The Usual Suspects is a 1995 American neo-noir film written by Christopher McQuarrie and directed by Bryan Singer. The film tells the story of Roger “Verbal” Kint (Kevin Spacey), a small-time con man who is the subject of a police interrogation.
He tells his interrogator, U.S. Customs Agent David Kujan (Chazz Palminteri), a convoluted story about events leading to a massacre and massive fire that have just taken place on a ship docked at the Port of Los Angeles in San Pedro Bay. Using flashback and narration, Verbal’s story becomes increasingly complex as he tries to explain why he and his partners-in-crime were on the boat. The film, shot on a $6 million budget, originally began as a title taken from a column in Spy magazine called “The Usual Suspects”, after Claude Rains’ line in Casablanca. Singer thought that it would be a good title for a film, the poster for which he and McQuarrie had developed as the first visual idea. The Usual Suspects was shown out of competition at the 1995 Cannes Film Festival, and then initially released in few theaters. It received favorable reviews, and was eventually given a wider release. McQuarrie won an Academy Award for the screenplay and Spacey won the Best Supporting Actor award for his performance.
Plot: On the deck of a ship in San Pedro, California, a figure identified as “Keyser” speaks with an injured man called Keaton. The two talk briefly, then Keyser appears to shoot Keaton before setting the ship ablaze. The next day, FBI Agent Jack Baer and U.S. Customs special agent Dave Kujan arrive in San Pedro separately to investigate what happened on the boat. There appear to be only two survivors: a crippled man named Roger “Verbal” Kint, and a hospitalized Hungarian criminal. Baer interrogates the Hungarian, who claims that Keyser Söze, a Turkish criminal mastermind with a nearly mythical reputation, was in the harbor “killing many men.” The Hungarian begins to describe Söze while a translator interprets and a police sketch artist draws a rendering of Söze’s face. Meanwhile, “Verbal” Kint has testified at length about the incident in exchange for near-total immunity. Police Sergeant Jeffrey Rabin comments that Verbal must have powerful protection to get such a favourable deal, and that high-ranking officials including “the governor” have made inquiries on Verbal’s behalf. After making his statement to the district attorney and while waiting to post bail on a relatively minor weapons charge, Verbal is placed in Rabin’s cluttered office where Kujan requests to hear the story again, from the beginning. Verbal’s tale starts six weeks earlier:
Cast
* Gabriel Byrne as Dean Keaton
* Kevin Spacey as Roger
* Chazz Palminteri as U.S. Customs Special Agent Dave Kujan
* Stephen Baldwin as Michael McManus
* Kevin Pollak as Todd Hockney
* Benicio del Toro as Fred Fenster
* Pete Postlethwaite as Mr. Kobayashi
* Suzy Amis as Edie Finneran, Keaton’s girlfriend
* Giancarlo Esposito as FBI Special Agent Jack Baer
* Dan Hedaya as Sergeant Jeffrey “Jeff” Rabin
* Peter Greene as Redfoot the Fence
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