''Grace Quigley'' (also titled ''The Ultimate Solution of Grace Quigley'') is a 1985 American

black comedy film Black comedy, also known as black humor, bleak comedy, dark comedy, dark humor, gallows humor or morbid humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally ...

starring

Katharine Hepburn Katharine Houghton Hepburn (May 12, 1907 – June 29, 2003) was an American actress whose Katharine Hepburn on screen and stage, career as a Golden Age of Hollywood, Hollywood leading lady spanned six decades. She was known for her headstrong ...

and

Nick Nolte Nicholas King Nolte (; born February 8, 1941) is an American actor. Known for his leading man roles in both dramas and romances, he has received a Golden Globe Award as well as nominations for three Academy Awards and a Primetime Emmy Award. Nol ...

, produced by

Yoram Globus Yoram Globus (; born 7 September 1943) is an Israeli–American film producer, cinema owner, and distributor. He has been involved in over 300 full-length motion pictures and he is most known for his association with The Cannon Group, Inc., an ...

and

Menahem Golan Menahem Golan (; May 31, 1929 – August 8, 2014, originally Menachem Globus) was an Israelis, Israeli film producer, screenwriter, and director. He co-owned The Cannon Group with his cousin Yoram Globus. Cannon specialized in producing low-to-mid ...

and directed by Anthony Harvey. The film is noted for being Hepburn's last leading role in a film for the big screen, as well as the last appearance, stage or otherwise, of Walter Abel. The film is primarily set in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. An elderly widow is suicidal, but survives repeated

suicide attempt A suicide attempt is an act in which an individual tries to kill themselves but survives. Mental health professionals discourage describing suicide attempts as "failed" or "unsuccessful", as doing so may imply that a suicide resulting in death is ...

s. She hires a

contract killer Contract killing (also known as murder-for-hire) is a form of murder or assassination in which one party hires another party to kill a targeted person or people. It involves an illegal agreement which includes some form of compensation, moneta ...

to end her life, and also asks him to kill other lonely old people. She views these acts as mercy killings, not

murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse committed with the necessary Intention (criminal law), intention as defined by the law in a specific jurisd ...

Plot

The plot centers on Grace, an elderly widow who lives alone in a dreary New York City apartment. She has twice survived her own suicide attempts, so she decides to hire Seymour, a hit man, to kill her and then do in others like her who are old, alone and tired of living. To her way of thinking, this professional killer will be committing acts of mercy, not murder.

Cast

as Grace Quigley *

as Seymour Flint * Kit Le Fever as Muriel *

Chip Zien Jerome Herbert "Chip" Zien (born March 20, 1947) is an American actor. He is best known for originating the lead role of the Baker in the original Broadway production of the musical ''Into the Woods'' by Stephen Sondheim. He appeared in all of ...

as Dr. Herman *

William Duell Darwin William Duell (born George William Duell; August 30, 1923 – December 22, 2011) was an American actor and singer. He was known for his roles as Andrew McNair in the musical ''1776 (musical), 1776'', Jim Sefelt in the 1975 film ''One Fl ...

as Mr. Jenkins * Elizabeth Wilson as Emily Watkins * Walter Abel as Homer Morrison

Versions

In addition to the version of the film originally released in 1985, two other versions are known to exist: the original cut, which premiered at the 1984 Cannes Film Festival running 102 minutes; and the alternate and re-edited version titled ''The Ultimate Solution of Grace Quigley'', assembled by screenwriter A. Martin Zweiback, running 94 minutes. The latter version is considered superior by some critics..

References

External links

* * {{Anthony Harvey 1985 films 1985 black comedy films American black comedy films Films about contract killing Films about old age Films about widowhood in the United States Golan-Globus films Films directed by Anthony Harvey Films scored by John Addison Films set in New York City Films shot in New York City Films produced by Menahem Golan Films produced by Yoram Globus 1980s English-language films 1980s American films English-language black comedy films