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Product Description
THE KILLING OF A CHINESE BOOKIE (3-Disc Limited Edition)
A film by John Cassavetes
Receiving its long-overdue High Definition premiere, as part of this Dual Format three-disc Special Edition, The Killing of a Chinese Bookie is John Cassavetes' uncompromising character study of a gangster.
Cassavetes regular Ben Gazzara (Anatomy of a Murder, Husbands, The Big Lebowski), plays a seedy Los Angeles strip-club owner who runs up heavy gambling debts which he arranges to wipe out by murdering an elderly Chinese gangster. Also amongst the cast is Cassavetes regular Seymour Cassel (Faces, Rushmore) and legendary cult actor Timothy Carey (The Killing, Paths of Glory).
Arguably the most plot-driven of his films, Cassavates withdrew The Killing of a Chinese Bookie shortly after the initial release and subsequently re-cut a shorter version with a different opening. Both cuts are made available on the Blu-ray and DVD
This strictly limited edition (of 1,000 units) contains a bonus DVD with the 1993 documentary feature Anything for John, the 1982 short The Haircut, starring Cassavetes, and an interview with The Haircut director Tamar Hoffs.
Special Features
- Presented in both High Definition and Standard Definition
- Includes both the 135 minute and 108 minute re-cut versions
- Selected scene commentary by Al Rubin and Peter Bogdanovich on long version
- Anything for John (1993, 90 mins, limited edition DVD only): feature documentary featuring interviews with Cassavetes' collaborators Gena Rowlands, Peter Falk and Al Rubin
- The Haircut (1982, 24 mins, limited edition DVD only): rare 1982 short starring John Cassavetes
- Tamar Toffs Interview (1993, 6 mins, limited edition DVD only): the director of The Haircut discusses her film and working with Cassavates
- Extensive booklet with essays and film credits
- Strictly limited to 1,000 units
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
By M. Cole
Format:DVD
This is American independent cinema at it's best. It is one of those overlooked gems that is not only a great film, but a great record of its time, even if it might have more properly been titled The Murder Of A Chinese Bookie. As much as I love the early raw films of Martin Scorsese -- who reputedly thought up this tale with Cassavetes a few years earlier -- no film I've ever seen so perfectly captures the mid-1970s underworld. There is a sense that one can even smell the cheap liquor and cigarette smoke that pervades its images. What set Cassavetes apart from his contemporary American peers was that his films did not mythologize -- they simply depicted. In this sense, he did for modern urbanity what German filmmaker Werner Herzog does for historical films, i.e. brings them down to `eye level realism'. He also depicted his society with the same level of universal realism as Yasujiro Ozu did post-war Japan. Like other (usually US) films The Murder... is disturbing and mesmerizing. The dirty quality of images (in some moments bewilderingly amateurish, ins others incredibly sophisticated), the acting, the disjointed plot, the weirdness of some scenes (like the one in the car parking), Gazzara's sublime acting, the wonderful choice of places and times... it all gives you an impression of the States like they really are, not the sanitized image you find in so many Holy-Wood flicks (not all of them, I admit, but about 85%...). Such a movie is like The Searchers or Taxi Driver or Raging Bull, unfathomable and greater than life, but in some way disturbingly like life. And the character of Cosmo Vitelli is one of those enigmatic figures that leaves you wondering whether you have been shown the story of an idiot or the story of a saint. Unforgettable.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:VHS Tape
The Killing of a Chinese Bookie is a great film. John Cassavetes has directed a masterpiece. I throughly enjoyed this film as it explores the L.A. underworld and all it's shady dealings a world which a lot of people are unaware of. Ben Gazzara is Cosmo Vitelli a strip club owner who incurs debts to the Mob and who is given the unenviable task of killing a rival Chinese gangster - a bookie so that he can pay his debt.It's an interesting film as you see how the underworld in LA operates and also as Cosmo runs a strip club it focuses on his relationship with those who work for him and the underworld society around him.In his line of business sex defintely sells! All I can say is this Ben Gazzara is probably the sexiest nightclub owner I've seen on screen.For anyone who wants to see a Cassavetes film, you have to see this one!
2 of 9 people found the following review helpful
By hugo
Format:DVD
I watched this on the basis of previous reviews. Big mistake. Ben Gazzara is a good actor and there is some good dialogue but the storyline is poor and the film peters outt after 40 mins or so. Disappointing, I was built up for this one.
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