ALICE FRIEDLAND & TIMOTHY CAREY: A CHINESE BOOKIE VALENTINE

ALICE FRIEDLAND ON TIMOTHY CAREY FROM THE KILLING OF A CHINESE BOOKIE

During our interview I could not remember much about Timothy Carey and then it all started to come back to me. Our scenes did not interact with each other. I was looking at him in a casino scene and then it hit me. I saw some of his old movies; I loved old movies from way back, and while I was watching him on the set I became totally enamored with him. He was so tall and that great sexy voice. He had a sublime sexiness that was so different and I just wanted him to ravage me. His dominate manner was turning me on big time. I wanted him bad. I wanted him to take me right there on the ground. My fantasy was to make love to him while listening to the Doors Light My Fire....OMG!  He was so sexually stimulating to me, due to the fact that he appeared to be a little nuts. I bet the sex would of been HOT!

To quote Bob Dylan, "I Want You So Bad."

Timothy Carey... SEXY…RIP

Alice Friedland (Sherry, THE KILLING OF A CHINESE BOOKIE)

Timothy Carey toasts

Ben Gazzara pours for Alice Friedland

Ben Gazzara, Timothy Carey, Seymour Cassel, Robert Philips

Ben Gazzara (Cosmo) and Alice Friendland (Sherry)

archive review: THE KILLING OF A CHINESE BOOKIE (1978 CUT) rating: *****

An important bridge in John Cassavete's directorial career, progressing from his usual improvisational character studies to a more structured film involving a strip club owner in debt to the mob given a seemingly impossible task.

Ben Gazzara plays Cosmo Vitelli, the club owner who, like Cassevetes himself, takes pride in his own variation of "independent film": bizarre routines that are more than girls stripping. Gazarra plays Comso with a prideful charm mixed with a completely oblivious determination.

The mobsters, portrayed by classic actors Timothy Carey, Morgan Woodward, and Seymour Cassel, are perfectly complimented by the real-life dancers Alice Friedland, Donna Gordon and model Azizi Johari, all enveloped by Gazzara's intensely natural performance and Cassavetes' signature extemporaneous style.

Many consider this to be Cassavete's finest film. They're right. Especially since the film is a romance between director and actor. The camera seems part of Gazarra's character as he roams in and out of the city and controls his theater of the absurd within the club: headlined by one of the most bizarre acts in cinematic history.

Meade Robert's Mr. Sophistication, a fat bald freak who hosts the strip shows and stands out like a paper sack in a rose garden, is liken to Cassavetes directing style: if you can survive this oddball on stage inside the club, you can understand the director's vision on the screen. 

But unlike many of Cassavete's prior films, this character study has a real destination, making THE KILLING OF A CHINESE BOOKIE one of the most unique and original Neo Noirs created by a gutsy, groundbreaking filmmaker who never compromised.

Although this particular review is for the 1978 director's cut, a shorter version than the rambling original (where side characters talked too much and important characters too little) that lasted eleven days in theaters.

But make no mistake... having less screen time doesn't mean this version is an edited-down hatchet piece from the longer one. There are not in the 1976 original, and most importantly of all, the plot line... of a man under the shadow of venomous mobsters... is much sharper, clearer, and thrilling.

LISTEN TO MY PODCAST INTERVIEW WITH ALICE TO THE BOTTOM LEFT

Listen to internet radio with cultfilmfreak on Blog Talk Radio

James Caan & Alice Friedland in Sam Peckinpah's THE KILLER ELITE

Alice Friedland in an important role in CINDY AND DONNA