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Grosse Pointe Blank

1997 film directed by George Armitage

Manuscripts, fine bindings, an engraving plate and preserved performance ephemera
Arts and lettersInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 4, 2026
Entity authorityQ288355
Source-derived summary

Grosse Pointe Blank is a 1997 American black comedy romantic crime film directed by George Armitage and written by Tom Jankiewicz, D. V. DeVincentis, Steve Pink, and John Cusack. Based on a story written by Jankiewicz, it follows a professional assassin who leaves Los Angeles to attend a high school reunion in his hometown of Grosse Pointe, Michigan, where he reconnects with the girlfriend he abandoned on prom night. The film stars Cusack, Minnie Driver, and Dan Aykroyd.

The score was composed by Joe Strummer, formerly of the Clash, and the soundtrack features punk rock, ska, and new wave songs by artists including The Clash, the Specials, and Echo & the Bunnymen. The soundtrack album peaked at number 31 on the Billboard 200 and later prompted a second volume. Grosse Pointe Blank was released by Buena Vista Pictures on April 11, 1997. The film itself received positive reviews from critics and grossed $31 million on a $15 million budget.

Plot

Martin Blank, a professional assassin based in Los Angeles, is preparing for a job when his assistant Marcella informs him that he has received an invitation to his ten-year high school reunion. Fellow assassin Grocer approaches Martin about joining his up-and-coming assassin's union, which Martin refuses as he prefers to work alone. On a job in Miami, Martin's attempt to stage his target's cause of death as natural causes goes wrong, and he is forced to shoot the target.

Editorial summary

“Grosse Pointe Blank” enters the record as 1997 film directed by George Armitage. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Grosse, Pointe and Blank can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewA productive route into publication, performance and collection histories when the underlying object or edition remains clearly identified. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1997—that can be checked directly. The authority record carries competing date values—1997-08-21, 1997-01-01—which should remain separate until their references and qualifiers are resolved. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Grosse, Pointe and Blank.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“Grosse Pointe Blank” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Grosse, Pointe and Blank provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

Object files, edition statements, performance records and contemporary criticism preserve different stages of the work’s history. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 4, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q288355. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1997.

Critical limits

Later fame can flatten the distinction between original context, subsequent adaptation and institutional collecting history. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.

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  • Identifying works and editions
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The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Grosse Pointe Blank”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Grosse Pointe Blank primary sources, Grosse Pointe Blank archive and Grosse research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Grosse Pointe Blank”?
  2. Which edition, object, performance or recording is being described?
  3. How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Grosse Pointe Blank” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.