John Cassavetes: Five Films

For almost as long as there have been American movies, there have been Hollywood studios making them. While they have been responsible for many beloved and classic films over the years, audiences haven't been limited to their output. Independent producers and directors have helped expand what and how stories could be told, taking chances in ways studios have been unable. The history of independent cinema is populated with many notable figures, such as filmmakers Roger Corman and John Sayles. Although he worked as an actor and director within the studio system, John Cassavetes' also directed and financed films himself, which allowed him creative control. The Criterion Collection honors Cassavetes with this collection of 'Five Films'.

'Shadows' (1959) [4/5] was his first film. He shot it twice, and Criterion presents the second version. Rather than a traditional plot, it is a slice of life, presenting a very authentic version of the Beatnik lifestyle amongst the youth of 1950s New York City. An African-American family serves as the film's anchor. Older brother Hugh is a working musician, frustrated at having to introduce the club's dancing girls. Ben has similar aspirations, but loafs around with his friends. Their sister Leila is a virgin traversing the dating scene. When she dates a white man, the idea must have been somewhat shocking in its time considering some states still had laws against interracial marriage.

The end credits state, "The film you have just seen was an improvisation," a tool frequently used by Cassavetes in all five films, to varying degrees of success. The rawness of the performances works well, helped by the film's short runtime. The direction and cinematography are raw as well, and bring to mind some of the stylistic choices of the French New Wave in the following decade.

A year after the Summer of Love, 'Faces' (1968) [3.5/5] presents an uncomfortable exploration in the lives of unsatisfied people. Dicky (John Marley), Fred (Fred Draper), and Jeannie (Cassavetes' wife Gena Rowlands) are drunk at Jeannie's place. The laughs disappear quickly when Fred gets jealous of Dicky and Jeannie dancing. He demands to know how much she charges, how much it's going to cost him to be with her.

At home, neither Dicky nor his wife Maria (Lynn Carlin) are getting what they want from marriage. He returns to Jeannie's the next day. A different group of businessmen are being entertained with Jim (Val Avery) set to be Jeannie's date for the evening, but Dicky has other ideas. With Dicky out for the night, Maria and her friends go to nightclub and return with free-spirited Chet (Seymour Cassel), who is open to anything and everything. Florence (Dorothy Gulliver) is the oldest and seems the most in need of his affections.

Although the performances are believable and the actors brave, some scenes rambled on longer than needed. If the improv work ruled out a tighter script, then better editing needed to be employed to move on from a cut or a scene once the information presented was exhausted. Unfortunately, this is a common fault seen throughout Cassavetes' work.

'A Woman Under the Influence' (1974) [3.5/5] tells of another marriage, troubled for different reasons. Nick (Peter Falk) and Mabel (Rowlands) Longhetti are working-class parents working in Los Angeles. After sending the kids to stay with her mother, Mabel plans for an evening alone with her husband. But his job is going to keep him away. She runs off to a bar, has a guy buy her a drink, and he takes her home. At first, it appears the "influence" in the title is alcohol, but Mabel suffers from more than that.

In the morning, she mistakes the guy who brought her home for Nick, who he looks nothing like. Later that day, Nick brings his work buddies in for spaghetti and she acts bizarre toward them, asking odd questions and making weird noises. She alternates between moments of lucidity and what her mother-in-law calls "crazy," a catch-all for much misunderstood mental illness. While Cassavetes never makes clear what exactly is wrong with her, it's obviously something is as Nick struggles to deal with her.

Although Rowlands has moments where she comes across as acting crazy rather than being crazy, the entire cast, children included, do a very fine job of creating a family dealing with a difficult burden. For those that only know Falk from 'Columbo', he impresses with the range of emotions he displays of a husband having to deal with the sickness and worse that he agreed to in his vows. A small crack in his commitment is seen when he doesn’t respond to a question about whether he still loves her.

'The Killing of a Chinese Bookie' [3/5] (1976/1978) appears in two versions. "About the Versions" reveals the longer version bombed and was pulled from theaters in a week. After finishing 'Opening Night', he recut the film, creating a version 27 minutes shorter. Since editing is a weakness in Cassavetes' films, I chose the shorter version.

Cosmo Vittelli (Ben Gazzara) runs a burlesque club in Los Angeles and acts like a big shot, spending a night on the town with three of his girls in two. He reveals poor judgment, celebrating having just paid off a loan shark with an all-night poker game that finds him $23k in the debt. The mobsters have little patience so to square his debts he must kill a Chinese bookie.

Naturally, things aren't what they appear and don't go as planned. The plot offers a good twist, but then the gangsters have their own plan, which makes little sense. If the film had stayed as modern noir, it would have been better served, but for some odd reason we get lengthy performances from Cosmo's club, which not only include the girls, but the needless ramblings of emcee Mr. Sophistication (Meade Roberts) that brings the pacing to a screeching halt. Even this shorter version has problems, so I am not surprised the original bombed.

'Opening Night' (1977) [2.5/5] is another look at a woman under the influence. This time it is actress Myrtle Gordon (Rowlands) who begins to unravel while working on a play about an aging woman, a subject that strikes a chord with Myrtle. One night after rehearsal, she sees a fan hit by a car, and becomes haunted by the girl, who also represents her younger self. The film tries to play with the idea of whether there actually was a girl, but Myrtle goes to her funeral, which seems quite the dream/ hallucination and undercuts the ambiguity.

Myrtle becomes increasingly difficult to work with, so much so, it's hard to believe she wouldn't be replaced. She shows up to a performance late from a drinking binge and is so inebriated she can barely walk. Yet, she sobers up while on stage somehow to finish the play, which goes on for a long while in the film's final act. The audience goes wild for it, but it's hard to understand why. It comes across like Cassavetes and Rowland are just making up the play as they go, which they are, as revealed in the extras. Unfortunately, 'Opening Night' suffers more from the flaws of Cassavetes' work while offering little of the strengths.

The Blu-ray: Vital Disc Stats

'John Cassavetes: Five Films' (#251-255 in The Criterion Collection) collects five 50GB Region A Blu-ray discs, each housed within individual cardboard holders that are contained with a cardboard slipcase. The discs boot up directly to the menu screen without any promotional advertisements. Included is an 80-page booklet containing articles about each film, with Cassavetes writing or interviewed about each one, and tributes.