MORE DIRECTORS CHECKLIST SERIES - Volume #242 - THE FILMS OF JOHN CASSAVETES

Rank 'em, Rate 'em, Review 'em, whatever

Volume #242 - John Cassavetes

Big Trouble (1986)
Love Streams (1984)
Gloria (1980)
Opening Night (1977)
The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (1976)
A Woman Under the Influence (1974)
Minnie and Moskowitz (1971)
Husbands (1970)
Faces (1968)
"Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre" (1963) TV Series (episode "In Pursuit of Excellence")
... aka Universal Star Time (syndication title)
A Child Is Waiting (1963)
"The Lloyd Bridges Show" (1962) TV Series
My Daddy Can Lick Your Daddy (1962)
A Pair of Boots (1962)
Too Late Blues (1961)
Shadows (1959)
"Johnny Staccato" (1959) TV Series (episode "Evil") (episode "Night of Jeopardy") (episode "A Piece of Paradise") (episode "Solomon")

One of America's finest artists and filmmakers, and a true independant, John Cassavetes made his films with family and friends, often spent his own money on them, edited in his home, and above all, poured himself into every frame of film. He developed his scripts based on improvisational rehearsals with the actors and filmed in a cinema verite style often compared to the French New Wave, but which was truly his own.

To quote Peter Falk, "Every Cassavetes film is always about the same thing. Somebody said 'Man is God in ruins,' and John saw the ruins with a clarity that you and I could not tolerate."

1. A Woman Under The Influence - A (all-time top 20, one of the most emotionally absorbing, moving, and draining films I've ever seen. Gena Rowlands turns in one of the all-time great filmic performances.)
2. Minnie & Moskowitz - A (a goofy, hilarious, and warm-hearted love story that captures the fear and uncertainty behind human behavior.)
3. Opening Night - A
4. The Killing of a Chinese Bookie - A- (A powerful performance by Ben Gazzara and spare camerawork highlight this film about a nightclub owner falling into the criminal underworld. I haven't watched my Criterion DVD so I can't evaluate the alternate cut)
5. Gloria - A- (Gena Rowlands is once again superb as a mob mole who gets saddled with caring for a child who's father was an FBI informant, making them both targets.)
6. Faces - B- (A film I had a number of problems with but am anxious to revisit, since this was the first of his films I saw.)
7. Shadows - C+ (Clearly a first film and still experimenting with his style, I found this overly self-conscious. Also suffers because his actors are a major step down from Rowlands, Gazzara, Falk, and Seymour Cassel. Does have some interesting photography of NYC locations and excellent jazz scoring by Charles Mingus)

Own: 6 (I own the Criterion box but haven't opened it. I watched the films on the old, terrible Pioneer DVD's.)

Would love to be able to see Love Streams and Husbands.

From what I've read Big Trouble was meant to be a sequel to the In-Laws, it just didn't quite turn out that way. It was scripted by Andrew Bergman who also wrote The In-Laws and had the same stars. There are also differing stories as to whether Cassavetes really directed it and how much he directed of it. It seems there was another director who was fired off the movie and then Cassavetes assumed it but I've seen several different accounts of how far along the movie was. In any event it was a problem-filled shoot and by this time Cassavetes was seriously ill. He died from Cirrhosis of the liver a year or two later.