The Killing of a Chinese Bookie

The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (Criterion #254). 1976 Faces Distribution & Janus Films.
Starring: Ben Gazzara, Timothy Carey, Seymour Cassell, Robert Phillips, Donna Marie Gordon, Morgan Woodward
Director: John Cassavetes
Available at Amazon as a single DVD, or part of the John Cassavetes: Five Films box set (Criterion #250).

It should be noted that there are two different versions of this movie: the original 1976 version that runs 135 minutes, and a recut of the film re-released in 1978 that ran only 108 minutes. It's to my understanding that there are some fairly significant differences between the two cuts, so this probably means that I'll revisit this DVD, and watch the second version at some point in the future.

Cosmo Vitelli (Gazzara) is a strip club owner who has finally paid off his debt to a sleazy loanshark (played by producer Al Ruban). Vitelli goes out that night to celebrate with his three favorite strippers, Margo, Rachael and Sherry. The evening's highlight is a card game where Cosmo loses $23,000, putting him back in the same hole he had just escaped earlier.

Holding his new debt over his head, Vitelli's mob creditors coerce him into agreeing to "hit" a rival. He assumes that the target is a nobody, but in fact, he is a major player in the Chinese mafia. With great difficulty, Vitelli does kill the man and several of his bodyguards, but is wounded himself.

Not only does Vitelli have to worry about the Chinese mafia now, but his own mob employers also want him rubbed out, and they had no expectation he would survive this assignment. Vitelli manages to kill or elude the people on his trail, but his ultimate fate is unknown.

Typical of anything Cassavetes directed, the movie is pretty roughly filmed at times, but the raw and sloppy feel of the finished product is often times much better than the slickly produced Hollywood films that the director wanted nothing to do with. Recommended movie(s).