The Killing of a Chinese Bookie

The Killing of a Chinese Bookie

The Killing of a Chinese Bookie is a 1976 American crime film directed and written 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. 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. But in an interview for the Criterion Collection in the mid 2000s, Gazzara stated that he believed Vittelli, who cares deeply about the rather peculiar "art" aspect of the routines put on at his nightclub but can't get his patrons (who are only there for naked girls) to, was a double of sorts of Cassavetes himself. Gazzara described his friend as a writer and director that totally believed in the importance and value of his work, because the work represented his heart and soul.

Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Stars: Ben Gazzara, Timothy Carey, Seymour Cassel, Robert Phillips
Production: Criterion Collection
 
IMDB:
7.5
Rotten Tomatoes:
77%
  The Killing of a Chinese Bookie Screenplay »
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R
Year:
1976
135
1,049 Views

Cosmo Vitelli:
I'm a club owner. I deal in girls.

Cosmo Vitelli:
My mother was very funny. Had a great sense of humor. Yeah, that's right. She was so funny, she ran off with this big, fat butcher.

Cosmo Vitelli:
I've got a golden life. Got the world by the balls. That's right, I'm great... I am amazing.

Flo:
That jerk Karl Marx said opium was the... religion of people. I got news for him, it's money.

Cosmo Vitelli:
Now, teddy. Teddy. Everything takes work. We'll straighten it out. You know. You gotta work hard to be comfortable. Yeah, a lot of people kid themselves, you know. They-they know when they were born, they know where they're goin'... they know whether they're gonna go to heaven,whether they're gonna go to hell. They think they know that. They kid themselves. Right? But the only people... who are, you know, happy... are the people who are comfortable. That's right. Now, you take, uh, uh, carol, right? A dingbat, right? A ding-a-ling.A dingo. That's what people think she is,'cause that's the truth they want to believe. But, uh, you put her in another situation, right? Put her in a situation that's tough. Stress. Where she's up against something,you'll see she's no fool. Right. 'cause what's your truth... is my falsehood What's my falsehood is your truth and vice versa. Well, look. Look at me, right? I'm only happy when I'm angry... when I'm sad, when i can play the fool... when i can be what people want me to be rather than be myself.

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