The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (1976)

Featured Audience Ratings

• Graham J

  
  Gazzara is amazing. But the real star is Cassavete's direction. The way this film slowly transforms is amazing.

• Anthony L

  
  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!

• First L

  
  Cosmo Vitelli is the owner of a strip club on the sunset strip in Los Angeles, and his business is slow. He's an ex-New Yorker who's re-located to L.A. and is trying to be a big shot, only he doesn't seem to get much respect, but boy, there sure is an air of impending… More
  Cosmo Vitelli is the owner of a strip club on the sunset strip in Los Angeles, and his business is slow. He's an ex-New Yorker who's re-located to L.A. and is trying to be a big shot, only he doesn't seem to get much respect, but boy, there sure is an air of impending doom surrounding the guy. He goes to the casino of a fellow club owner and tries to be a bigshot in front of his girls, but winds up with a $23,000 debt to what is clearly a mob family. In order to forgive his debt, they want him to kill a chinese bookie they claim owes them money. All is not as it seems to be though, neither with the set-up nor Cosmo Vitelli himself. The film itself isn't directed in a very accessible way, there's lots of random close-ups and off camera dialogue, but it is engrossing (it seems to slightly imitate the Scorsese style, and not just because of the gangster element). Anyway, since when does art always have to be assessible? The soundtrack is near barren, almost the only time music is heard is when the characters on the screen are hearing it. All Cosmo wants to do is run his nightclub and it seems he'll do anything to keep things normal. Perhaps even something crazy as he may be crazier than he let's on. There's more to this low budget crime drama than suspected at first as well.

• Tim S

  
  Gazzara in a tuxedo the whole time, I'll watch that any day of the fucking week.

• Michael G

  
  Such an awesome movie. It's more a work of art than a movie.

• Walter M

  
  [font=Century Gothic]In "The Killing of a Chinese Bookie," Cosmo Vitelli(Ben Gazzara) is the owner of the Crazy Horse West, modeled after the legendary Parisian nightspot, that is empty of customers until Mort Weil(Seymour Cassel) brings in three carloads of new customers… More
  [font=Century Gothic]In "The Killing of a Chinese Bookie," Cosmo Vitelli(Ben Gazzara) is the owner of the Crazy Horse West, modeled after the legendary Parisian nightspot, that is empty of customers until Mort Weil(Seymour Cassel) brings in three carloads of new customers one night. Cosmo, being a compulsive gambler, is immensely interested in visiting Mort's poker club in Santa Monica. When he does, he brings along three of his dancers as dates. Things go badly for Cosmo when he loses $23,000 in a single night and demonstrates an inability to pay.[/font] [font=Century Gothic]"The Killing of a Chinese Bookie" is a deeply cynical and downbeat character study that has less to do with Cosmo or the plot, such as it is, than with a depiction of Los Angeles(and symbolically Hollywood) as a gilded nightmare where women are exploited as decorative features. This is a city without a heart(or if you will a real downtown) and where driving directions are longer than some books. Like Cosmo, writer-director John Cassavetes was originally from New York and there is a current of homesickness that runs through the movie. Even though he runs a glorified strip joint, Cosmo does his best to bring class to the city and the orchids are a nice touch. But he errs badly when he is awed by Mort's gang when he should definitely know better.[/font] [font=Century Gothic][/font] [font=Century Gothic]Note: This review is for the 135 minute version.[/font]

• Burger S

  
  Watch it for free online.

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