The Killing of a Chinese Bookie ***** (1976, Ben Gazzara, Timothy Carey, Seymour Cassel) – Classic Movie Review 6328

Writer-director John Cassavetes’s 1976 epic neo noir crime movie is another of his exciting part-improvised thrillers, propelled with a classic plot about gangster Mort Weil (Seymour Cassel)’s mobsters forcing a nightclub owner Cosmo Vittelli (Ben Gazzara) to kill a Chinese to pay off his gambling debts.

With its indie vibe, perhaps it is not for all tastes, but it is a tremendous treat for Cassavetes’s fans and for admirers of non-mainstream indie American cinema. This is a great film, and great movie-making, there is no doubt of that.

Easily accessible as a tense, nervy crime melodrama, the film is propelled by Gazzara’s extremely powerful performance and Cassavetes’s brio display of fine film-making, achieving a sharp and realistic picture of the sleazy underworld.

The improvised acting is spot on and Mike Ferris and Michael Stringer’s cinematography is eye catching, both helping to provide a hard-earned but seemingly effortless immediacy.

It runs 135 minutes but the director’s cut 1978 re-release version runs at 109 minutes.

Also in the cast are Timothy Carey, Morgan Woodward, Azizi Johari, Meade Roberts, Alice Friedlund, Donna Gordon, Robert Phillips, Virginia Carrington, Al Ruban, Val Avery, Elizabeth Deering, John Kullers, Carol Warren, Derna Wong Davis, Kathalina Veniero, Yvette Morris, Jack Ackerman and David Rowlands.

It is produced by Al Ruban and Phil Burton, scored by Bo Harwood and designed by Phedon Papamichael.

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 6328

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