Good film but I wish it had stayed true to the theme of the novel.

Jim Thompson's novel is, by and large, about the chances Roy gets/is getting for getting out of the grift.

1) The novel opens with him getting hit in the stomach as a result of a con gone awry - an incident that almost costs him his life and gives him much fodder for reconsideration about his chosen vocation.

2) His mother wants the same.

3) During his vacation with Myra (Moira in the book), another one of his cons in a diner goes balls-up, only this time without any physical harm to him or otherwise.

4) In the novel, he is shown having a legit job as a salesman which provides a solid cover as well as grifting opportunities. When his superior offers him a promotion to the level of sales manager, he stalls off at first because then he will have to stop grifting but ultimately takes the offer and even befriends the superior in the process. In the novel when he tells Lily in the last scene that he is getting out just as she wanted, we know the hows and whys behind it. This line survives in the film but not the background to it.

"Kill the body and the head will die. - Smokin' Joe Frazier.