather hollow and back-handed) praise possibly providing some sort of minor closure/reconciliation for the guy.
148	* ServiceSectorStereotypes: There is a ditzy waitress in the diner Martin and Grocer go to; the guy who works at the convenience store (formerly Martin's home) has a BurgerFool personality; two of the assassins Grocer wants for his WeirdTradeUnion are Filipina maids who are described as "queens of the hotel hit".
149	* ShoutOut:
150	** The man on a bicycle in one of the assassination set pieces recalls a bit of recurring physical comedy in Cusack's earlier ''Better off Dead''.
151	** In one scene, Martin attempts to assassinate someone by dripping poison down a thread hanging from the ceiling. This method was taken from ''Film/YouOnlyLiveTwice'', which itself borrowed the idea from a Japanese {{ninja}} movie ''Shinobi no Mono'' (Creator/RoaldDahl wrote the screenplay to the former and had seen the latter while in Japan).
152	** The failed assassination that gets Martin a lot of ribbing is either a shout-out or a case of StrangeMindsThinkAlike to a method successfully used in the Jack London story [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon-Face Moon-Face]].
153	** The game the gas station clerk is playing is ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'' in an arcade cabinet. However, there is no actual arcade version of ''Doom''.
154	** In the climactic shootout, Martin kills Grocer by [[Film/FridayThe13thTheFinalChapter smashing a TV on his head]].
155	* SignedUpForTheDental: When Martin tells Debi that he's a professional killer, she asks if he gets dental with that, but he tells her no.
156	* SlainInTheirSleep: At one point, Martin attempts this via poisoning, but he botches the mission and has to shoot the now awake target.
157	-->'''Marcella''': It was supposed to look like a heart attack! It was supposed to look like he died in his sleep!\
158	'''Martin''': Well, he moved.
159	* StepfordSmiler: Arlene Oslott-Joseph seems to be this. She's heavily involved in organizing the reunion, works the door and provides introductions with a fixed grin, but never actually enters the hall and socializes with her former classmates and seems to sit alone the entire evening.
160	* StrangeMindsThinkAlike:
161	-->"It's either because I'm in love with your daughter or I have a newfound respect for life."
162	-->''cut to other car''
163	-->"That punk is either in love with that guy's daughter, or he has a newfound respect for life."
164	* SympatheticPOV: When the protagonist is an assassin, it makes it easier for the NSA agents antagonistic to him to seem evil. Of course, it doesn't hurt that they are [[DirtyCop dirty agents]] looking for a scapegoat rather than a real terrorist.
165	* ThatCameOutWrong:
166	-->'''Debi:''' You're a psychopath.\
167	'''Martin:''' No, no. Psychopaths kill for no reason. I kill for ''money''. It's a ''job''... That didn't sound right.
168	* ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill: In the climactic fight, Martin continues firing bullet after bullet at one of Grocer's henchmen even after the guy is obviously dead. Later on, both Martin and Grocer do the same to [[spoiler:the two NSA agents.]]
169	* ThrowAwayGuns: After emptying two revolvers into his target in the opening scene, Grocer drops them on the man's corpse and walks away. In the final confrontation, Grocer is carrying six to eight of the same subcompact pistol, emptying them in pairs, then tossing them away and drawing fresh ones.
170	* TrailersAlwaysSpoil: The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRrZ7CRpcw4 trailer]] reveals that Martin's target is [[spoiler: his girlfriend's father]]. It seems pretty clear that this was intended to be a big reveal in the third act.
171	* TrashTheSet: Ultimart gets turned to ash in the middle of the film.
172	* TwerpSweating: Attempted by Debi's father ten years after his daughter was stood up on prom night, but his heart's not really in it.
173	-->'''Mr. Newberry:''' ...Aww, fuck it. Let's have a drink and forget the whole thing.
174	* ViewersAreGeniuses: Martin and Grocer's conversation about "the good old days" contains a boatload of references that assume the audience is well-read on recent history:
175	-->'''Grocer''': Remember Burma?\
176	'''Martin''': Yeah, I do.\
177	'''Grocer''': That nut General Kwang? You were like a colonel in that army, weren't you?[[note]]In the 1980's, the CIA acted covertly in Myanmar (formerly known as Burma) to eradicate a heroin growing operation founded after the Korean War by Chinese Nationalist General Li Mi.[[/note]]\
178	'''Martin''': Yeah, yeah, he sold you all those tanks, you shipped 'em to Alabama...[[note]]The Anniston Army Depot in Bynum, Alabama, is the major production facility for the U.S. Army's motorized vehicles, including Abrams tanks.[[/note]]\
179	'''Grocer''': T-34s, I took a bath on that...[[note]]The T-34 was the medium tank produced in greatest numbers by the Soviet Union during World War II, after which they were sold or leased in large numbers to Soviet allies and communist-sympathetic countries.[[/note]]\
180	'''Martin''': Yeah, that was fun.
181	* TheVillainKnowsWhereYouLive: The assassin protagonist tries to convince his psychiatrist to continue seeing him (the psychiatrist freaked out when his patient revealed his profession). The protagonist mentions doctor-patient confidentiality as a reason why their continued visits wouldn't be a problem and then adds, "And besides, I know where you live". Given the protagonist's admitted profession and the fact that he would know the psychiatrist by name, that's not so hard to believe.
182	* WeirdTradeUnion: Lampshaded/Parodied as Dan Aykroyd's character is interested in creating a union for assassins. Martin considers this idea stupid, given that people become assassins precisely because they are loners who [[LonersAreFreaks don't work well with others]].
183	* WhatTheHellHero: Martin's best friend and girlfriend eventually find out he wasn't joking about his job. Neither of them are happy, and let him know it.
184	* WhatMeasureIsAMook: During the climax, Martin shoots someone through the front door, without even looking at them or waiting for them to attack first.[[note]]The mook, shown briefly afterward, could be mistaken for Terry the security guard, but has a completely shaved head and leather jacket rather than Terry's balding pattern and security uniform. But the fact that it COULD have been Terry just reinforces this trope![[/note]]
185	* WhyWeAreBummedCommunismFell: A large part of Grocer's reason for setting up his "union" is due to recently available former Soviet and Eastern Bloc assassins flooding the market.
186	* YouCantGoHomeAgain: Martin Blank returning to his childhood home and visiting his mother.
187	--> "...but I guess you can shop there."
188	* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: Subverted. When Martin tells his secretary that he's retiring and is coming to get her, she thinks that he's coming to kill her, but he's actually left a [[PetTheDog retirement fund for her]], and is coming to pick her up.

Context Film / GrossePointeBlank