Gloria

Gena Rowlands’s former gun moll Gloria is a reluctant heroine: reluctant to protect an orphan (“I hate kids”) and reluctant to take on the mob, whose members were once her friends. But when the moment for action comes, she acts, calmly shooting a carful of hit men, then just as calmly hailing a taxi to get away. And they’re off, through the streets and subways of New York, encountering the mob at every local store, bus stop, and train station. Yet the emphasis is less on violent confrontations than on emotional ones. The camera moves away from action, lingering instead on faces, showing us feelings, moments of exchange, fluctuations of character. 

—Kathy Geritz