# State of Grace (1990 film)
**State of Grace** is a 1990 American crime drama directed by Phil Joanou, in which an undercover New York police officer returns to the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan and infiltrates the Irish-American mob run by his childhood friends.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/58697-STATE-OF-GRACE) It stars [Sean Penn](https://www.edgepedia.org/sean-penn), Ed Harris, Gary Oldman, Robin Wright, John Turturro, and [Burgess Meredith](https://www.edgepedia.org/burgess-meredith), runs 134 minutes, and is rated R.[2](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/state-of-grace-1990) Released in September 1990 within weeks of Martin Scorsese's *GoodFellas*, it performed poorly at the box office but has since been re-evaluated by critics as an underrated entry in the gangster genre.[2](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/state-of-grace-1990) • [3](https://www.cinematicrandomness.com/state-of-grace-4k-review/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Release | Premiered at the Montreal World Film Festival on 30 August 1990; U.S. release 14 September 1990[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/58697-STATE-OF-GRACE) |
| Director / writer | Phil Joanou; screenplay by Dennis McIntyre, with uncredited rewriting by David Rabe[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/58697-STATE-OF-GRACE) • [4](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/state-of-grace/) |
| Principal cast | Sean Penn (Terry), Ed Harris (Frankie), Gary Oldman (Jackie), Robin Wright (Kathleen), John Turturro, Burgess Meredith[2](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/state-of-grace-1990) |
| Setting | Hell's Kitchen, New York City, home of the Irish-American gang known as the Westies[5](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-09-14-ca-66-story.html) |
| Basis | Loosely based on alliances in the 1970s between the Westies and the Italian-American Gambino crime family[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/58697-STATE-OF-GRACE) |
| Running time / rating | 134 minutes, rated R[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/58697-STATE-OF-GRACE) |
| Reception | 86% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer (28 reviews); Metascore 60 on Metacritic (19 critics); 7.1/10 on IMDb[6](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/state_of_grace) • [4](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/state-of-grace/) • [7](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0100685/ratings/) |
## Spoilers
### Plot
Terry Noonan (Sean Penn), gone from the neighborhood for a decade, is welcomed back into his Irish-American community in New York City. A one-time street tough, he is now an undercover officer targeting the crime boss Frankie Flannery ([Ed Harris](https://www.edgepedia.org/ed-harris)). In the name of duty, Terry rekindles his dormant friendship with Frankie's younger brother Jackie ([Gary Oldman](https://www.edgepedia.org/gary-oldman)), a member of the gang. As Terry closes in on his goal, his renewed feelings for the youngest Flannery, his old flame Kathleen ([Robin Wright](https://www.edgepedia.org/robin-wright)), complicate the mission.[6](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/state_of_grace)
The gang operates in a neighborhood being transformed by gentrification; Roger Ebert, the longtime film critic of the *Chicago Sun-Times*, observed that the film is "not quite sure which is worse, murder, or yuppies moving into the neighborhood," and that rising rents are one measure of the gangsters' decline.[2](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/state-of-grace-1990) Jackie's increasingly erratic behavior threatens a new alliance with the Italian mafia, while Terry harbors a perilous secret that the film does not reveal until its second half.[8](https://mubi.com/en/us/films/state-of-grace) • [2](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/state-of-grace-1990)
## Production
The film was shot entirely on location in Manhattan, the Bronx, and New Jersey, using more than sixty locations, mainly in Hell's Kitchen on Manhattan's West Side. A scene between Sean Penn and Burgess Meredith was filmed at a city-owned apartment building at 827 Tenth Avenue, a former [Westies](https://www.edgepedia.org/westies) hangout that police had raided. [Principal photography](https://www.edgepedia.org/principal-photography) began on 15 June 1989.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/58697-STATE-OF-GRACE)
**Casting and title changes.** In pre-production the working title was *Westies*. Actor [Bill Pullman](https://www.edgepedia.org/bill-pullman) was originally set to play Frankie Flannery, and [Dennis Hopper](https://www.edgepedia.org/dennis-hopper) was supposed to direct; neither was involved in the final film. [Orion Pictures](https://www.edgepedia.org/orion-pictures) wanted to change the title to *Hell's Kitchen*, but Joanou fought to keep *State of Grace*. Screenwriter Dennis McIntyre, a playwright, died on 1 February 1990 while the film was still in post-production.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/58697-STATE-OF-GRACE) David Rabe worked with Joanou on the late McIntyre's script, doing rewriting that went uncredited.[4](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/state-of-grace/) • [9](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-09-23-ca-1466-story.html)
The crew included cinematographer Jordan Cronenweth, editor Claire Simpson, and composer [Ennio Morricone](https://www.edgepedia.org/ennio-morricone), whose insinuating score the *New York Times* critic Janet Maslin cited as part of the film's somber, chilling tone.[2](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/state-of-grace-1990) • [4](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/state-of-grace/)
## Release and box office
*State of Grace* premiered at the Montreal World Film Festival in Canada on 30 August 1990. In the United States it opened well in limited release but, according to the [American Film Institute](https://www.edgepedia.org/american-film-institute) catalog, quickly "died" when it expanded.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/58697-STATE-OF-GRACE) Figures compiled on [Letterboxd](https://www.edgepedia.org/letterboxd) put the budget at $16 million and the box office at $2 million.[10](https://letterboxd.com/bnh77/film/state-of-grace/) Its timing was unlucky: it reached theaters at about the same time as *GoodFellas*, which covers similar ground and which Ebert called a film "so strong and graceful that few others can stand comparison to it."[2](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/state-of-grace-1990) MUBI likewise describes the film as released "unluckily" in the shadow of *Goodfellas*.[8](https://mubi.com/en/us/films/state-of-grace)
## Critical reception
Contemporary reviews were divided. Maslin praised the cinematography and score; Newsweek's David Ansen credited Joanou with unfolding the story of violence, fratricide, and betrayal with "masterly assurance."[4](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/state-of-grace/) Others were harsher: Sheila Benson of the *Los Angeles Times* called the film "thudding pretentiousness" and criticized its indulgences, and Peter Travers in *Rolling Stone* wrote that the movie was marred by overkill, especially a "brutal and bloated allegorical ending" he felt was lifted clumsily from *The Godfather*. Variety judged it "a handsomely produced, mostly riveting, but ultimately overlong and overindulgent gangster picture."[4](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/state-of-grace/) • [6](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/state_of_grace)
Reviewers across decades have singled out Gary Oldman's performance as Jackie. The *Seattle Times* called it the standout among numerous fine performances; Matt Brunson described him as "a twitchy live wire who's fiercely loyal to friends and family"; and MUBI notes that his "virtuosic, live-wire turn" has been cited by [Leonardo DiCaprio](https://www.edgepedia.org/leonardo-dicaprio) as a major influence.[4](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/state-of-grace/) • [6](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/state_of_grace) • [8](https://mubi.com/en/us/films/state-of-grace)
Aggregated scores reflect the split between critics and audiences. The film holds an 86% Tomatometer from 28 reviews and an 82% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, a Metascore of 60 on Metacritic, and 7.1/10 from about 30,000 users on IMDb.[6](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/state_of_grace) • [4](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/state-of-grace/) • [7](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0100685/ratings/) Later assessments have been more favorable than the initial ones: a 2025 review called it "a stone cold classic in its own right," noting that it updates gangster-film conventions by setting its narrative firmly in the present of 1990 rather than in a nostalgic past,[6](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/state_of_grace) and a 4K restoration review described a gradual re-evaluation of the film in the decades since its release.[3](https://www.cinematicrandomness.com/state-of-grace-4k-review/)
## Themes and legacy
The film draws on the real Westies, the Irish-American gang whose turf was Hell's Kitchen, and on that gang's 1970s working relationship with the [Gambino crime family](https://www.edgepedia.org/gambino-crime-family).[5](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-09-14-ca-66-story.html) • [1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/58697-STATE-OF-GRACE) Scholarship on the gangster genre treats *State of Grace* as a film that moved the genre away from Italian-American settings toward contemporary settings and other ethnicities, and as an example of the police/gangster doubling built on childhood friendship, religion, and community life.[11](https://jflcc.thebrpi.org/journals/jflcc/Vol_3_No_2_December_2015/1.pdf) • [12](https://zaguan.unizar.es/record/15536/files/TAZ-TFG-2014-1216.pdf) Terry's divided loyalties, an undercover officer torn between the law and his boyhood friends, prefigure the double-identity conflicts later dramatized in *The Departed*, where the inner struggle Terry represented is split between two policemen.[13](https://unitesi.unive.it/retrieve/3f3dd2c8-0eaa-4b6e-80ea-7ef84b78db15/820901-1173782.pdf)
## References
1. [State of Grace (1990), AFI Catalog of Feature Films](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/58697-STATE-OF-GRACE)
2. [Roger Ebert, "State of Grace" review, Chicago Sun-Times (September 14, 1990)](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/state-of-grace-1990)
3. [State of Grace (1990) 4K review, Cinematic Randomness](https://www.cinematicrandomness.com/state-of-grace-4k-review/)
4. [State of Grace Reviews, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/state-of-grace/)
5. [Sheila Benson, "'Grace': The Gang That Couldn't Fit In," Los Angeles Times (September 14, 1990)](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-09-14-ca-66-story.html)
6. [State of Grace, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/state_of_grace)
7. [State of Grace (1990) Ratings, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0100685/ratings/)
8. [State of Grace, MUBI](https://mubi.com/en/us/films/state-of-grace)
9. ["Who Did What" correction, Los Angeles Times (September 30, 1990)](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-09-23-ca-1466-story.html)
10. [State of Grace review with box-office data, Letterboxd](https://letterboxd.com/bnh77/film/state-of-grace/)
11. [Journal of Film and Language and Communication, Vol. 3 No. 2 (2015)](https://jflcc.thebrpi.org/journals/jflcc/Vol_3_No_2_December_2015/1.pdf)
12. [Undergraduate thesis on Irish-American gangster films, University of Zaragoza (2014)](https://zaguan.unizar.es/record/15536/files/TAZ-TFG-2014-1216.pdf)
13. [Thesis on The Departed and the undercover theme, Ca' Foscari University of Venice](https://unitesi.unive.it/retrieve/3f3dd2c8-0eaa-4b6e-80ea-7ef84b78db15/820901-1173782.pdf)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Crime, thriller, and mystery films (individual works) › 1990s films › Thrillers › Released 1990 to 1995*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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