Films/DVD Asylum

Posted by tinear (A) on February 23, 2012 at 08:23:45

film noir. Cassavetes made two versions, the '76 original, that was quickly pulled after its 135-minute length featuring interminable burlesque numbers drove legions of viewers from theaters and, two years later, a "stream-lined" 105-minute one that is the one now shown. I watched the longer version and it indeed does become boring during those night club ecdysiast numbers--- but the film's strengths, even including those, are formidable.
Ben Gazzara, in the title role, has created a character as human and mature as Brando's in, "Last Tango in Paris." This is no one-dimensional thug, as were all the principals in the Godfather trilogy, with the exception of Brando, but a complex man with genuine emotions and one who is confident enough to show them. The plot, though not original (there are but a few crime film plots, in reality), deftly is unwound with a cast of heavies that put other films to shame.