The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (1976)

User Rating:

7.2/10   

Director:

John Cassavetes

Writer:

John Cassavetes (writer)

Release Date:

8 October 1977 (Sweden)

Genre:

Crime | Drama

Plot:

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.

Plot Keywords:

Strip Club | Gambling Debt | Murder For Hire | Reluctant Hitman | Neo Noir

Cast

Ben Gazzara	...	Cosmo Vitelli
Timothy Carey	...	Flo (Gangster) (as Timothy Agoglia Carey)
Seymour Cassel	...	Mort Weil (Gangster)
Robert Phillips	...	Phil (Gangster)
Morgan Woodward	...	John (Head gangster)
John Kullers	...	Eddie-Red (as John Red Kullers)
Al Ruban	...	Marty Reitz (Gangster)
Azizi Johari	...	Rachel
Virginia Carrington	...	Betty, the mother
Meade Roberts	...	Mr. Sophistication
Alice Fredlund	...	Sherry
Donna Gordon	...	Margo Donnar (as Donna Marie Gordon)
Haji	...	Haji
Carol Warren	...	Carol
Derna Wong Davis	...	Derna

Runtime:

135 min | 109 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

UK:15 (re-rating) | Finland:K-16 | Portugal:M/16 | Sweden:15 | UK:AA (original rating) | USA:R

Company:

Faces Distribution

Trivia:

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

Quotes:

Cosmo Vitelli: I'm a club owner. I deal in girls.

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in "South Park: Imaginationland (#11.10)" (2007)

Soundtrack:

Rainy Fields of Frost and Magic

Murky Realism

THE KILLING OF A Chinese BOOKIE is John Cassavetes fascinating look into the world of Cosmo Vitelli, owner of the Crazy Horse West, a California strip club. Cosmo, played by Ben Gazzara, owes a fortune in gambling debts, and agrees to commit a murder to payoff the loan. It's a set-up from the get go because the mob never believed he could pull it off, and was hoping that he would be killed, and then they would inherit his club. Cassavetes creates an homage to The French New Wave by employing surreal settings and improvisational dialog to create a Dadaist framework for the tale. Many scenes begin in near blackness, and abruptly, LA sunlight streams into the murky darkness while actors lines ricochet and overlap. The entertainment at the club is not the standard "Bump and Grind", but a strange 'Theater of The Absurd' where Cosmo orchestrates the action, or "he'll throw you out on your ass". Where Martin Scorsese used high energy rock'n'roll to highlight this same gangster demimonde, Cassavetes employs a more idiosyncratic soundtrack to heighten the psychological dimensions of the piece. Ben Gazzara provides an unforgettable portrait of a man grappling with a life that is beyond his ability to control. Also, Seymour Cassel puts in a wonderful performance as a mobbed up club owner. All of Cassavetes's films are noteworthy, and THE KILLING OF A Chinese BOOKIE is one of his finest.