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| John Cassavetes is a Filmmaker
known by many, consumed by few and understood by fewer. I
don't know in what category I can put myself, probably
the second (but I have a lot of times to go). As stated
in other pages, knowing his movies is knowing him or at
least beginning to understand his vision. You don't need
a particular reason to start, just try. If you can stand
one of those trashy movies (just think for a moment that
John Cassavetes considered his art, movies not film) you
can surely see Husbands and not be sorry about the money
you have spent. Better to have a remorse than to have a
regret. John
Cassavetes started his career as an actor and by most he
is still "only" an actor. But, like Orson
Welles, he acted in standard-movie and in even less than
adequate parts to raise the fund for his non standard-movies,
halfway from Underground to Hollywood. Just
like a Dr. Jeckill & Mr. Hide, he works in Gli
Intoccabili to finance Faces & Husbands and when the
money runs out, there was the mortgage on his house. Or
touring the States to stick up the ads or to find a
cinema to show his movies. And when there was not enough
film to finish the shooting, you could always pick up the
spare part from the major. Any modern Filmmaker that
consider himself "Independent" had the duty to
think that without John Cassavetes, movies like Fargo,
Shines or Mean Streets couldn't have been made. He was
the first to dare. N.B.: I avoided to write a lot of words for any movies. Concepts too intellectual and probably too boring. Things that make many people run away from everything before even try it. The purpose of these pages is to invite people to John Cassavetes not to scare them, we have years and years of bad critic, snobbery and misunderstanding reviews to fight back (I can hear the voice of Pauline Kael from a long distance...crap, crap, crap...). If you want to stretch your patience, just read the reviews from Variety, surely an interesting exercise - Faces' one is a gem of a kind or read a compilation of bile, rage, rudeness and sometimes real hatred. |
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There is no remedy for love but to
love more |
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| He did televison, theatre and
movies. He left a "streams" of unfinished
business, script and plays he planned to do. It would be
a wonderful thing if some new director would dare to step
in his shoes and do what he did not. To read a list of
what is left behind, click here. He was also a song composer, there are studio sessions with Cassavetes and Bo Harwood (see Love Streams to hear some of his works and TV Documentary "A Costant Forge"). |
| DIRECTOR In chronological order the movies he wrote & directed (with the exception of Too Late Blues, A Child Is Waiting and Big Trouble, where he was only the Director). I'll try to add any available information to give you a complete overview without spoiling too much. The plots are mine and are minimal, for the simple reason that they are really essential, almost an excuse to make a movie and say something else. Don't aspect reviews (I put just a link below the title), because you don't need someone else's opinion - just yours. If you want to widen your knowledge, look at the Critic Section. Just to give a little help, I have written down some of the keywords/concepts to Cassavetes's unique vision of the world: read here. |
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SHADOWS (1959) http://www.mrqe.com/lookup?^Shadows+(1961) First version in 16mm in spring 1957, additional scenes in 16mm added in spring 1959, final release in 35mm Directed by John Cassavetes Screenplay by John Cassavetes (based on workshop improvisation) Director Assistant: Al Giglio Light: David Simon Light Assistant: Cliff Carnell Cinematography by Erich Kollmar Cinematography Assistant: Al Ruban Editing by Maurice McEndree Editor Supervising: Len Appelson Sound by Jay Crecco Song "Beautiful" by Jack Hackerman Music by Charles Mingus (saxophone solo by Shafi Hadi) Sets by Randy Liles, Bob Reeh Associate Producer: Saymour Cassel Producers: Maurice McEndree, Nikos Papatajis (for Gena Productions) Released by Gena Productions USA Distributor: Lion International Film Ltd., after Faces International Films Inc. CAST Ben Carruthers .... Ben Lelia Goldoni .... Lelia Hugh Hurd .... Hugh Anthony Ray .... Tony Dennis Sallas .... Dennis Tom Allen (I) .... Tom David Pokitillow .... David Rupert Crosse .... Rupert Davey Jones .... Davey (as David Jones) Pir Marini .... Pir the Piano Player Victoria Vargas .... Vickie Jack Ackerman (I) .... Jack, Director of Dance Studio Jacqueline Walcott .... Jacqueline Cliff Carnell Jay Crecco Ronald Maccone Bob Reeh Joyce Miles .... Girl in Restaurant Nancy Deale .... Girl in Restaurant Gigi Brooks .... Girl in Restaurant Marilyn Clark .... Girl at Party Joanne Sages .... Girl at Party Jed McGarvey .... Girl at Party Greta Thyssen .... Girl at Party Lynn Hamilton .... Girl at Party (as Lynne Hamelton) PLOT End of '50s. Ben, Lelia and Hugh are sibling - Hugh is black, Ben a little less and Lelia is almost white. They live in New York City. Hugh is a singer, struggling to have the Big Shot but more often than not accepting low dive show to carry on, being the only support of the family. Lelia is very young and naive, unsure of her emotions until her first affair ended badly with a cowardly reaction to the revelation of her color by her lover and discovering that sex can't be free of consequences. Ben is a trumpet player, he tries to be cool wearing always sunglasses and hangs out with white friends. Unable to decide what race he belongs to, he doesn't belong to neither. Between street fights, family quarrels, "little race problem" and indifferences, live goes on. FACTS Running Time: 60 min. (1958, 16mm) - 87 min (1959, 16mm and 35mm) Filmed in New York City, New York, USA Video: VHS (PAL and NTSC) and DVD (NTSC Zone1/2) by Buena Vista/Pioneer TRIVIA 1) the first release (previewed at the Le Paris cinema of New York ) is wonderfully welcomed by Jonas Mekas, father of the New America Cinema Group in 1958. He decided to assign to Shadows the Indipendent Film Award. John Cassavetes is not happy with his movie and so (after deciding not to sign the NAC manifesto) he re-edit the film in the definite version of 1959 (adding new shoot scenes - twenty days of shooting - and deleting many of the previous 4-months material). On one side those who accept the new version and still believe in a "readable" cinema, on the other side what is going to become the Underground, an elitist phenomenon, far from reality (and far from Cassavetes future works). 2) the score Mingus composed for the movie is called "Self-Portraits in Three Colors" with references to the shades of black of the brothers in the film (Charles Mingus, Self Portraits in 3 Colors, From album Ah Um, Sony/Columbia; ASIN: B00000I14Z) 3) one night in 1957, John Cassavetes, dropped by a radio talk show to promote Edge of the City (Night People, a New York-based radio show), an acclaimed crime drama in which he starred with Sidney Poitier. Cassavetes shocked the host (Jean Shepherd) by dismissing the film and vowing he could make a better one. When Cassavetes asked the audience to send in spare cash to help him make "a movie about people," a squadron of listeners actually did. "It was more an act of bravado than a thought-out fund-raising strategy," Ray Carney writes in The Films of John Cassavetes, "but when approximately $2,500 in dollar bills and change trickled into the station over the next few days, Cassavetes' career as a producer, writer, and director was unexpectedly launched--as much to his own surprise as that of anyone else." Feeling obliged to do something with the seed money, Cassavetes decided to make Shadows, a film based on improvisational experiments he'd been trying out with a small theater troupe. He was 27. He'd never directed a movie before (the movie budget will be of a 20.000$). 4) the movie is distributed in USA by an English company 5) when the movie was finished, there was not enough money to print all the sound. There was no dialogue written down so every take was different. A couple of secretaries do transcripts. They volunteered their services. The film was silent. They went to the deaf-mute place and got lip-readers. They read everything and it took about a year 6) John Cassavetes discovers from the very first film that the core of social existence is the "family", in a broad sense of the term 7) Seymour Cassel did not know John Cassavetes personally. One day, looking in a show business magazine, he saw an ad "John Cassavetes Workshop, free entrance". Interested by the "free" word, he went to the school (Variety Arts Theatre). There was a big office. He asked some details about the workshop and after a while a boy full of enthusiasm and with very dark hair came in. He knew he was John. They talked for a while. John asked Seymour where he came and his answer was "From everywhere". John was a little shocked but fascinated. That fascination that would have lasted all his life, to know the people around him, to listen to them. John said that he was about to begin a movie [Shadows] and suggest some other teachers. When he said he had to go to shoot, Saymour asked to accompany him. The set was a kitchen, some lights and a Perfectone for the sound. Giving the difficulties they were in, he started to help them. The rest his history. 8) John Cassavetes plays (uncredited) a guy defending Lelia from a guy who was going to annoy her. 9) At the end of the film, you can see the note "The film you have just seen was an improvisation". As we know now, the movie was almost entirely scripted, but it was left to thanks the actors for their contributions (and because 'improvisation' was very trendy in those years). 10) There a a lot of new scenes in the definite version of Shadows: Hugh and Rupert meeting in Grand Central - Davey and Lelia dancing - Lelia talking with her brother after Tony leaves - Lelia and Tony in the cab - Lelia and Tony in his apartment - Lelia and Tony talking in front of his apartment - Tony making a pass to a girl and talking with David at the party - Ben, Dennis and Tom at the MoMA - Ben, Tom, Dennis, David and Lelia at the bar table - the nightclub - Hugh, Sam and Rupert trying some jokes - Lelia walking past BB movie (where you can see the Cassavetes' cameo). 11) in the movies, if you look very carefully, you can trace down a list of Who's Who. Seymour Cassel as the guy who greet Ben in the street and gets into a fight with Ben's friends, Bobby Darin in the studio during rehersal, Bruce Dern in the party scene and Gena Rowlands during the rehearsal and nightclub. 12) Although the film was initially released without a rating, it has since been rated PG for its video release. 13) Anthony Ray, who plays Tony, is the son of director Anthony Ray 14) the camera, brought in by Erich Kollmar was an Arriflex 15) Benny, in short (from the script): He is driven by the uncertainty of his colour, to beg acceptance in this white men's world. Unlike his brother Hugh, or Janet [later called Lelia, because of the actress' change], he has no outlet for his emotions. He has been spending his life trying to decide what colour he is. Now that he has chosen the white race as his people, his problems remains acceptance. This is difficult, knowing that he is in a sense betraying his own. His life is a aimless struggle to prove something abstract, his everyday living has no outlet, and so he moves with... (end of the script) AWARDS 1961 - Nominated - BAFTA Film Award - Best Film - John Cassavetes, Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles - Lelia Goldoni - Anthony Ray 1960 - Critics Award at the Venice Film Festival 1961 - Nominated - UN Award - John Cassavetes 1993 - National Film Registry The Making of Shadows Shadows TOO LATE BLUES (1961) http://www.mrqe.com/lookup?TOO+LATE+BLUES Filmed in 1961, released in 1962 First "Hollywood Movie" Directed by John Cassavetes Screenplay by John Cassavetes and Richard Carr Photography by Lionel Lindon, ASC Set design: Hal Pereira, Tambi Larsen Editing by Frank Bracht Director Assistant: Arthur Jacobson Sound by Gene Meerit, John Wilkinson Special Recordings(bass), Jimmy Rowles : Shelley Manne (drums), Red Mitchell ((trumpet), Milt bernhart (trombone) piano), Benny carter (sax), Una Rasey Music by David Raksin Producers: John Cassavetes for Paramount Released by Paramount CAST Bobby Darin .... John "Ghost" Wakefield Stella Stevens .... Jess polansli Everett Chambers .... Benny Flowers Nick Dennis .... Nick Rupert Crosse .... baby Jackson Vince Edwards .... Tommy Val Avery .... Frielobe Marilyn Clark .... The countess James Joyces .... Reno the barman J.Allen Hopkins .... Skipper Cliff Carnell .... Charlie the Saxofonist Richard O. Chambers .... Pete the trumpet player Seymour Cassel .... Red the bass player Dan Stafford .... Shelley the drum player Allyson Ames .... Billie Gay June Wilkinson .... girl in the bar Mario Gallo PLOT John "Ghost" Wakefield is a jazz composer and pianist, the leader of a struggling quintet. They play everywhere that will earn them a few bucks. He has an agent, Benny, who's is growing tired because of his turning down every offer not too much artistically attractive. John prefers not selling his music at all than compromise. At a music party, Benny introduces Ghost to Jess Polanski, a mediocre singer but a sure looker. He is attracted by her and maybe sees something in her voice (or body). After a studio recording session, where Ghost agrees to record his most prized composition on condition that Jess is allowed to sing with the band, it looks like they finally get the "deal". The band and Jess go to celebrate and get into a fight. John gets the worst of it and when Jess tries to comfort him, he violently reacts and pushes her away. Ashamed and humiliated by loosing the brawl and by finding Jess with a "friend" later, John decides to leave the band, gives up his dream becoming a sell-out and a gigolo. But when Benny attacks him again calling him a coward, he finds the will to react, he goes in search for Jess, reunites the band and begin again to play blues FACTS Running Time: 103 min Filmed in Video: VHS (NTSC) by Paramount TRIVIA 1) the Studio imposed only the two stars, Bobby Darin and Stella Stevens. He could choose among his trusty actors for the rest, Seymour Cassel, Ruper Crosse and Val Avery AWARDS None |
