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
Kathalina Veniero	...	Annie

Storyline

Cosmo Vitelli owns the Crazy Horse West, a strip joint in Los Angeles. He's laconic, vet, and a gambler. When we meet him, he's making his last payment on a gambling debt, after which, he promptly loses $23,000 playing poker. The guys he owes this time aren't so friendly, pressuring him for immediate payment. When he's not able to do so, they suggest he kill a Chinese bookie to wipe away his 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 | nightclub | gambling debt | female nudity | stripper | 

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Taglines:

A film by John Cassavetes.

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Certificate:

R

Did You Know?

Trivia

Second of three collaborations of actor Ben Gazzara and writer-director John Cassavetes, the others being Husbands (1970) and Opening Night (1977), both of which Cassavetes also acted in, not doing so only in The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (1976). The pair also both appeared in a non-Cassavetes written and directed movie, If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium (1969).

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Goofs

Flo says "That jerk Karl Marx said opium is the religion of the people." The actual Marx quote is "Religion is the opiate of the masses."

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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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Alternate Versions

The original 1976 release features extended time in the bar with Cosmo while he is celebrating having just paid off his loan shark, early in the film. This scene includes his driver Eddie coming in to convince Cosmo to leave, and the two of them discuss growing up in New York.

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Connections

References Jaws (1975)

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Soundtracks

I Can't Give You Anything but Love
(uncredited)
Music by Jimmy McHugh
Lyrics by Dorothy Fields
Performed by Meade Roberts and others

User Reviews

It's hard not to be engaged by something this authentic

It's been said by many that "Chinese Bookie" is the toughest of any Cassavetes films to digest. There are many slow passages (here I'm referring to the 1976 original version), many moments of embarrassing awkwardness, as you are forced to watch extended sequences filled with players who aren't any more talented or skilled than those at your local summer stock production or junior high school play.

Yet, it's very difficult not to be compelled by the story, especially as embodied in the character of Cosmo Vitelli, who Ben Gazzara seems to channel effortlessly, as if he were a second, transparent skin.

Cosmo is a fascinating character. He owns a rather ratty strip club/cabaret joint on the Sunset Strip that fronts production values and performers of the qualities mentioned earlier, does middling business, and spends nearly every dime he makes "living the high life" or the "the image" of what someone in his profession should espouse. He swills $100 bottles of Champagne, cruises around town in his plush chauffeured Caddy, an entourage of bimbettes in tow, usually to a dive mob-run poker joint that inevitably lands him in massive debt.

He would be an easy character to scorn or mock in another film, but not as Gazzara and Cassavetes portray him. Cosmo is proud of his little world and his accomplishments, and further more, could not give a damn if anyone doesn't approve of them. "You have no style," he sneers at gangster Al Ruban early in the film after the thug condescends to him.

As weird as it sounds, you have to respect someone like that, even when he finds himself increasingly trapped by circumstances and succumbing to self-doubt. At the end of the picture he says how important it is to "feel comfortable" with oneself and while we don't believe for a second that Cosmo really feels this way, we know he *wants* to. It's a refreshingly human response in a movie that only contains more of the same.

It's not a conventional audience pleaser by any means, but if you've watched other Cassavetes pictures and like his candid stream-of-consciousness style, give the 1978 edited version of "Bookie" a watch before you see the original. Cass not only cut half an hour of footage, he did it with (what else?) incredible style and creativity, really tightening the structure of the film as a whole, considerably juicing its already engaging premise.

Quite possibly the most overlooked gem from one of the '60s and '70s most commercially under-appreciated directors.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

15 February 1976 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Killing of a Chinese Bookie

Filming Locations:

Hollywood, California, USA

Box Office

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$11,406

Company Credits

Production Co:

Faces Distribution

Technical Specs

Runtime:

135 min 109 min (1978 Re-Release)

Sound Mix:

Mono Mono (Todd-AO)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1