Synopsis
John Cassavetes engages film noir in his own inimitable style with The Killing of a Chinese Bookie. Ben Gazzara brilliantly portrays gentlemen’s club owner Cosmo Vitelli, a man dedicated to pretenses of composure and self-possession. When he runs afoul of a group of gangsters, Cosmo is forced to commit a horrible crime in a last-ditch effort to save his beloved club and his way of life. Suspenseful, mesmerizing, and idiosyncratic, The Killing of a Chinese Bookie is a thought-provoking examination of desperation and masculine identity.
Cast
| Cosmo Vitelli | Ben Gazzara |
| Flo | Timothy Agoglia Carey |
| Mort Weil | Seymour Cassel |
| Phil | Robert Phillips |
| The Boss | Morgan Woodward |
| The Accountant | John Red Kullers |
| Marty Reitz | Al Ruban |
| Rachel | Azizi Johari |
| Mama | Virginia Carrington |
| Mr. Sophistication | Meade Roberts |
Credits
| Director | John Cassavetes |
| Producer | Al Ruban |
| Screenplay | John Cassavetes |
| Associate producer | Phil Burton |
| Sound and music | Bo Harwood |
| Lighting | Mitchell Breit |
| Camera operators | Frederick Elmes and Michael Ferris |
| Supervising film editor | Tom Cornwell |
| In charge of postproduction | Robert Heffernan |
| Production Design | Sam Shaw |
Disc Features
SPECIAL EDITION DOUBLE-DISC SET:
- Restored high-definition digital transfer of John Cassavetes’ original 135-minute edit of the film
- Restored high-definition digital transfer of Cassavetes’ 108-minute edit for the 1978 theatrical rerelease
- Video interviews with star Ben Gazzara and producer Al Ruban
- Audio interview with Cassavetes by film historians Michel Ciment and Michael Wilson, conducted after the film’s release
- Stills gallery featuring rare behind-the-scenes production photos
From the Current
Press Notes: Portraits of Cassavetes
Nov 18, 2008Just when you thought it was safe to return to the tripod, he’s baa-ack. “Cassavetes earned a belated place in film history,” writes Darrell Hartman in his Artforum piece marking the Criterion breakout releases of A Woman . . .
The Killing of a Chinese Bookie:
The Raw and the Cooked
by
Sep 20, 2004
In John Cassavetes’ personal cinema, the director was always trying to break away from the formulas of Hollywood narrative, in order to uncover some fugitive truth about the way people behave. At the same time, he took seriously his responsibilities as a form-giving artist, starting with a careful . . .
Related Films
The Auteurs Forum
Displaying 2 discussion topics.
Eroticism (or lack thereof)
2 posts by 2 people updated 4 months ago
Killing of a Chinese Bookie
26 posts by 24 people updated 12 months ago
