Average Rating: 6.2/10
Reviews Counted: 15
Fresh: 12 | Rotten: 3
No consensus yet.
Average Rating: N/A
Critic Reviews: 2
Fresh: 1 | Rotten: 1
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Average Rating: 3.9/5
User Ratings: 4,202
John Cassavetes takes a contemporary film noir turn (which he would return to in Gloria) after exploring domestic melodrama in A Woman Under the Influence with The Killing of a Chinese Bookie. Ben Gazzara plays Cosmo Vitelli, the owner of a sleazy Los Angeles strip joint, who loses $20,000 at a mob gambling club owned by a small time gangster (Seymour Cassel). Since Cosmo doesn't have the $20,000, he is forced to murder a Chinese bookie in order to clear his debt to the mob. What Cosmo doesn't
Feb 15, 1976 Wide
Apr 6, 1999
Criterion Collection
All Critics (18) | Top Critics (2) | Fresh (14) | Rotten (3) | DVD (6)
Watching the film is like listening to someone use a lot of impressive words, the meanings of which are just wrong enough to keep you in a state of total confusion, but occasionally right enough to hold your attention. What is he trying to say?
A postnoir masterpiece.
This is my favorite John Cassavetes movie, perhaps because it's the most appealingly sleazy.
Cassavetes' films can be annoying and enigmatic, but they are usually creative and interesting. Not so with this one.
Gazzara plays a strip-club owner committed to staging sad, unsexy, decidedly personal semi-nude musical revues.
Heavy stuff, but it takes its sweet sweet time in getting to the point.
Its only interest now is in its representation of its era.
A self-indulgent but inventive John Cassavetes written and directed film...
As much an indictment of modern filmmaking as the delusional nature of macho posturing, The Killing of a Chinese Bookie is a complex and fascinating document.
Gazzara is amazing. But the real star is Cassavete's direction. The way this film slowly transforms is amazing.
October 18, 2011Super Reviewer
Probably the coolest film ever made. Gazzara transfixes the audience and Cassavetes makes directing look easy. Its slow in places but it?s so smooth and stylish you will wish it was longer!
October 1, 2009Super Reviewer
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