Grosse Pointe Blank

As professional assassin Martin Blank prepares for a job, his assistant, Marcella, informs him that he has received an invitation to his ten-year high school reunion. While Martin is able to kill his intended target, a rival assassin named Grocer, arrives and kills Martin's principal, effectively ruining the contract. After the job, Grocer approaches him apologetically about the incident, pointing out that the market for contractors is now flooded, and that mishaps like this will become commonplace without some organization; having worked together before, Grocer offers Martin a chance to join his fledgling union, which Martin refuses, preferring to work alone. Martin proceeds to his next job, which goes badly when he has to shoot the target rather than make it appear like natural causes; as such, his clients demand that he make amends by killing a Federal witness in his hometown of Grosse Pointe, Michigan, where his reunion is taking place. He is persuaded into going by both his reluctant therapist, Dr. Oatman, and Marcella, who believes that it is more than a synchronicity, it may be "the will of the gods". Disillusioned with work and knowing that refusal will cause reprisal, Martin reluctantly agrees to go.

In Grosse Pointe, Martin reconnects with his childhood friend Paul and his high school sweetheart Debi Newberry, now a radio DJ, whom Martin had abandoned on prom night to enlist in the Army. He freely admits to his former classmates that he is a professional assassin, but everyone assumes he is joking. He also visits his mentally ill mother in a retirement home and his father's grave. Meanwhile, Martin's clients cancel their contract with Grocer, whom they originally hired before forcing Martin into it. Grocer, believing that Martin stole the contract, provides information to government agents on Martin's whereabouts in retaliation.

While he reacquaints himself with the town and his old friends, Martin is stalked by Felix LaPoubelle, another hitman, who attempts to kill Martin in a convenience store built on the site of his childhood home. He is also followed by two National Security Agency agents who were tipped off to Martin's contract by Grocer. Despite these dangers, Martin remains distracted by his desire to reconcile with Debi and repeatedly procrastinates opening the dossier on his target. In a tense, but cordial meeting with Grocer, Grocer reveals that LaPoubelle was hired by a wealthy dog owner whose prize retriever was killed on one of Martin's previous assignments involving dynamite fishing; while appreciative of Grocer's tip, Martin reveals that he knows Grocer put the Federal agents on his trail and again refuses to join the new union.

Debi is conflicted about her feelings for Martin, as they both share an intense attraction, but he manages to persuade her to attend the reunion with him. Picking her up for the event, he meets her father, Bart, to whom he (again) admits to being a professional assassin, who jokingly compliments him on joining a "growth industry," and seems willing to put the past behind them. At the reunion, Martin and Debi mingle with their former classmates and begin to fall in love all over again. Later, while exploring the halls alone, Martin is ambushed by LaPoubelle, whom he kills in self-defense. Debi stumbles upon the scene as Martin is stooped over LaPoubelle’s corpse, and flees from the reunion in shock and horror. Paul arrives moments later and helps Martin dispose of LaPoubelle's body in the school furnace.

Debi later confronts Martin in his hotel room, still reeling from the revelation that he was telling the truth about his profession. He reveals that when he joined the army, his psychological profile indicated a certain degree of "moral flexibility" that prompted the Central Intelligence Agency to recruit him as an assassin, after which he decided to freelance. Martin attempts to assuage Debi by assuring her that he only accepts contracts on corrupt individuals saying, “If I show up at your door, chances are you’ve done something to put me there.” His efforts to rationalize his work further anger Debi and she rejects his attempts at reconciliation and walks out.

Debi’s rejection of him gives Martin an emotional breakthrough, and he abruptly decides to retire from being a contract killer. He fires Oatman over the phone, lays off Marcella with a very generous severance package and orders her to incinerate their office, and finally opens the dossier detailing the contract that brought him to Grosse Pointe. He is surprised to find that the target is Debi's father, Bart, who is scheduled to testify against Martin's clients.

Accompanied by several other assassins, Grocer decides to kill Bart himself to impress Martin's client and eliminate Martin as a competitor. Martin abandons the contract and rescues Bart, driving him to the Newberry house and holing up inside. Grocer, his cohorts, and the NSA agents descend upon the house. During the siege, Martin finally admits to Debi that he left her on prom night to protect her from his homicidal urges, which were due to his troubled upbringing and nihilistic worldview; however, having fallen in love with Debi again, he confesses that he recently developed a newfound respect for life. Martin methodically picks off Grocer’s henchmen, and the NSA agents are gunned down by both Grocer and Martin. Martin then kills Grocer by smashing a television over his head. Injured and winded, Martin proposes marriage to Debi, who is too stunned and despondent by the killing spree to respond. Debi’s father quips, “You have my blessing.”

Debi and Martin then leave Grosse Pointe together, with Martin visibly cheerful, and Debi confessing on her pre-recorded radio show that she's decided to give love another chance.

Screenwriter Tom Jankiewicz wrote the initial script for Grosse Pointe Blank in 1991 after receiving an invitation to his 10th high school reunion.[2] He picked the title while substitute teaching for an English class at Upland High School, writing the title on the classroom's whiteboard to see how it would look on a movie-theater marquee.[2] Jankiewicz decided to use Grosse Pointe, an upscale suburb of Detroit, Michigan, rather than his working-class hometown of Sterling Heights, Michigan, due to the contrast between the two towns. There is also the wordplay ("point blank"), which is a ballistics term of reference to the distance a bullet travels before dropping from the firearm's bore axis.[2]

Jankiewicz simultaneously worked as a substitute teacher and a cashier at a Big Lots in Upland, California, to make ends meet before his script was picked up for production.[2]

Jankiewicz, who was raised in Sterling Heights, based several of the film's characters on his real-life friends from Bishop Foley Catholic High School in Madison Heights, Michigan.[3] For example, Jeremy Piven's character, Paul Spericki, was originally named after Jankiewicz's best friend during high school, although the name was changed during filming.[3] The film's script was based on an urban legend about a student who became a professional hitman.[3] Joan Cusack's character, Marcella, was named for Jankiewicz's manager at Big Lots.[2]

George Armitage later claimed, "I did as much as anyone did in terms of writing", but did not seek credit.

The script, when I met with John [Cusack] and the writers, was 132 pages. I said: "Look, I'm not doing anything over 100 pages." They said, "Okay," and they did a rewrite, and it came back 150 pages. So I said "Okay, you guys are fired," and I spent most of preproduction rewriting the screenplay, getting it down to 102 pages. Then we would improvise, and I noticed that some of the stuff I'd cut out was in the improvs, they were bringing back stuff that I'd cut out, but we had a good time with it.[4]

Only the aerial footage of Lakeshore Drive was actually shot in Grosse Pointe.[3] The city of Grosse Pointe Farms did not allow the filmmakers to use any shots of Grosse Pointe South High School for the movie due to the presence of alcohol in the reunion scenes. The majority of the film was shot in Monrovia, California.[3] In a 1997 interview, actor John Cusack, who shares the film's screenwriting credit along with Jankiewicz, Steve Pink, and D.V. DeVincentis, said he would have liked to film on location in Grosse Pointe, but they were unable to move production to Michigan due to budget constraints.[3]

The scene where Martin is attacked by LaPoubelle while exploring the halls of his old high school was filmed at Reseda High School in the San Fernando Valley.

Armitage later recalled:

With Grosse Pointe Blank I shot three movies simultaneously. We shot the script as written, we shot a mildly understated version, and we shot a completely over-the-top version, which usually was what was used. We cast that movie—and I've cast most movies—by having the actors come in and read, then throwing the script out and saying: "Okay, let's improvise." That's what I was comfortable with. I say to the actors: "You are creating the character. This is written, these are the parameters, this is the outline. Now you take this, make it your own, and bring me, bring me, bring me."... I'm very fond of Grosse Pointe Blank because of that, the insanity of it was trying to keep things working with three different registers to choose from.[4]

Armitage says he shot several endings:

I'm usually rather rough on studio heads in terms of creative help, but after seeing the audience so angry at Alec Baldwin dying in Miami Blues, I decided that on Grosse Pointe Blank, this time, dealing with another psychopath, another sociopath, John's character—I just wanted him to survive, and we shot so many different endings. They were so generous at Disney, we had Michael Ovitz and Joe Roth running the place, they were really great with us. We shot two or three different endings, the two of them getting together, talking about things, and everything didn't work. And Joe Roth said at one of the screenings: "When the father says 'You've got my blessing' in the bathtub at the end, after the shoot-out, just cut to the two of them leaving." I thought, "Let's give it a shot," and it worked beautifully.[4]

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	Vol. 1 Vol. 2

The score for Grosse Pointe Blank was composed by Joe Strummer, formerly of The Clash, and the soundtrack includes two songs from The Clash: "Rudie Can't Fail" and their cover version of Willi Williams' "Armagideon Time".

In addition to The Clash, the tracks featured in the film are largely a mix of popular and alternative 1980s punk rock, ska, and new wave from such bands as Violent Femmes, Echo & the Bunnymen, The Specials, The Jam, Siouxsie and the Banshees and A-ha. While most songs played throughout the film (especially at the reunion) had been recorded by the time of the students' graduation in 1986, several songs were recorded later:

• The Guns N' Roses version of Paul McCartney's "Live and Let Die", heard in the scene where Martin first visits the Ultimart, was released in 1991.
• Los Fabulosos Cadillacs' "Matador", heard during the dance scene at the reunion, was released in 1993.
• The Specials' version of "Pressure Drop", played by Debi at the radio station during her "'80s weekend" was released in 1996.
• Eels' "Your Lucky Day in Hell", heard when Martin and Debi visit the Hippo Club for drinks, was also released in 1996.

The soundtrack album reached number 31 on the Billboard 200 chart,[11] prompting the release of a second volume of songs from the film.[12]

The film was released on VHS and DVD in 1998 in the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Australia and New Zealand.

According to Joan Cusack, the 2008 film War, Inc. is an informal sequel. Both films are similar in style and theme, and both star John as an assassin and his sister Joan as his assistant, with Dan Aykroyd in a supporting role.[13]

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Grosse Pointe Blank

• Grosse Pointe Blank at IMDb
• Grosse Pointe Blank at AllMovie
• Grosse Pointe Blank at Box Office Mojo
• Grosse Pointe Blank at Rotten Tomatoes
• Grosse Pointe Blank at Metacritic
• "The Recesses of High School" by Jo Scott-Coe, in River Teeth 9.2 (Spring 2008)