Details

  • Director: David Weaver
  • Writer:
  • Producer: Suzanne Cheriton, Andras Hamori, Tony Wosk
  • Cast: Ruth Negga, Samuel L. Jackson, Tom Wilkinson
  • Website: http://www.thesamaritanfilm.com

Synopsis

After twenty five years in prison, Foley (Samuel L. Jackson) is finished with the grifter's life. Prison and a lifetime in the game have stripped him of friends, family and a reason to get up in the morning, but when he meets an elusive young woman named Iris (Ruth Negga), the possibility of a new start looks real. Yet his past is proving to be a stubborn companion: Ethan (Luke Kirby), the son of his former partner, wants to learn the game - and who better to learn from than the closest thing he has to a father? And he has the perfect mark: Ethan's boss Xavier (Tom Wilkinson) a brutal man admired in the straight world for his business savvy, and feared in the underworld for his ruthlessness, is coming to town, and there's an easy $8 million to be had if you know how to play smart. The play is an old classic con - The Samaritan - the inside man, the outside man, the catch and the mark. It's a dangerous and high risk setup requiring nerves of steel, precision timing and a bit of finesse to make it convincing. Foley could do it in his sleep - if he wanted to. But he doesn't and he won't. That is until Ethan raises the stakes and plays some cards that Foley never knew were in the deck. He's trapped and the con is on. Foley finds himself caught up in a nightmare situation and for the first time, with something personal to lose. The mark proves more formidable than Foley anticipated and every unexpected turn could blow the whole thing up, leaving Foley vulnerable, exposed and hopelessly watching everything that matters to him slip through his fingers. In a good con nothing is as it seems, and Foley finds out, too late, that the player has been played. The only way out is to play the game to the end, and hope they make it out alive.

 

Trailer

 

Reviews

"A rock solid Samuel L. Jackson adeptly anchors the twists and turns of this noir crime thriller. [...] The grift is on in The Samaritan, a gritty serving of pulp fiction masterfully perpetrated by Samuel L. Jackson as a philosophical ex-con trying to buck the considerable odds by taking a shot at redemption"
"Jackson carries all before him."
Derek Malcolm, EVENING STANDARD
"The difference between film noir and more straightforward crime pictures is that noir is more open to human flaws and likes to embed them in twisty plot lines. The Samaritan isn't a great noir, but it's true to the tradition and gives Samuel L. Jackson one of his best recent roles"
Roger Ebert, ROGEREBERT.COM

Awards

  • 3 Award Nominations
  • 0 Award Wins