The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (1976)

A proud strip club owner is forced to come to terms with himself as a man, when his gambling addiction gets him in hot water with the mob, who offer him only one alternative.

Director:

John Cassavetes

Writer:

John Cassavetes

Stars:

Ben Gazzara, Timothy Carey, Seymour Cassel

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Ben Gazzara	...	Cosmo Vittelli
Timothy Carey	...	Flo (as Timothy Agoglia Carey)
Seymour Cassel	...	Mort Weil
Robert Phillips	...	Phil
Morgan Woodward	...	The Boss
John Kullers	...	The Accountant (as John Red Kullers)
Al Ruban	...	Marty Reitz
Azizi Johari	...	Rachel
Virginia Carrington	...	Mama
Meade Roberts	...	Mr. Sophistication
Alice Friedland	...	Sherry
Donna Gordon	...	Margo Donnar (as Donna Marie Gordon)
Haji	...	Haji
Carol Warren	...	Carol
Derna Wong Davis	...	Derna

Storyline

Cosmo Vitelli owns the Crazy Horse West, a strip joint in California. He's laconic, a Korean War vet, and a gambler. When we meet him, he's making his last payment on a gambling debt. Then, he promptly loses $23,000 playing poker at an illegal local casino. The guys he owes this time aren't so friendly, pressuring him for immediate payment. Then they suggest that he kill a Chinese bookie to wipe off the debt. Vitelli and the film move back and forth between the double-crossing, murderous insincerity of the gamblers and the friendships, sweetness, and even love among Vitelli, the dancers, a dancer's mother, and the club's singer, Mr. Sophistication.

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Plot Keywords:

strip club | gambling debt | female frontal nudity | reluctant hitman | hitman | 

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Genres:

Crime | Drama

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

8 October 1977 (Sweden)

Also Known As:

Mordet på en kinesisk bookmaker

Box Office

Gross:

SEK 1,298,042 (Sweden)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Faces Distribution

Technical Specs

Runtime:

135 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This was actually a story idea developed by John Cassavetes and Martin Scorsese years previously.

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Quotes

Cosmo Vitelli: Now, teddy. Teddy. Everything takes work. We'll straighten it out. You know. You gotta work hard to be comfortable. Yeah, a lot of people kid themselves, you know. They-they know when they were born, they know where they're goin'... they know whether they're gonna go to heaven,whether they're gonna go to hell. They think they know that. They kid themselves. Right? But the only people... who are, you know, happy... are the people who are comfortable. That's right. Now, you take, uh, uh, carol, ...

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Connections

References Jaws (1975)

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Soundtracks

"Rainy Fields of Frost and Magic"
Written by Bo Harwood
Played during the audition

User Reviews

That Obscure Sense of Reality

In many cases, the reality is enigmatic, and John Cassavetes is a genius to capture and exhibit that obscure sense of reality on celluloid. With deliberately rough camera work (containing lots of lens flares) and editing (not trimming out movements of the photographer's hands before and after actions), along with the crafted acting of Ben Gazzara, Cassavetes presents the obscure-hence-realistic underground gang world as no one else has. The camera movement and choreography of the murder scene is reminiscent of Godard--well calculated to appear to be not calculated. The scene is the only one accompanied by music; the entire film is inscrutably quiet.

The dragging story may be a part of his method, but it is a drawback to make the viewers lose their attentions. After Cosmo Vitelli (Gazzara) executes the killing, the plot focuses on the process he is going back to his ordinary life, but it is needlessly stretched out. Also, the scene of the confrontation against the gang members is a redundant second climax.