The Killing of a Chinese Bookie
by John Cassavetes
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Ben Gazzara, Morgan Woodward, Robert Phillips, Seymour Cassel, Timothy CareyDirector: John Cassavetes
DVD: Region Code 0
Audio: English (Original Language), Unknown
Format: Color, DVD-Video, NTSC
Picture Format: Academy Ratio, 1.33:1
Running Time: 109 minutes
DVD Release Date: 1999-04-06
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Geneon [Pioneer]
Movie Reviews of The Killing of a Chinese Bookie
Movie Review: Slow as Molasses, but Features a Truly Unusual Noir Protagonist.
Summary: 4 Stars
"The Killing of a Chinese Bookie" is John Cassavetes' contribution to the downbeat neo-noir style of the 1970s. Cassavetes wrote and directed this story of a hard-working strip club owner whose ego lands him in hot water with the mob. Cosmo Vitelli (Ben Gazzara) has finally paid off the debt on his club, and he celebrates by donning a tux and taking three of his lovely ladies to a private gambling club for an elegant evening. High on his own success, Cosmo runs up a debt of $23,000. The club's underworld owners say they will erase his debt if Cosmo kills a bookie in Chinatown who has been cutting into their business. "I may be stupid, but I'm not a fool," Cosmo replies.
This film has a languorous pace, to put it mildly. A lot of time is spent tooling around Los Angeles with Cosmo and watching the absurd burlesque shows at his club that seem entirely devoid of entertainment value. I did not become comfortable with the pace until an hour into the film, and I think it would have benefited from cutting 20 minutes. Dialogue is spare and almost unnecessary until the film's final minutes. The story is told visually, primarily through Cosmo's actions. That's a good thing, because the dialogue is often mumbled, and the volume is erratic. I don't know if that's a problem with this transfer or if the actors weren't miked properly.
In spite of pacing and sound problems, I really like Ben Gazzara's performance. Cosmo is a sleaze, but a lesser sleaze than those around him. He is completely committed to his business to the point of checking up on it while on his way to commit a murder. He's a self-made man with more savvy than his gambling debt would imply, embittered by the mobsters who suddenly control his destiny, but ultimately bemused by his predicament. The villains are an odd lot. There are five of them, seemingly inseparable, who rule by their own little argumentative committee. The film's structure is certainly open to criticism, but "The Killing of a Chinese Bookie" is worth seeing for Cosmo.
The DVD (Pioneer 1999): There are 2 versions of "The Killing of a Chinese Bookie". This is the 108-minute edit released in 1978. The original edit, released in 1976, was 135 minutes. This print looks fine in well-lit scenes, but there is a lot of grain in a few scenes that are dark. Sound is a bigger problem. I had to adjust the volume on my remote for each scene with dialogue, sometimes more than once during the scene. There are no subtitles available.
Summary of The Killing of a Chinese Bookie
A small-time Los Angeles night club owner falls for a lavish invitation to gamble at a private club. After losing high stakes on extended credit, he is pressured by a gangster to erase his debt by killing a rival underworld power referred to only as "The Chinese Bookie." Ben Gazarra, Seymour CasselAnyone expecting The Killing of a Chinese Bookie to be an action-packed film about a gangland murder is going to be sorely disappointed--the title is the only commercial element in this fascinating character study by writer-director John Cassavetes, who once again finds his cinematic soulmate in actor Ben Gazzara. Doing for sleazy Hollywood strip-joints and underworld bullies what Martin Scorsese's Mean Streets did for the denizens of New York's Little Italy, the film uses verit? technique to tell the story of Cosmo Vitelli (Gazzara), a strip-club owner whose growing debt to a local gangster (the chilling Morgan Woodward) can only be erased if he agrees to kill a rival Chinese gangster. Reluctantly, Cosmo carries out the job with startling efficiency.
As usual, Cassavetes employs his favorite actors (including Seymour Cassel and the fearsome Timothy Carey) and vivid improvisation to give Chinese Bookie a tense atmosphere of emotional urgency--the film's tone is one of keen desperation, as if we've been invited to witness Cosmo's dark night of the soul. Anyone who's unfamiliar with Cassavetes's style may find this film grating and impenetrable, but those in tune with the director's defiant independence will surely appreciate his emphasis on character, psychology, and revealing flashes of human behavior, captured on film as only Cassavetes could capture them. Watching this film, you can readily understand why Cassavetes has had such a steady influence on Scorsese, Quentin Tarantino, Paul Thomas Anderson, and a host of like-minded independent filmmakers. --Jeff Shannon
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