The Killing of a Chinese Bookie

John Cassavetes

The son of Greek immigrants, graduated from New York’s American Academy of Dramatic Arts in 1950 and began acting in theaters, films and many television series. In 1954 he married the actress Gena Rowlands, who remained his companion throughout his life and also starred in many of his films. In 1957 he founded the Cassavetes-Lane Drama Workshop in New York and began to develop a creative technique based on improvisation and a faithful representation of reality. This led to
his first film, Shadows (1959), which he shot in 16mm, produced himself, and which took him three years to complete (there are two versions, the second is re-edited in 35mm). After he was publicly praised by Jonas Mekas, he was consecrated as one of the leaders of the New American Cinema Group (even though Cassavetes refused to sign the manifesto). Thanks to the success of this film, Paramount asked him to shoot Too Late Blues (1961), but he had problems with the strict logic of Hollywood and was dissatisfied with the film. The same thing happened with his next film, A Child Is Waiting (1963), and the disagreements he had with the producer, Robert Kramer, ended up sidelining his directing career; during this period he returned to acting on television and in films. In 1965 he began to work on a project outside the normal commercial dynamics, Faces, a vast work in progress which he concluded in 1968. During that same period he acted in important films like The Dirty Dozen (1967) by Robert Aldrich (for which he received an Oscar Nomination as Best
Supporting Actor) and Rosemary’s Baby (1968) by Roman Polanski. Starting in the 1970s he began directing the films that made him one of America’s most important directors of the period, as well as a model for any director aiming to work outside the film industry: Husbands (1970), Minnie and Moskowitz (1972), A Woman Under the Influence (1975), The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (1976-1978) and Opening Night (1977). In these films, Cassavetes developed an increasingly faceted approach to independent cinema, his own free style and themes like the problems couples have and the frustration of contemporary man. He worked with a steady group of actors and collaborators including Peter Falk, Ben Gazzara, Seymour Cassel, Al Rubin and Gena Rowlands. In 1980 he won the Leone
d’oro in Venice for Gloria and during the next years
he worked as a stage director too and directed Love
Streams (1984), which won the Golden Bear in
Berlin, and Big Trouble (1985), a disastrous
production which Cassavetes inherited from Andrew
Bergman, accepting to work on it for his friendship
with Peter Falk and to respect the contract signed
with Columbia Pictures. He died in 1989.

FILMOGRAFIA

Shadows (Ombre, 1958-59), «Johnny Staccato» (ep. Murder for Credit; Evil; A Piece of Paradise; TV, 1959), «Johnny Staccato» (Night of Jeopardy; Solomon; TV, 1960), Too Late Blues (Blues di mezzanotte, 1961), «The Lloyd Bridges Show» (ep. Pair of Boots, TV, 1962), «The Lloyd Bridges Show» (Ep. My Daddy Can Lick Your Daddy, TV, 1963), A Child Is Waiting (Gli esclusi, 1963), «Bob Hope Presents The Chrysler Theatre» (ep. In Pursuit of Excellence, TV, 1966), Faces (Volti, 1968), Husbands (Mariti, 1970), Minnie and Moskowitz (Minnie e Moskowitz, 1972), «Columbo» (ep. Étude in Black, «Colombo», ep. Concerto con delitto, TV, 1972), «Columbo» (ep. Swan Song, «Colombo», ep. Il canto del cigno, 1974), A Womand Under the Influence (Una moglie, 1975), The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (L’assassinio di un allibratore cinese, 1976 - 1978), Opening Night (La sera della prima, 1977), Gloria (Una notte d’estate - Gloria, 1980), Love Streams (Love Streams - Scia d’amore, 1984), Big Trouble (Il grande imbroglio, 1985).