Directed by John Cassavetes • 1976 • United States
Starring Ben Gazzara, Timothy Agoglia Carey, Seymour Cassel
John Cassavetes engages with film noir in his own inimitable style with THE KILLING OF A CHINESE BOOKIE. Ben Gazzara brilliantly portrays a gentleman’s club owner, Cosmo Vitelli, desperately committed to maintaining a facade of suave gentility despite the seediness of his environment and his own unhealthy appetites. When he runs afoul of loan sharks, Cosmo must carry out a terrible crime or lose his way of life. Mesmerizing and idiosyncratic, the film is a provocative examination of masculine identity.
Up Next in Noir
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The Hit
Directed by Stephen Frears • 1984 • United Kingdom
Starring Terence Stamp, John Hurt, Tim RothTerence Stamp is Willie, a gangster’s henchman turned “supergrass” (informer) trying to live in peaceful hiding in a remote Spanish village. Sun-dappled bliss turns to nerve-racking suspense, however, ...
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A Colt Is My Passport
Directed by Takashi Nomura • 1967 • Japan
Starring Joe Shishido, Chitose KobayashiOne of Japanese cinema’s supreme emulations of American noir, Takashi Nomura’s A COLT IS MY PASSPORT is a down-and-dirty but gorgeously photographed yakuza film starring Joe Shishido as a hard-boiled hit man caugh...
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Pale Flower
Directed by Masahiro Shinoda • 1964 • Japan
Starring Ryo Ikebe, Mariko KagaIn this cool, seductive jewel of the Japanese New Wave, a yakuza, fresh out of prison, becomes entangled with a beautiful and enigmatic gambling addict; what at first seems a redemptive relationship ends up leading him f...
