Directed by John Cassavetes, star of Rosemary's Baby, this was another film title I remembered spotting in the 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die book, and naturally was very keen to give a go. Basically in California is Crazy Horse West strip club owner Cosmo Vitelli (Buffalo '66's Ben Gazzara), he does not talk much apart from during business deals, he is a war veteran, and he is an additive gambler. His gambling habit has got in a spot with the mob as he owes them a lot of their money, £23,000 to be precise, and in a poker game in an illegal casino he is distraught to lose the amount he needs to pay the debt. They pressure him to pay, but then they give him a proposition that if he kills a Chinese bookie they want out of the way they can forget the debt all together, he is apparently a smalltime businessman and his death will no consequence. Of course in reality he is actually a big hit as he is the mob rival and head of the Chinese mafia, but Vitelli does manage to sneak into his compound, kill the "bookie", plus two of his family members, and escape the gunfire of his bodyguards. He realises it was all a setup and they predicted he would not come out of the hit alive, and he does manage to get some kind of revenge against those who double-crossed him, but it is a question at the end what will happen to Vitelli and his empire next. Also starring Timothy Carey as Flo, Azizi Johari as Rachel, Meade Roberts as Mr. Sophistication, Seymour Cassel as Mort Weil, Alice Friedland as Sherry, Donna Gordon as Margo Donnar and Robert Phillips as Phil. Gazzara gives a good cool but dominating performance as the pressurised businessman who thinks he can get away from any trouble, but is actually having to face up to realities, the story may have confused me a little after the "killing" of the title, but overall I found it quite a gripping story, and certainly a most watchable crime thriller. Very good!
Review of The Killing of a Chinese Bookie
