- Tom O'Brien, Misty Holland
- Film
Fairchild Archive/Penske Media/Shutterstock
Although his name might be unfamiliar to a young generation of moviegoers, John Cassavetes was a giant in raising the profile of independent film in America. As a young man, after enrolling in the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, he took on small parts in films and appeared in episodic television until he picked up a camera and exploded onto the indie film scene with his 1959 film “Shadows.” From there, he went on to write and direct “Faces” (1968), which earned three Oscar nominations and eventually to 1974’s “A Woman Under the Influence,” which starred his wife Gena Rowlands (whom he met at the American Academy) in arguably her most triumphant performance. Cassavetes is such an important figure in independent cinema that every year, the Independent Spirit Awards present the John Cassavetes Award to the year’s best film that cost less than $500,000.
While he was directing, Cassavetes continued his acting career, hitting the jackpot in the period of 1967-68 earning his first nomination for the Academy Award, as well as his first Golden Globe nomination for his performance in Robert Aldrich‘s “The Dirty Dozen,” followed by the megahit, Roman Polanski‘s “Rosemary’s Baby” in 1968. Cassavetes would be nominated for two other Oscars — for his screenplay of 1968’s “Faces” and for his direction of the 1974 film, “A Woman Under the Influence.” He would also receive Golden Globe nominations for writing the 1970 film “Husbands” and for both his screenplay and direction of “A Woman Under the Influence.”
As acclaimed as his work was on his own, his most memorable films were with his wife Rowlands. Together, they were a powerhouse team who really brought the best out in each other, a partnership that lasted right up until Cassavetes’ death in 1989. So tour our photo gallery to celebrate this actor/writer/director and independent film legend by ranking his 12 greatest films from worst to best, both in front of and behind the camera.
12. THE KILLING OF A CHINESE BOOKIE (1976)
Writer/Director: John Cassavetes. Starring Ben Gazzara, Seymour Cassel, Tomothy Agoglia Carey, Azizi Johari.
This is one of Cassavetes’ tougher films in terms of subject matter. Cosmo Vittelli (Ben Gazzara) is a Hollywood strip-club owner who is having trouble convincing his patrons to look at the carefully-constructed routines his strippers present as art. (Cassavetes has stated that he identifies with Cosmo’s frustration at his art not being taken seriously.) While the setting may not be to every audience’s taste, Gazzara offers a terrific performance (as he always manages to do in Cassavetes’ films) and the storyline is totally within the director’s wheelhouse.
11. MINNIE AND MOSKOWITZ (1971)
Writer/Director: John Cassavetes. Starring Gena Rowlands, Seymour Cassel, Val Avery, Timothy Carey.
“Minnie and Moskowitz” is one of Cassavetes’ smaller films, essentially being a two-hander between museum curator Minnie Moore (Gena Rowlands) and parking-lot attendant Seymour Moskowitz (Seymour Cassel). Minnie has basically had it with romance and relationships, but once that Moskowitz meets her, he becomes smitten and sets out to try to make her love him as much as he loves her. Rowlands, as always comes through, but it’s her interactions with Cassel, who came to public notice with her Oscar nomination for Cassavetes’ “Faces,” that really makes their potential relationship thoroughly believable.
10. HUSBANDS (1970)
Writer/Director: John Cassavetes. Starring Ben Gazzara, Peter Falk, John Cassavetes, Jenny Runacre.
Of the informal Cassavetes repertory company, three actors — Peter Falk, Ben Gazzara and Cassavetes himself — appear as a trio of husbands in apparently happy marriages who are shaken by the sudden death of a mutual friend. Coming to grips with the fact that their own youth has ended, they go on a bender together, flying to London and eating too much, drinking too much and sleeping around, finally coming to grips with the emptiness of their own lives. The three actors, good friends off-screen, easily communicate the friendship of the three characters on-screen. For his script for “Husbands,” Cassavetes received his second Golden Globe nomination and his first for writing.
9. MIKEY AND NICKY (1976)
Writer/Director: Elaine May. Starring Peter Falk, John Cassavetes, Ned Beatty, Joyce Van Patten, William Hickey, M. Emmet Walsh.
Cassavetes reunited with his old pal Peter Falk once again, only this time it’s in someone else’s film. The gangster buddy film, written and directed by Elaine May, focuses on the longtime friendship between the two title characters. Nicky (Falk) has screwed up once again — he’s stolen money from his mob boss, resulting in a contract being put out on Nicky’s life. As usual, his friend Mikey (Cassavetes) bails him out, but this time is more serious and Mikey may be putting his own life in danger as a hit man focuses in on Nicky. It’s so interesting to see a male buddy film being written and directed by a woman (and May delivers), plus the partnership between Cassavetes and Falk works once more.
8. OPENING NIGHT (1977)
Writer/Director: John Cassavetes. Starring Gena Rowlands, Ben Gazzara, Joan Blondell, Paul Stewart, Zohra Lampert.
Rowlands delivers yet another bravura performance as aging actress Myrtle Gordon who is trying out her Broadway-bound play out of town. After a performance, she is met by an obsessed fan who is suddenly hit by a car before Myrtle’s eyes. The memory of the young fan and her fate haunts Myrtle throughout the show’s preview period, reminding the actress that she is closer to the end of her life than the beginning. In Cassavetes’ hands, “Opening Night” becomes a dramatic take on the fears on mortality, and Rowlands’ vulnerable performance really brings it home, earning Rowlands her second Best Actress nomination for the Golden Globe.
7. THE DIRTY DOZEN (1967)
Director: Robert Aldrich. Writers: Nunnally Johnson, Lukas Heller. Starring Lee Marvin, Ernest Borgnine, Charles Bronson, Jim Brown, John Cassavetes.
“The Dirty Dozen” proved to be Cassavetes’ biggest commercial hit as an actor, and out of a large ensemble cast composed of several Oscar winners, Cassavetes was the sole actor to be recognized by the Academy, earning his first Oscar nomination for acting, as well as being nominated for his first Golden Globe Award. As Victor Franko, one of the convicts serving a lengthy sentence who are recruited for this suicide mission, Cassavetes stands out from the rest of the pack, delivering a powerful but subtle performance. Despite being a part of what is obviously a commercial film, Cassavetes doesn’t phone it in, bringing to his Franko all of his acting skills that proves to be one of the most memorable parts of the film.
6. LOVE STREAMS (1984)
Director: John Cassavetes. Writers: Ted Allan, John Cassavetes. Starring Gena Rowlands, John Cassavetes, Diahanne Abbott, Seymour Cassel.
Cassavetes’ penultimate film (he got roped into taking over directing duties on 1986’s “Big Trouble” from Andrew Bergman) but one that is considered by most to be his last personal film finds Cassavetes and his wife Gena Rowlands as a co-dependent brother and sister. Robert Harmon (Cassavetes) is a self-destructive alcoholic writer, who facing serious troubles at home with his ex-wife and son and turns instead to take care of his troubled sister Sarah (Rowlands). Sarah is severely depressed after the failure of her marriage, and Robert is torn between dealing with the problems with his family and the problems with his sister.
5. GLORIA (1980)
Writer/Director: John Cassavetes. Starring Gena Rowlands, Julie Carmen, Buck Henry, John Adames.
The focus of Cassavetes’ films seems to return to relationships, even in his one foray into genre filmmaking, the 1980 action thriller “Gloria.” As the title character, Gena Rowlands, who was nominated for her second Academy Award and her third Golden Globe for her performance, plays a mobster’s girlfriend who is on the run with a young boy Phil (John Adames) to avoid being rubbed out themselves. Rowlands gives a powerful performance (and could go toe-to-toe with any female action star at the time), and her dominant presence helped to make audiences care about her quest to save the young boy. “Gloria” was remade in 1999 by Sidney Lumet as an unsuccessful film for Sharon Stone.
4. SHADOWS (1959)
Director: John Cassavetes. Writers: John Cassavetes, Robert Alan Aurthur. Starring Ben Carruthers, Lelia Goldoni, Hugh Hurd.
Cassavetes made a spectacular feature directorial debut with this 1959 film that was originally shot as an improvised work but was re-shot using a full script. Many audiences were shocked at the time by the film’s focus on three African-American siblings, two of whom were so light-skinned that they could almost pass for white. As opposed to the heavily-scripted products of the studio system at the time, Cassavetes’ approach allowed “Shadows” to have the film feel like a slice of real life that the director just happened to capture on film. When “Shadows” won the Critics Award at the Venice Film Festival, it gave the film the kind of boost in America that brought much overdue attention to the quality of the U.S. independent film scene.
3. ROSEMARY’S BABY (1968)
Writer/Director: Roman Polanski, based on the novel by Ira Levin. Starring Mia Farrow, John Cassavetes, Ruth Gordon, Sidney Blackmer, Maurice Evans, Ralph Bellamy.
A year after earning an Oscar nomination and enormous commercial success in “The Dirty Dozen,” Cassavetes landed another big role in the popular hit “Rosemary’s Baby,” based on Ira Levin’s best-selling novel and directed by Roman Polanski. Cassavetes co-stars as struggling actor Guy Woodhouse, who is introduced as a loving husband to wife Rosemary (Mia Farrow) but eventually becomes hissable when it’s learned that he has promised Rosemary’s baby to a Satanic cult living in their apartment building in exchange for acting success. But the film served as a strong display to mainstream audiences of Cassavetes’ considerable acting chops.
2. FACES (1968)
Writer/Director: John Cassavetes. Starring John Marley, Lynn Carlin, Gena Rowlands, Seymour Cassel, Val Avery.
Cassavetes’ directing reputation soared with this, his second film in which he used a cinéma vérité approach to telling a relatively straightforward story of the disintegration of a marriage between Richard Forst (John Marley) and his wife Maria (Lynn Carlin). After Richard unexpectedly demands a divorce, husband and wife split to spend their evening carousing with friends. Carlin and Seymour Cassel both were nominated for supporting Oscars for their performances in the film, and for his screenplay, Cassavetes earned his second Academy Award nomination and his first for writing.
1. A WOMAN UNDER THE INFLUENCE (1974)
Writer/Director: John Cassavetes. Starring Gena Rowlands, Peter Falk.
It’s difficult to explain the unexpected impact that Cassavetes’ “A Woman Under the Influence” had in 1974. The story of Mabel Longhetti (Oscar nominee Gena Rowlands), a woman who desperately loves her husband Nick (Peter Falk) but whose mental illness is becoming more deadly, bringing her closer to madness, was a film that no distributor would touch. Cassavetes himself had to call theater owners to ask them to play the film, but the eventual critical acclaim prompted art house audiences to flock to the film wherever it was playing. Cassavetes received his third Oscar nomination (his first for directing), and he earned his third and fourth Golden Globe nominations for his writing and directing of the film.