The Usual Suspects Resources

This is a great place to go if you want to see a cast list, learn some technical specifics about the movie, and discover what the big twist really is…thus totally ruining it for yourself.

It's kind of surprising how mixed to negative some of the reactions to The Usual Suspects originally were—Roger Ebert, probably the most famous film critic of his era, didn't like it at all. But, now, all the critics have caught up to speed, and the consensus on Rotten Tomatoes is "it's good."

This is basically the same thing as Rotten Tomatoes, except this focuses more on reviews from legit newspapers, whereas Tomatoes includes newspapers and random internet reviewers with their own websites.

This article deserves about five spoiler alerts—it delves deep into the movie's breathtaking, final surprise, examining how the screenwriter figured out what the twist would be in the same way that his character David Kujan discovers the twist. It also discusses the difficulties in making the final scene effective and all the little details that went into making it great—re-editing it, adding a new musical score, etc.

Singer discusses some of the challenges of making The Usual Suspects—like almost getting kicked out of the port of Los Angeles, and dealing with Benicio Del Toro's weird acting choices.

McQuarrie tells you straight up how he wrote the movie, lays all his cards on the table. In addition to detailing the way he wrote it—no outline, multiple drafts—he also discusses the ending, and the fact that he and the director Bryan Singer have differing opinions on what the ending signifies (though he doesn't explain specifically what).

Not only did McQuarrie write a great movie—he also had an interesting life before that, which involved getting fired from an Australian boarding school and working at a detective agency. He talks about all of this in the interview.

This article demonstrates that a lot of critics know a classic when they see it. It also demonstrates an ancient truth that the Egyptians (probably) carved on the sides of their pyramids: haters gonna hate. Read this and see who knew what they were talking about and who didn't.

Ebert's review was surprisingly negative—he only gave the movie one and a half stars. Maybe it was because he first saw it when he was at a film festival, watching about a hundred other movies, and he lost track of what seemed good? Who knows? Maybe it just wasn't on his frequency…

This is packed with fun facts relating to Benicio Del Toro's flatulence, Al Pacino's decision not to play Kujan, and the unexpected influence of The Wizard of Oz.

If the "14 Unusual Facts" activated your jones for unusual facts—well, there are sixteen more facts on file here.

This is basically more fun facts, but it goes a little deeper into them, analyzing them and explaining how The Usual Suspects indirectly led to the ongoing superhero movie craze.

This trailer tells you a lot about the story—even using the name "Keyser Söze"—and has a voiceover from that movie voiceover guy who always says, "In a world…" (He does it in this trailer).

Singer sits down with Charlie Rose—the master of the low-key, conversational and intelligent interview—to discuss The Usual Suspects.

Spacey accepts the award with a bit of humor, saying, "Whoever Keyser Söze is, he's going to get gloriously drunk tonight…"

Spacey discusses all the villainous roles he's played from Verbal to Frank Underwood to Shakespeare's Richard III. Interestingly, he points out some surprising similarities between all these characters…

A young, fresh-faced Benicio discusses his weird and comical role in the movie.

Verbal fills us in on Söze's bloody origins, telling us about the horrible incident which provoked Söze to kill his own family and then get revenge on the gangsters who had attacked his wife and killed one of his kids.

The lineup scene is a comical moment—we're getting to know the characters—but the ending is magical, a revelation of dreadful wonder.

This scene highlights Kujan's arrogance and over-confidence—qualities that don't work in his favor.

Kobayashi fills the guys in on the dire nature of their predicament… and its possibly wealth-bestowing payoff.

This Lego re-enactment of the lineup scene features all the un-edited profanity direct from the movie.

The allure of mystery… and suspense… all leading up to one final, spellbinding revelation. You can find it all implied here in the theme.

The clacking percussion feels like its counting down to something…a moment of violent intensity. It's used in the scene where they intercept the emerald dealer.

Like "New York's Finest" this also uses clicking percussion to make us feel like time is leading up to something. It plays during the sequence when the guys get arrested, and shows us that things are in the works, wheels are in motion.

The Turkish vibe of this soundtrack conjures up a sense of the mystery surrounding Keyser Söze…and the release when that mystery is finally solved, as Kujan looks at the bulletin board. The strings scream and build at the point when we see Kobayashi's name on the coffee cup.

The idea for the poster actually preceded the writing of the script. It was the seed of the movie: the image of five guys in a lineup.

This is basically just a version of the first poster, except with a different feel.

This image of the lineup scene shows a bunch of surly, weary, hostile-looking criminals—a dangerous brew.

Verbal grabs his bad hand and looks a little hard to gauge in this picture.

Keaton's got a mysterious, handsome Irish dude thing going on. We can't really read this guy.

Kujan is in interrogation mode, bending down to face Verbal and get up in his grill.

McManus looks like a wiseguy—with a potential edge of craziness and danger.

Fenster's got a bright red shirt on—or is it orange? Debate among yourselves.

Hockney rocks the goat-tee and looks like a New Yorker.

Kobayashi sweats it while McManus puts a gun to his head.

A youthful Singer mans a camera—probably for the dockside boat gunfight scene.

McQuarrie is older in this pic than he was when he wrote the movie. By this time, he's clearly got the gray-haired, sweater-wearing, bespectacled writer thing going on.

Scope the brand name of the cup, but don't do it before you watch the movie—it'll wreck a crucial detail.