The Killing Of A Chinese Bookie 1976 Timothy Carey & Seymour Cassel Press Photo For Sale

The Killing Of A Chinese Bookie 1976 Timothy Carey & Seymour Cassel Press Photo

8” x 10” B/W Photograph

Directed by John Cassavetes Press

Ben Gazzara & Seymour Cassel Staring in John Cassavetes The Killing Of A Chinese Bookie Faces Distribution Corp.

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The Killing of a Chinese Bookie is a 1976 American neo-noir crime film written and directed by John Cassavetes and starring Ben Gazzara. A rough and gritty film, this is the second of their three collaborations, following Husbands and preceding Opening Night. Timothy Carey, Seymour Cassel, Morgan Woodward, Meade Roberts, and Azizi Johari appear in supporting roles.

The Killing of a Chinese Bookie Starring Ben Gazzara

Directed by John Cassavetes

Written by John Cassavetes

Produced by Al Ruban

Starring Ben Gazzara

Timothy Agoglia Carey

Seymour Cassel

Azizi Breit

Al Ruban

Frederick Elmes

Edited by

Tom Cornwell

Music by Bo Harwood

Distributed by Faces Distribution

Release date February 15, 1976

Running time 135 minutes

108 minutes

Gazzara's character of the formidable strip club owner Cosmo Vittelli was in part based on an impersonation he did for his friend Cassavetes in the 1970s. In an interview for the Criterion Collection in the mid-2000s, Gazzara stated that he believed that Vittelli, who cares deeply about the rather peculiar "art" aspect of his nightclub routines but is faced with patrons who are only there for naked girls and care little about the artistic value of any of the routines, was a double of sorts of Cassavetes himself.

Plot

Cosmo Vittelli owns and operates a nightclub, Crazy Horse West, on the Sunset Strip in Los Angeles. Though Cosmo spends a great deal of time and effort designing and choreographing the venue's artistic burlesque act, he fears his customers are there only to see the naked bodies of his performers. Cosmo makes the final payment on a seven-year gambling debt to a loan shark named Marty, and in return invites him and his mob associates to the club's night act. Eager to celebrate his newfound freedom, Cosmo goes on a night on the town with his three favorite dancers (Margo, Rachel, and Sherry), and subsequently racks up a $23,000 poker debt, returning him to the position he'd just left. Although Cosmo insists he is good for the money over time, Marty’s partners force Cosmo to sign over the Crazy Horse West as collateral. Troubled over how to retain his business and resolve the debt, Cosmo drops the girls off at their homes.

The following night, gangster Mort and his associates arrive at the club and order Cosmo to find and kill a bookie named Harold Ling in exchange for wiping out his outstanding debt. When Cosmo procrastinates, Mort has one of his men rough him up and make it clear the killing must be completed immediately. Mort gives Cosmo a gun, a car, and the location of Ling's house. After they explain that the bookie’s house is guarded and booby-trapped, the men give Cosmo a receipt for the money he owes them and encourage him to tear it up, proving that the hit will cancel his debt. Though they insist the target is simply a low-level bookie, they inadvertently reveal his real name as Benny Wu, raising Cosmo's suspicions.

On the freeway heading to Wu’s house, the tire on Cosmo’s car blows out but he finds a payphone and calls a cab. The cab takes Cosmo to a restaurant where, as instructed, he picks up hamburgers to distract the guard dogs at Wu’s home. Making his way to the bookie’s room, Cosmo finds Wu naked in his spa. As Cosmo takes aim at the old man, Wu confesses that he has been a bad person and tells Cosmo he is sorry. After killing Wu, Cosmo shoots several bodyguards and makes a run for it, but is shot by a stray bullet in the process.

Cosmo takes a bus, then several cabs to Rachel’s house, where he collapses on the bed. Rachel’s mother, Betty, whom Cosmo calls “Mom,” tends to his wound, but she refuses his request to call a cab to take him to the club. Meanwhile, Mort learns of the successful hit but Cosmo's apparent survival, and orders his right-hand man Flo to kill Cosmo.

Cosmo makes it back to the club, where Flo is waiting for him and tries to persuade him to leave. A topless Rachel approaches their table and a half-delirious Cosmo tells her that he is going to buy her a diamond ring and asks her to tell him that she loves him. Flo drags Cosmo to an empty parking garage where he admits he considers them friends before passing him on to Mort. Mort admits to Cosmo that Wu was actually a high-ranking Chinese Triad boss and Cosmo was set up to perform a task that Mort’s men found impossible to accomplish, a task he was never meant to survive. Mort claims he can protect Cosmo, but is only distracting him long enough for one of his men to get a clear shot. Cosmo kills Mort and escapes to Betty's house, asking where Rachel is before rambling on about his own mother and telling Betty that she's "wonderful". Betty tells Cosmo off, ordering him to leave her and Rachel's house and never come back.

Cosmo returns to the club and talks to his performers, motivating them by telling them that each person has their own truths and sense of happiness. He confesses that he is only happy when he is angry, or when he is playing the role of a person that others want him to be. He encourages the troupe to take on their theatrical personalities so that those in the audience can escape their troubles and also pretend to be who they are not. Cosmo takes the stage and tells the audience they are running late because Rachel has left and confesses to the crowd that he loved her. He walks outside and observes blood dripping from his bullet wound as the show begins.

Cast

Ben Gazzara as Cosmo Vittelli

Timothy Carey as Flo

Seymour Cassel as Mort Weil

Morgan Woodward as The Boss

Azizi Johari as Rachel

Robert Philips as Phil

Meade Roberts as Mr. Sophistication

John Red Kullers as The Accountant

Al Ruban as Marty Reitz

Virginia Carrington as Betty

Alice Friedland as Sherry

Donna Marie Gordon as Margo

Haji as Haji

Carol Warren as Carol

Derna Wong Davis as Derna

Kathalina Veniero as Annie

Val Avery as Blair

Soto Joe Hugh as Benny Wu

John Finnegan as Lance

James Lew as Wu's Bodyguard

John Cassavetes American actor, film director, and screenwriter (1929-1989)

Ben Gazzara

American actor

John Cassavetes