Film

Gloria

Name: Gloria
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Released: 1980
Cast: Gena Rowlands, Buck Henry, Julie Carmen, John Adames, Tony Knesich

Other titles called Gloria: the 2013 film.

A New York thriller built entirely around Gena Rowlands' charisma. A hardened woman and a traumatized boy become unlikely partners on the run from the mob, moving through the city's underside with crackling dialogue and genuine danger. It's intimate and brutal—a character study that happens to be a crime film. For fans of tough, human-scaled storytelling.

TMDb rating

3.5

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you want a gritty chase movie that is really about one stubborn woman's refusal to be sentimental, with the streets of New York doing as much talking as the plot.

Skip it if you need a tidy, fast-moving thriller, since this runs long for its genre and spends plenty of time on mood, streets and a grudging bond rather than set pieces.

What it asks of you: It runs just over two hours and lets scenes breathe, so expect long stretches of talk and waiting, with violence arriving in short, sudden bursts.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Taxi Driver1976

De Niro navigates urban decay and moral corruption with stunning intensity. Like Gloria, it's a portrait of isolation and damage set against New York's grit, driven by a performer at absolute peak power.

But It's deliberately bleak and claustrophobic. The pacing is slow, and there's no comfort in watching this particular journey unfold.

The Long Goodbye1973

Altman's revision of noir: a detective stumbling through modern Los Angeles who refuses to play the game the way it's meant to be played. Like Gloria, it's smart and subversive about genre, with dialogue that breathes.

But It's deliberately anti-climactic and works against noir tradition. Some find it more interested in deflating expectations than satisfying them.

Klute1971

Jane Fonda anchors this thriller about a woman caught between worlds, pursued and pursuing. The character work and the suspense are equally weighted, and Fonda's performance has the same intelligent toughness Rowlands brings here.

But It's primarily a character study dressed as a thriller, not the other way around. If you want plot momentum over interiority, it can feel slow.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Gloria

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Johnny Handsome1989

Both are crime thrillers that pivot on empathy for people shaped by violence, told with unflinching tenderness rather than cynicism. Same moral architecture, vastly different aesthetics.

Walter Hill directs Mickey Rourke in a crime film about a man disfigured by the underworld, surgically reconstructed, then forced back into that world. Like Gloria, it's about brutal people trapped by circumstance and damaged childhoods, but shot through with genuine empathy and a near-operatic visual style.

But The '80s synthesizer score and neon aesthetic feel dated. Some find Rourke's performance too mannered for a character drama.

Thief1981

James Caan as a jewel thief trying to build a life; Michael Mann's cool, precise direction and aching synthesizer score create something between heist film and character elegy. Both films have that sharp urban loneliness.

But It's more style-forward than story-forward. The romance subplot may feel underdeveloped compared to the visual precision elsewhere.

A Woman Under the Influence1974

Gena Rowlands again—and she's extraordinary. Cassavetes' film about a woman unraveling is raw, improvised-feeling character work. It's the depth of acting Rowlands brings to Gloria, applied to pure emotional devastation.

But It's nearly three hours of watching someone in crisis. There's no plot to hang onto, just the ache of watching her suffer and her family struggle.

The Grifters1990

Con artists and small-time criminals moving through the underworld with style and moral compromise. Anjelica Huston is magnificent, and like Gloria, it's about characters shaped by necessity into something harder than human.

But It's cynical about nearly everyone in it. The mood is dark and the ending offers no redemption, which some find nihilistic rather than honest.

In the Heat of the Night1967

Sidney Poitier and Rod Steiger as unlikely partners forced together by circumstance in the Deep South. Like Gloria, it's about two people from opposing worlds learning to trust each other while danger closes in.

But It's a procedural mystery first, character study second. If you're coming for psychological depth, the plot mechanics can feel slightly tidy.

Pickup on South Street1953

Fuller's lean, punchy thriller about a pickpocket, a woman, and stolen microfilm in New York. The dialogue crackles and the city feels lived-in and dangerous. Same energy, different era.

But It's a B-picture with all the roughness that entails. The emotional register is cooler and the female character exists somewhat in service to the plot.

The Outfit1973

Robert Duvall as a career criminal emerging from prison into an organized crime world that's moved on without him. Gritty, character-driven crime film with authentic-feeling violence and a protagonist you understand without liking.

But It's deliberately unglamorous and the protagonist's arc is subtle. There's no catharsis, and some viewers find the pacing deliberate to the point of tedium.

Mouchette1967

Both films locate tenderness within hardness—a adult and child forced into an unnatural alliance by circumstance, moving through a world indifferent to their survival. Gloria finds warmth; Bresson finds only ash. Same DNA, opposite conclusions.

Bresson's devastating portrait of a teenage girl trapped in poverty and cruelty in rural France. Sparse, controlled, almost documentary-like. The relationship between a child and a protecting adult facing impossible circumstances is the emotional core—and it's heartbreaking in a way that Gloria approaches from a different angle.

But Bresson's style is austere to the point of abstraction. There's almost no music, minimal acting, and the ending is bleak. It feels like watching someone suffer with clinical precision.

Mulholland Drive2001

Both are built on the uncanny intimacy between two people bound together by circumstances beyond their control, moving through a city that contains them. Gloria is realist and propulsive; Mulholland Drive is surrealist and recursive. Same emotional engine, opposite directions.

Lynch's three-hour fever dream about Hollywood, identity, and two women circling each other through Los Angeles. It has Gloria's intensity and psychological complexity, but operates in a register of dream and fragmentation. Naomi Watts and Laura Harring create the same crackling intimacy between unlikely partners.

But It's deliberately cryptic and non-linear. If you need narrative clarity, it will frustrate you. It's more interested in feeling and mood than explaining itself.