Line #15 Film/Gloria


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3	''Gloria'' is a 1980 crime thriller film by Creator/JohnCassavetes. Its premise, of a [[MafiaPrincess mobgirl]] or similar going on the run from TheMafia ''and'' the FBI with a young boy, has been used in {{homage}} many times since. Gloria is played in the film by Creator/GenaRowlands, who was nominated for an UsefulNotes/AcademyAward and a Golden Globe, and Gloria Swenson was nominated as [[https://www.afi.com/afis-100-years-100-heroes-villians/ an AFI "Hero"]]. The film ultimately won a UsefulNotes/LeoneDOro at the Venice film festival that year (tying with ''Film/AtlanticCity'') and a UsefulNotes/GoldenRaspberryAward. Though falling within the right time period, it is not considered a {{Giallo}} film.
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5	Cassavetes wrote the screenplay and sold it to Creator/ColumbiaPictures, only coming on board to direct after his wife was cast in the title role.
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7	After establishing within the first scene that something is wrong, Gloria serendipitously appears at her neighbor's door when they are about to be murdered by a mob hit squad. She takes their young son, Phil, to her apartment, and they promptly get killed in the next scene. It doesn't take long for the SWAT team to arrive, but Gloria has already fled with a packed bag, Phil, [[TeamPet and her cat]]. Because it wouldn't be an [[TheEighties eighties]] Italian film without it, the team get in a taxi and watch the vibrant New York landscape pass them by. They continue swapping locations, within the city limits of New York, and Gloria gets to be a badass fighting off all the assailants coming after them, until she ditches the kid because he's a wisecracker. Don't worry, she gets him back (after having another badass fight), and they have a happy ending after escaping New York.
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9	The film was remade in the United States in 1999, with the same name, directed by Creator/SidneyLumet and starring Creator/SharonStone and Creator/GeorgeCScott in his final role, though very poorly received. Other films that have used elements of it in homage include ''Film/Ultraviolet2006'' and ''Film/TheProfessional''.
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11	!!Tropes in ''Gloria'':
12	* ActionGirl: Gloria, with a lot of guns.
13	* AlmostFamousName: Gloria Swenson, which is one letter off from actress Gloria Swanson.
14	* AntiHero / CombatPragmatist: The titular heroine is a DefrostingIceQueen former mobster's girlfriend who periodically resorts to killing if it means she saves Phil's life.
15	* BigApplesauce: It's set in New York City and even though they want to leave for safety, they aren't given the opportunity. Eventually they do, with the suggestion being the mob controls all of NYC but also only NYC.
16	* TheBigRottenApple: New York City is portrayed as a corrupt, sleazy rathole. This is perhaps unsurprising, as the movie was made in 1980, when the city was badly suffering from crime and urban decay.
17	* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: Phil reunites with Gloria, though his family is dead and they're still on the run from the FBI and the mafia.]]
18	* ChildHater: Downplayed. Gloria states early on that she isn't a fan of kids though she doesn't actively hate Phil - if anything, she initially finds him annoying. That being said, she gradually bonds with Phil during the film as she's trying to protect him.
19	* DeathOfAChild: While the whole premise is to keep young Phil alive, his sister Joan does die early on.
20	* EnemyMine: Both the mob and the cops are after Gloria and Phil.
21	* FromTheMouthsOfBabes: Six-year-old Phil occasionally acts older than he is and says things that most six-year-olds wouldn't say.
22	--->'''Phil (to Gloria)''': "He don't know the score, he sees a dame like you, and a guy like me, he don't know."
23	* HumiliationConga: Gloria inflicts this on the mob, as she repeatedly manages to outmaneuver them and keep Phil from their grasp, killing and wounding several of their members in the process.
24	* MamaBear: While Phil's not her biological child, Gloria is extremely protective of him.
25	* TheMole: Jack Dawn has been an accountant for the mob, informing the FBI. Everyone seems to know this, so it's no surprise he's killed off pretty quickly.
26	* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: The guy who tries to convince Gloria to give up while driving off in the cab (shortly before she meets up with Tanzinni) calls the (black) taxi driver an "ape."[[note]]For those unaware, comparing black people to lower primates is a common racist slur[[/note]] Unsurprisingly, the driver promptly kicks the guy out of his cab.
27	* ParentalSubstitute: Gloria has to act like one to Phil after his family dies at the start of the film.
28	* RRatedOpening: An early scene is the violent shotgun murders of the Dawns.
29	* SoleSurvivor: Phil Dawn, of his family.
30	* WouldHurtAChild: Tanzinni and his mob kill the Dawns, including their young daughter, early in the film. The rest of the film has the mob chasing after Phil so they can kill him as well. Rather chillingly, it's eventually made clear that even Tanzinni acquiring Jack Dawn's ledger, which contains the incriminating evidence, won't be enough to call off the hunt for Phil.

Context Film / Gloria