Thursday, June 07, 2007
The Killing of a Chinese Bookie
After just posting my Top 5 films I’m embarrassed to not have seen, I can now knock one of them off my list. I just watched the #5 film, The Killing of a Chinese Bookie. (Maybe I’ll work on the list from 5 to 1.)
I was not disappointed with this film. I have a hard time recommending it to most people since this is probably not a film to see if you are not a fan of the Cassavetes style. It is definitely not the film to introduce you to this style of filmmaking. But for fans this is a must see.
The story is very simplistic. An owner of a second rate strip club (Ben Gazzara) gets snookered into a $23,000 gambling debt by a floating casino manager (Seymour Cassel). To retire the debt he is forced by the head gangster (Timothy Carey) to kill a Chinese bookie where it’s obvious they don’t expect him to be able to kill the man and survive.
As any Cassavetes film the plot is secondary to the character’s mundane actions. Sometimes this can seem tedious but this film is interesting and riveting throughout. As expected Gazzara & Cassel are wonderful. This film would make a wonderful double feature with Saint Jack with Gazarra playing a similar character a couple of years after this film. It was great to see a young, dynamic Cassel, best known for his roles in the recent Wes Anderson films.
The surprise of the film was finding Timothy Carey. I don’t recall ever seeing him before but he had a great presence on screen. Weird his most notable roles are in films he was uncredited. A couple of other things I enjoyed were Al Ruban, a cameraman on the film, has a nice part as a gangster in an early scene & the score by Bo Harwood.
I also watched the 1978 re-cut. Other than as an interesting look into the creative process there is no reason to watch this: stick to the longer 1976 version. While the shorter version gets to the action quicker, all of the rhythm you expect from a Cassavetes film has been removed. The only reason to put this disc in the DVD player is to check out a couple of really nice extras.
I was not disappointed with this film. I have a hard time recommending it to most people since this is probably not a film to see if you are not a fan of the Cassavetes style. It is definitely not the film to introduce you to this style of filmmaking. But for fans this is a must see.
The story is very simplistic. An owner of a second rate strip club (Ben Gazzara) gets snookered into a $23,000 gambling debt by a floating casino manager (Seymour Cassel). To retire the debt he is forced by the head gangster (Timothy Carey) to kill a Chinese bookie where it’s obvious they don’t expect him to be able to kill the man and survive.
As any Cassavetes film the plot is secondary to the character’s mundane actions. Sometimes this can seem tedious but this film is interesting and riveting throughout. As expected Gazzara & Cassel are wonderful. This film would make a wonderful double feature with Saint Jack with Gazarra playing a similar character a couple of years after this film. It was great to see a young, dynamic Cassel, best known for his roles in the recent Wes Anderson films.
The surprise of the film was finding Timothy Carey. I don’t recall ever seeing him before but he had a great presence on screen. Weird his most notable roles are in films he was uncredited. A couple of other things I enjoyed were Al Ruban, a cameraman on the film, has a nice part as a gangster in an early scene & the score by Bo Harwood.
I also watched the 1978 re-cut. Other than as an interesting look into the creative process there is no reason to watch this: stick to the longer 1976 version. While the shorter version gets to the action quicker, all of the rhythm you expect from a Cassavetes film has been removed. The only reason to put this disc in the DVD player is to check out a couple of really nice extras.
Labels: FilmReview
