Husbands (1970)

63% of critics liked it
(19 reviews)
85% of users liked it
(1,925 ratings)

John Cassavetes wrote and directed this look at three middle-aged men thrown into a midlife crisis when one of their mutual friends dies. Harry (Ben Gazzara), Archie (Peter Falk) and Gus (John Cassavetes) attend the funeral of their buddy David Rowlands (Stuart Jackson); all three are starting to… More John Cassavetes wrote and directed this look at three middle-aged men thrown into a midlife crisis when one of their mutual friends dies. Harry (Ben Gazzara), Archie (Peter Falk) and Gus (John Cassavetes) attend the funeral of their buddy David Rowlands (Stuart Jackson); all three are starting to feel the pressures of their advancing years, while Harry is having serious problems with his marriage. After the funeral, the three men decide that they need to get away from it all for a while, and they spend the next two days getting drunk, shooting hoops, playing cards, sleeping on the subway, and pretending that they're teenagers again. After 48 hours of irresponsibility, Archie and Gus decide that fun is fun but it's time to go home. But when Harry goes back to his wife, they have a huge argument; Harry storms out and decides to fly to England, persuading Archie and Gus to tag along. They get dressed up, visit a casino, and pick up beautiful women, but while Archie and Gus, as before, look at this as a brief vacation from their lives as loyal husbands and fathers, Harry doesn't want to go home, even though he seems more troubled by his infidelity than do his two friends. Cassavetes' first directorial project after his critical breakthrough with Faces, featuring intense, largely improvised performances by two of his most consistent collaborators, Ben Gazzara and Peter Falk, Husbands was originally released in a cut running 154 minutes, but was trimmed to 138 minutes for general release. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Rating, Runtime: PG-13, 2 hr. 30 min.
Directed By: John Cassavetes
Written By: John Cassavetes
Genres: Drama, Classics, Comedy

In Theaters: Dec 8, 1970 Limited
On DVD: Aug 18, 2009
Studio: Columbia Pictures

Critic Reviews

Vincent Canby, New York Times
It is almost unbearably long. It is a narrative film without any real narrative, and although it is a movie about three characters, those characters are seen almost exclusively in terms of their limiting relationship.
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
John Cassavetes' Husbands is disappointing in the way Antonioni's Zabriskie Point was. It shows an important director not merely failing, but not even understanding why.
Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader
This 1970 film is John Cassavetes's most irritating, full of the male braggadocio and bluster that mar even some of his best work. But it's impossible to dismiss or shake off entirely.
Sean Axmaker, Turner Classic Movies Online
... a personal, provocative and uncompromising vision and a daring journey into the psyche of American men.
Paul Brenner, Filmcritic.com
Husbands is devoid of story but filled with a present-tense vitality and emotional honesty
Sean Burns, Philadelphia Weekly
Cassavetes' most dangerous and unfiltered expression of masculine anxiety -- a raw, deliberately off-putting masterpiece.
James Kendrick, Q Network Film Desk
as a time capsule rendition of men being boys, it certainly has an inherent intrigue, but it is not one of Cassavetes' strongest films
Sean Axmaker, Seanax.com
This is a Cassavetes kind of mid-life crisis: they indulge their worst, most selfish instincts as they attempt to outrun their fears of mortality and frustrations of compromised lives.
Armond White, New York Press
The history of American male aggression and insecurity comes filtered through Cassavetes, Falk and Gazzara's bravado. Better than authentic, they're fascinating.
Michael Scheinfeld, TV Guide's Movie Guide
Most of Cassavetes's cinema verite films as a director are invariably accused (and with some justification) of being rambling, self-indulgent, and unfocused, but it is precisely those elements that make his best work so affecting and memorable.
Steve Crum, Dispatch-Tribune Newspapers
Intense, moving Cassavetes classic.
Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews
An overlong improv piece that when it's not tedious or startling settles on showing the emptiness of suburban life for three married New York commuters.
Emanuel Levy, EmanuelLevy.Com
Largely dismissed in 1970, Husbands is not one of the helmer's best films, but a flawed Cassavetes is still worth watching and this mid-career work offers a poignant, utterly frank and harsh look at men's innermost anxieties and insecurities.

Read all 13 critic reviews

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

Featured Audience Ratings

Tim S

I am a huge Cassavettes fan and am the first one to say that this film is not for everyone. There are sections of this film (like most of his films) that people will find boring and way over the top, but it's something I find enduring and really enjoy watching. This is one of the… More
I am a huge Cassavettes fan and am the first one to say that this film is not for everyone. There are sections of this film (like most of his films) that people will find boring and way over the top, but it's something I find enduring and really enjoy watching. This is one of the first times where I have actually watched a Cassavettes film and thought, yeah, he could of cut some of this stuff out. Overall, I still enjoyed hanging out with John, Ben, and Peter for nearly three hours and going into this film, it's best to realize that is what you are doing. I think the film, for me, really picked up in the second half when the crew heads to London (the scenes of the three of these guys picking up women was everything I wanted it to be: awkward, funny, strange, and real). This is also definitely one of the best looking of Cassavettes' films with Victor J, Kemper adding technique to Cassavettes shoot from the hip style. Like most of his films, it probably just needs another watch.

Cast

            Ben Gazzara as Harry

            Peter Falk as Archie

            John Cassavetes as Gus

            Jenny Runacre as Mary Tynan

            Jenny Wright as Pearl Billingham

            Noelle Kao as Julie

            John Kullers as Red

            Delores Delmar as The Countess

            Peggy Lashbrook as Diana Mallabee

            Eleanor Zee as Mrs. Hines

            Claire Malis Callaway as Stuart's wife

            Lorraine McMartin as Annie's mother

            Edgar Franken as Ed Weintraub

            Sarah Felcher as Sarah

            Antoinette Kray as "Jesus Loves Me"

            Gwen Van Dam as "Jeannie"

            John Armstrong as "Happy Birthday"

            Eleanor Gould as "Normandy"

            Joseph Boley as Minister

            Judith Lowry as Stuart's grandmother

            Joseph Hardy as "Shanghai Lil"

            K.C. Townsend as Barmaid

            Annie O'Donnell as Nurse

            Gena Wheeler as Nurses

            Alexandra Cassavetes as Xan

            Nick Cassavetes as Nick

            Frederick Draper
            
            Leola Harlow as Leola

            David Rowlands as Stuart Jackson

            Reta Shaw as Annie

            Charles Gaines
            
            Jenny Lee Wright
            
            Meta Shaw Stevens
            
See full cast

Husbands (1970)

Critic Reviews

Featured Audience Ratings

Tim S

Cast