* * * * (Out of * * * *)
1. Love Streams (1984)
2. A Woman Under the Influence (1974)
3. Faces (1968)
4. Shadows (1959)
5. Husbands (1970)
6. The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (1976)
7. Minnie and Moskowitz (1971)
8. Opening Night (1977)
* * * 1/2 (Out of * * * *)
1. Gloria (1980)
2. Too Late Blues (1961)
3. A Child Is Waiting (1963)
cinematiccoffee 
I have an affinity for John Cassavetes. I absolutely love A Woman Under the Influence. And I think The Killing of a Chinese Bookie is a strangely mesmerizing film. It speaks to me in such a way that I watch it just about every time I run into it. But, and this is just my own quirk, Gloria is my favorite Cassavetes film. I know it’s not his best, but I love Gena Rowlands so much. She’s so great in it. The film is gloriously campy. If not for the little boy–an unfortunate casting choice–I think Gloria would be more recognized.
Love your site, John. You have an encyclopedic knowledge of film that I greatly admire.
Thank you for the kind words once again 🙂 I am a huge fan of John Cassavetes as well. Interesting thing about him (though you probably know this) is that (as with Orson Welles), it has been reported (I can’t confirm whether it is true or not) that any acting role Cassavetes took was for a paycheck so he could finance the type of films he wanted to do since it may have been unlikely that Hollywood would have backed any of his truly personal films. The Killing of a Chinese Bookie is a strange masterpiece as you imply. As for Gloria being your favorite Cassavetes film, I have no problem with that. Even If (in my opinion) it is not one of his best, it is nevertheless a very good and yes, Gena Rowlands is just perfectly casted in it. The name of the child actor is John Adames and according to IMDB, that was his only role. Maybe his performance in that film prevented him from getting more roles? Who knows? Anyway, thanks for dropping by and I am going to visit your site right now 🙂
I heard the same thing about Cassavetes on TCM. That’s a pretty reliable source so I bet it’s true.
Totally agree about Gloria. It’s definitely not one of his best. It’s a guilty pleasure of mine–kind of like Buster and Billie (see if you’ve heard of that one.) Glad you like Gena Rowlands. I love her.
Cassavetes loved melodrama and over the top performances–and I normally don’t–they usually work in his strange cinematic stew but in the case of John Adames it crashed and burned–IMHO.