Mountain FogRETROSPECT: THE KILLING OF A CHINESE BOOKIE (1976)
July 16th 2009 08:40
Ben Gazzara commands the screen in The Killing of a Chinese Bookie.
John Cassavetes is an often forgotten American filmmaker. Many would recognise him in the role of the manipulative Franko in The Dirty Dozen or perhaps as the self-absorbed Guy from Rosemary’s Baby, but few understand the impact Cassavetes has had on the modern movie landscape from behind the camera as both writer and director.
While his films were never commercially popular, they nevertheless inspired a fresh generation of filmmakers in the 1970s. A young Martin Scorsese in particular studied Cassavetes work in detail, claiming that the latter’s experimental 1959 film Shadows had the most significant impact on his development as a director.
Cassavetes had developed his style significantly by 1976’s The Killing of a Chinese Bookie, but his love for filmic verisimilitude and naturalistic performances remained intact. Furthermore, the writer/director had found his perfect onscreen expression in Ben Gazzara, a highly skilled actor whose distinctive balance of sensitive warmth and coiled welterweight defiance made him perfect for the role of Cassavetes’ put upon protagonist.
In The Killing of a Chinese Bookie Gazzara plays Cosmo Vitelli, the charismatic owner of a Los Angeles strip joint who recklessly gambles his way into debt with the local mob. While the club is a run down affair, specialising in strange comedy theatre rather than simple dancing, Cosmo is passionate about his business and looks upon the dancers and staff as his own family.
So when the mob offers him the chance to refinance the business as a way of lightening his debt he refuses, instead taking on a secondary proposition to murder a supposed local Chinese bookie. What Cosmo doesn’t know is that the man isn't actually a simple bookie. Indeed, the club owner's being set up, with the mob keen to do anything to gain control of his profitable joint.
But Cosmo proves to be more able in a fight than initially expected. He survives the task, creating a dangerous conundrum for the gangsters, who have to kill him before their Chinese counterparts find out they were behind the murder of what was in actual fact a high-level opium trader.
Mort (Seymour Cassel) tries to apply the pressure to Cosmo (Ben Gazzara) in The Killing of a Chinese Bookie.
It’s a great little set up for a film, but in The Killing of a Chinese Bookie Cassavetes isn’t nearly as interested in the plot as he is in the character of Cosmo. Cosmo was written as Cassavetes’ alter ego, and the director explained this to Gazzara during an early part of shooting when the actor was struggling to give voice to the role, saying that the gangsters in the film were a metaphor for the people in life who are constantly trying to steal or ruin people’s dreams. During this description Cassavetes started to cry, and Gazzara began to understand Cosmo through the prism of the writer/director’s struggles within the movie business.
It led to a highly visceral performance from Gazzara that was in turn amplified by Cassavetes’ detailed direction and some carefully intimate cinematography – a task shared by Al Ruban, Frederick Elmes, Mike Ferris and Michael Stringer. Gazzara dominates the film, channelling Cassavetes’ frustration, anger and sensitivity to create a highly effective portrait of a man suffering under the whimsies of circumstance.
For this reason, The Killing of a Chinese Bookie can’t help but also be a little self-indulgent. The plot is often left to slacken a little too much under the weight of such a hefty character portrait, and it can create a sense of frustration in the viewer as exposition and payoffs aren’t given their proper prominence within the story.
Still, this is a film that carries its immediacy right through to the present day, and its frames were a prototype for a number of modern age filmmakers, including Scorsese, Robert Altman and Paul Thomas Anderson. It cleverly juxtaposes the slightly demented familial intimacy of the club scenes with the grizzly work Cosmo’s agreed to take on to protect this strange way of life, and through that canvas provides a portrait of a fascinating but ultimately doomed character.
Check out a montage of clips from The Killing of a Chinese Bookie below:
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Comment by Cibbuano
Hunt Famous
Orble Post of the Day
Fat Cult
Techbreak
Comment by Matt Shea
20/20 Filmsight
Comment by David O'Connell
Screen Fanatic
Comment by Matt Shea
20/20 Filmsight
Seriously though, I'm not sure if it is actually/technically a director's cut, but yeah, shorter is so often better.
Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
This is my favourite of Cassavettes Directorial efforts. (Not necessarily the best, just my favourite)
Gazzara is embraces the character with such commitment that even when stagnate, he is still captivating...the non tradition pacing too adds much to soaking up the performances.
Comment by Matt Shea
20/20 Filmsight
Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
How underdiscussed is Ben Gazzara's impressive career..