034 - The Killing of a Chinese Bookie, 1976, United States. Dir. John Cassavetes.

Friday, February 3, 2017

034 - The Killing of a Chinese Bookie, 1976, United States. Dir. John Cassavetes.

Cosmo likes to gamble.

That's a problem.

He has just paid off his last debt, and he is finally free.

So he goes out to celebrate.

And gambles.

And gets himself into more debt than ever before.

$23,000.

In 1976.

Nearly $100,000 today.

From a game of poker!

What is he going to do?

His creditors offer him a way out.

Kill a Chinese bookie for them.

What is a bookie?  A bookmaker.  A person who takes bets, calculates odds, and pays out winnings.

What will Cosmo do?  How will those actions affect what happens afterwards?

That is the skeleton plot.  The movie is about more than that.

With this fourth John Cassavetes film we are watching, we now leave the drama of home life and enter into a world where people go out and do things.

Cosmo owns a strip club.  He seems to care for his girls.  They are like a big family.  They put on shows that feel like local elementary-school talent shows, but without the talent.  They are still entertaining because they are so earnest and full of heart.  They ask you to use your imagination to travel with them to Paris (pronounced as if in French, with a silent s).  They carry cardboard cutout props.  They sing.  Or try to.

The show-stealer is Mr. Sophistication, played by screenwriter Meade Roberts, a man with heavy eye make-up--including drawn-on eyebrows and moustache--and the world's most ridiculous comb-over.  He wears a cheap tuxedo and sometimes a tall top hat.  He performs the shows as though he is sleepwalking.  He does not seem to be aware that the girls are on stage with him, or that an audience is present.  He sings as if he is trying it out for the first time.  You wonder how he got to this place in life, and to this place.  Yet he performs with such a focus and determination that you cannot help but watch and smile.  Backstage he complains that he puts up all the talent and hard work while the girls get all the attention for doing essentially nothing.  Nobody seems to pay attention to his complaints.  He is one of the family.

When Cosmo gets into trouble, they all do.  They are in it together.  However, no one else knows about his secret mission.  And while he is gone, they change the routines.  While attempting his assignment, he phones back to the club to find out what is going on and to give direction.

Ben Gazzara plays Cosmo Vittelli with a grounded center and emotional restraint.  More is going on beneath the surface than what you see.

This is a fun film.  It is a crime drama, so it contains moments of tension and suspense.  Yet it is also a Cassavetes film, so it contains moments of human interaction that seem unscripted.  And it focuses on relationships.

They may be a ragtag group of people.

But they are a family.