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BAMcinématek presents Cassavetes, the first complete directorial retrospective of of American independent cinema in over a decade, Jul 6—31

20 films, all in 35mm

Series also features highlights from Cassavetes’ acting career

“You must be willing to risk everything to really express it all.”—

The Wall Street Journal is the title sponsor for BAM Rose Cinemas and BAMcinématek.

Brooklyn, NY/Jun 11, 2013—From Saturday, July 6 through Wednesday, July 31, BAMcinématek presents Cassavetes, a comprehensive retrospective of films directed by and starring the founding father of American independent cinema. The series will showcase all 12 of the films that Cassavetes directed (the first complete retrospective in New York for 15 years), as well as a selection of Cassavetes’ underappreciated work as an . Every film in the series will screen on 35mm—an essential component to fully appreciating the glorious, grainy shadows of Cassavetes’ after-midnight soul-searching.

Cassavetes opens (fittingly) on Saturday, July 6, with the director’s 1977 backstage Opening Night featuring as a Margo Channing-type actress who refuses to accept her fading star quality until the death of a worshiping young fan pushes her over the edge. With echoes of All About Eve and Renoir’s The Golden Coach, this heartbreaking tragedy is one of the most provocative and enigmatic works of his oeuvre.

A breakout star of the “kitchen sink” school of live television, Cassavetes first gained widespread attention for his role in Martin Ritt’s (1957—Jul 8). This pro-labor buddy picture about two dock workers (the other played by Sidney Poitier) depicts a then- daring interracial friendship and a host of gritty New York locations. Already a self-taught writer and director, Cassavetes recruited students from his acting workshop to become the cast and crew of the landmark indie Shadows (1959—Jul 9). Nominally about the intrusion of race upon the attraction between a white man and a black woman, the film was less interested in controversy than in atmosphere, capturing the jazz-scored lifestyle of ’s young beatniks and bohemians with a loose, restless energy.

Shadows brought Cassavetes to Hollywood, where he struggled against the system in two films: the moody, oblique (1961—Jul 10) and the sensitive (1963—Jul 11). The former was centered around unexpectedly terrific performances by (as a diffident jazzman) and (as a singer-cum-prostitute) and remains his most underrated film. The latter found Cassavetes on the losing end of a power struggle with super-producer and stars and —reportedly, he almost came to blows with all three—but Cassavetes redeemed the project by focusing his attention not on the name but on the mentally disabled children who were the film’s subjects.

Incompatible with studio compromises, Cassavetes returned to for Faces (1968—Jul 17), a semi-autobiographical, multi-character melodrama of marriage, infidelity, and alcohol. More cinéma vérité in style than his later films, his first masterpiece nonetheless codified Cassavetes’ highly personal filmmaking method: shoot reams of film, often in his own home; let the actors experiment (but not improvise; contrary to myth, they worked from thorough scripts); and fine-tune the movie in the editing room, sometimes over the course of years. Faces, shot in early 1965, required almost three years, but the result yielded a trio of Oscar nominations (for Best Actor, Actress, and Screenplay) and a rare box office hit for Cassavetes. It also boasts a highly-sought after soundtrack by Miles Davis’ legendary producer/arranger Teo Macero (Kind of Blue, Bitches Brew¸ etc.) and Tony award winner Charlie Smalls (The Wiz).

To pay for it, Cassavetes took a number of acting jobs just for the money—and, ironically, did much of his best work in front of the camera during this period. Don Siegel’s terse remake of The Killers (1964—Jul 15), with and Ronald Reagan, starred Cassavetes as the hit men’s victim. (1967—Jul 7), ’s violent, cynical World War II film, reteamed Marvin and Cassavetes as the reluctant leader of a group of death row cons recruited for a suicide mission and its most psychotically unhinged member, respectively. The rarely screened Machine Gun McCain (1969—Jul 16), which starred Cassavetes alongside his wife Gena Rowlands and friends and , is a fascinating hybrid of Euro crime caper and Cassavetes family film. And in ’s Rosemary’s Baby (1968—Jul 21), the film that brought Cassavetes mainstream fame, he created a deeply unsetting performance as an insensitive actor who proves vastly more sinister than his pregnant young bride () could ever imagine.

The success of Faces allowed Cassavetes his most sustained burst of creativity, during which he turned out five emotionally raw, narratively elliptical masterpieces in a row. Husbands (1970—Jul 19), a confrontational study of friendship and masculinity at its most boorish, starred Cassavetes, Falk, and , another New York actor who had a screen persona similar to Cassavetes’ and who became the final member of his acting Dream Team. The dark (1971—Jul 18) elevated Cassavetes utility player to leading man, as an irresponsible, often deeply obnoxious parking attendant who somehow turns out to be the perfect guy for an uptight museum curator (Rowlands).

If Minnie and Moskowitz was a thinly disguised version of the often tempestuous partnership between Cassavetes and Rowlands, their next film—for which both were nominated for an Oscar—made it clear why Rowlands put up with him. A searing, heart-breaking study of a woman gripped by mental illness, A Woman Under the Influence (1974—Jul 12 & 13) was also a nuanced portrait of a working-class Italian- American family that operated in the same kind of happy, expansive chaos as Cassavetes’ extended filmmaking clan. The legendary scene in which Rowlands channels her character’s breakdown—and Falk (playing her devastated husband) offers his wordless, horrified reaction—contains some the best acting in the history of the movies.

A gangster movie by and a musical in spirit, The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (1976—Jul 20) is another indescribable object in which plot takes a backseat to milieu. Giving his career-best performance, Gazzara plays Cosmo Vitelli, a strip club entrepreneur who loves his seedy place of business and somehow remains an incorrigible optimist in spite of his potentially fatal debt to the mob.

His next film, Opening Night, led Cassavetes into another cycle of acting-as-fundraising. Though he tended to clash with any director who wasn’t himself, Cassavetes worked for , playing the villain in the ferocious supernatural splatter-fest The Fury (1978—Jul 25), and Paul Mazursky, again opposite Rowlands, in Tempest (1982—Jul 22). Finally emerging after years in the editing room, ’s (1976—Jul 30) was a ragged -shot film maudit, featuring Cassavetes and Falk as two small-time hoods fleeing the mob. It represents the entry in Cassavetes’ acting resume that most resembles the films he directed.

A script that Cassavetes initially tossed off for money, Gloria (1980—Jul 24) became a true (and relatively big budget) Cassavetes film when he stepped behind the camera to capture Rowlands’ defiant,

funny performance as a low-rent gangster’s moll who becomes a young boy’s protector during an outer- borough odyssey on the run, once again, from the mafia. Love Streams (1984—Jul 31), Cassavetes’ most intimate film and a summary of his views on love and family, was a study of two siblings (played by himself and Rowlands) who reconnect at a low ebb in both their lives. Although devotees remember the poignant final image of Cassavetes in Love Streams as his farewell to the cinema, Cassavetes made one more film before liver disease left him too ill to work, taking over the troubled Big Trouble (1986—Jul 29) at Falk’s behest. A broad parody of Double Indemnity, it has little in common with Cassavetes’ passion projects but marshals memorably go-for-broke comedic performances from Falk and .

Press screenings to be announced.

For press information, please contact Gabriele Caroti at 718.724.8024 / [email protected] Lisa Thomas at 718.724.8023 / [email protected]

Film Schedule

Sat, Jul 6 3, 6, 9pm: Opening Night

Sun, Jul 7 3, 6, 9pm: The Dirty Dozen

Mon, Jul 8 7, 9:30pm: Edge of the City

Tue, Jul 9 7, 9:30pm: Shadows

Wed, Jul 10 4:30, 7, 9:30pm: Too Late Blues

Thu, Jul 11 4:30, 7, 9:30pm: A Child is Waiting

Fri, Jul 12 7:30pm: A Woman Under the Influence

Sat, Jul 13 3, 6, 9pm: A Woman Under the Influence

Mon, Jul 15 4:30, 7, 9:30pm: The Killers

Tue, Jul 16 7, 9:30pm: Machine Gun McCain

Wed, Jul 17 6:45, 9:30pm: Faces

Thu, Jul 18 4:30, 7, 9:30pm: Minnie and Moskowitz

Fri, Jul 19 6:45, 9:30pm: Husbands

Sat, Jul 20 2, 4:30, 7, 9:30pm: The Killing of a Chinese Bookie

Sun, Jul 21 2, 4:30, 7, 9:30pm: Rosemary’s Baby

Mon, Jul 22 6:45, 9:30: Tempest

Wed, Jul 24 4:30, 7, 9:30pm: Gloria

Thu, Jul 25 7, 9:30pm: The Fury

Mon, Jul 29 4:30, 7, 9:30pm: Big Trouble

Tue, Jul 30 4:30, 7, 9:30pm: Mikey and Nicky

Wed, Jul 31 6:45, 9:30pm: Love Streams

Film Descriptions

Big Trouble (1986) Directed by John Cassavetes. With Peter Falk, Alan Arkin. Cassavetes’ seldom-seen last film is a madcap comedic reworking of Double Indemnity. Insurance salesman Leonard (Arkin) is bummed that he can’t drum up the money to send his gifted triplets to Yale— so when a foxy (Beverly D’Angelo) comes along with an insurance scam involving her husband’s (Falk) murder, he takes the bait. A hilarious highlight: Arkin gagging on a sardine liqueur. Mon, Jul 29 at 4:30, 7, 9:30pm

A Child is Waiting (1963) 105min With Burt Lancaster, Judy Garland. The head of an institution for mentally handicapped children (Lancaster) is challenged by a sensitive teacher (Garland) when she forms an emotional bond with one of the students. Cassavetes applies his trademark docu-realist approach (the children are played by real-life residents of an institution for the mentally challenged) to this film, one of his rare commercial projects. “Very affecting… Cassavetes makes especially fine use of Garland's tremulous emotionalism” (Time Out ). Thu, Jul 11 at 4:30, 7, 9:30pm

The Dirty Dozen (1967) 149min Directed by Robert Aldrich. With Lee Marvin, . Cassavetes is the unhinged psychotic in a group of 12 death-row-bound misfits that Major Reisman (Marvin) has recruited to carry out a suicide mission in Nazi-occupied French territory during World War II. Director Aldrich exploded decades of flag-waving propagandistic myth with this stingingly nihilistic, ultra- violent cult classic that’s influenced a whole generation of war movies, from to . Sun, Jul 7 at 3, 6, 9pm

Edge of the City (1957) 85min Directed by Martin Ritt.

With John Cassavetes, Sidney Poitier. A troubled army deserter (Cassavetes) befriends a black railway worker (Poitier), while laboring beside him in the dockyards—but antagonism from a racist foreman has tragic consequences. This gritty film gris—which makes striking use of its lower Manhattan rail yard backdrop—howls with defiant anger at racial prejudice and social injustice. Mon, Jul 8 at 7, 9:30pm

Faces (1968) 130min With , , Gena Rowlands, Seymour Cassel. Told largely via intense close-up shots, this wrenching story of a marriage’s dissolution was Cassavetes’ first major critical triumph. It’s a seemingly never-ending night in the life of an unhappy bourgeois couple (Marley and Carlin): they argue, he announces he wants a divorce, they argue again, they get sloshed, they argue yet again, he sees a prostitute (Rowlands), and she has her own one-night stand with an aging hippie (Cassel). Cassavetes splashes raw human emotion across every frame with a harrowing realism seldom seen since. 35mm restored print courtesy of the UCLA Film & Television Archive. Preservation funded by The Film Foundation and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Wed, Jul 17 at 6:45, 9:30pm

The Fury (1978) 125min Directed by Brian De Palma. With , John Cassavetes, Amy Irving. When the glowing-blue-eyed psychic kiddos in De Palma’s ultra-stylish follow-up get mad, they get really mad. Cassavetes is the arch villain government operative intent on harnessing a teenager’s telekinetic powers for evil, but he faces serious resistance from the boy’s secret agent father (Douglas) and an ESP-gifted girl (Irving). The blood splattered tour-de-force finale “will leave your head spinning” (). Thu, Jul 25 at 7, 9:30pm

Gloria (1980) 121min With Gena Rowlands, Julie Carmen, . Gena Rowlands with a gun is all you need to know about Cassavetes’ wickedly entertaining, darkly comedic , in which a brassy New York City-bred ex-gangster’s moll sets about protecting a young Puerto Rican boy who’s been marked for murder by the mob. Cassavetes takes a shoulda-been- commercial-pap premise and turns it into a great freewheeling exercise in seriocomic naturalism—with some killer action to boot. Wed, Jul 24 at 4:30, 7, 9:30pm

Husbands (1970) 138min With Ben Gazzara, Peter Falk, John Cassavetes. Long Island family men Harry (Gazzara), Archie (Falk), and Gus (Cassavetes) undergo a collective midlife crisis following the death of a friend, precipitating a debauched, extended excursion from their everyday responsibilities in which they drink, carouse, sleep on the subway, gamble, womanize, and even jet off to London. Cassavetes’ painfully perceptive examination of neutered suburban masculinity is one of cinema’s most lacerating depictions of male friendship. Fri, Jul 19 at 6:45, 9:30pm

The Killers (1964) 93min Directed by Don Siegel. With Lee Marvin, John Cassavetes, . Two hit men invade a school for the blind and shoot a curiously placid teacher (Cassavetes) dead. Siegel’s tough, tense, brightly lit noir adaptation of Hemingway’s story (the second after Robert Siodmak’s 1946 version) was supposed to be the first made-for-TV movie but was deemed too violent for the tube. Featuring soon-to-be pol Ronald Reagan in his last film appearance (as a sadistic mob boss!). Mon, Jul 15 at 4:30, 7, 9:30pm

The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (1976) 108min

With Ben Gazzara, Seymour Cassel. As the owner of an LA strip club Cosmo Vitelli (Gazzara) stages downbeat Dadaist nudie shows, but he can’t seem to shake his gambling debts—and in an act of desperation, resorts to the titular crime. This “postnoir masterpiece” (Jonathan Rosenbaum) is a unlike any other. It simultaneously toys with the genre’s conventions and completely reinvents them—while also offering a dark, comic character study of Gazzara’s Cosmo: one of Cassavetes’ most complex and tragically human creations. Sat, Jul 20 at 2, 4:30, 7, 9:30pm

Love Streams (1984) 140min With Gena Rowlands, John Cassavetes. Her life in tatters, a newly divorced woman (Rowlands) moves in with her alcoholic brother (Cassavetes). Rendered with Cassavetian extremes, overflowing compassion, and a touch of the surreal, this complex emotional journey—Cassavetes’ last film—sees them lay bare their pain, loneliness, and desperate search for understanding. “Cassavetes' career of risk taking comes to a climax in this rich, original, emotionally magnificent film” (Dave Kehr). Wed, Jul 31 at 6:45, 9:30pm

Machine Gun McCain (1969) 94min Directed by Giuliano Montaldo. With John Cassavetes, Peter Falk. When his accomplices pull the plug on a planned casino heist, crazy-as-a-fox criminal Hank McCain (Cassavetes) decides to go it alone. This Italian production—shot in Las Vegas and oozing vintage Sin City sleaze—is pure, unfiltered exploitation pulp with a manic-bravura lead performance from Cassavetes, Peter Falk as a power-hungry mobster, and a scene-stealing cameo by Gena Rowlands as McCain’s old flame. Tue, Jul 16 at 7, 9:30pm

Mikey and Nicky (1976) 119min Directed by Elaine May. With Peter Falk, John Cassavetes. Nicky (Cassavetes), a petty crook on the run from a mob boss he’s crossed, enlists the help of old friend Mikey (Falk)—but finds himself increasingly unsure whether his buddy is protecting him or leading him into harm’s way. “One of the most innovative, engaging, and insightful films of [the 70s]” (Dave Kehr), Elaine May’s dark buddy thriller plays like an homage to Cassavetes’ own films, with its loose-limbed vérité style. Tue, Jul 30 at 4:30, 7, 9:30pm

Minnie and Moskowitz (1971) 115min With Gena Rowlands, Seymour Cassel. It’s a screwball , Cassavetes style. Ex-prom queen museum curator Minnie (Rowlands) meets shaggy misfit parking attendant Moskowitz (Cassel), and the pair begin an improbable romance punctuated by hot dog dates, no-holds-barred screaming matches, and moments of surprising tenderness. Cassavetes’ most endearing movie yields lead performances from Rowlands and Cassel “so beautiful you can hardly believe it” (Roger Ebert).

Opening Night (1977) 144min With Gena Rowlands, Ben Gazzara. With echoes of All About Eve and The Golden Coach, Opening Night stars Rowlands as a Margo Channing-type actress who refuses to accept her fading star quality, until the death of a worshiping young fan pushes her over the edge. Cassavetes moves without explanation between “real life,” on-stage theatrics, and fantasy, effectively erasing the line between reality and illusion in one of the most provocative and enigmatic works of his oeuvre. Sat, Jul 6 at 3, 6, 9pm

Rosemary’s Baby (1968) 136min Directed by Roman Polanski.

With Mia Farrow, John Cassavetes, . Upper West Side mother-to-be Rosemary (Farrow) experiences some unforeseen complications when she learns she’s carrying the spawn of the devil. Polanski cannily exploits the primal anxieties surrounding childbirth, urban alienation, and spousal betrayal to skin-crawling effect in this horror milestone. Cassavetes is Rosemary’s diabolical actor husband and a very creepy Gordon is the meddling Satanist next door. Sun, Jul 21 at 2, 4:30, 7, 9:30pm

Shadows (1959) 81min With Ben Carruthers, Lelia Goldoni, Anthony Ray. Shot on 16mm, Cassavetes’ first film heralded the birth of the American New Wave. Largely improvised, it tackles a then-taboo subject: the relationship between a black woman (Goldoni) and a white man (Ray), who rejects her when he meets her darker-skinned brother. Shot on the cheap on the streets of 1950s Manhattan, it’s a poignant time capsule of a long-vanished era, with a still-fresh inventiveness matched perfectly by Charles Mingus’ jazz score. 35mm restored print courtesy of the UCLA Film & Television Archive. Preservation funded by The Film Foundation and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Tue, Jul 9 at 7, 9:30pm

Tempest (1982) 140min Directed by Paul Mazursky. With John Cassavetes, Gena Rowlands, . A successful Manhattan architect (Cassavetes) chucks it all—cheating wife (Rowlands) and son included—and moves to a remote Greek island with his daughter and new lover (Sarandon) in tow. Things seem pretty idyllic—the crazy goat herder aside—until… Mazursky’s (Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice) smart, complex comedy is a loose and offbeat adaptation of Shakespeare’s play. Mon, Jul 22 at 6:45, 9:30pm

Too Late Blues (1961) 103min With Bobby Darin, Stella Stevens. Cassavetes’ follow-up to Shadows was this Paramount-produced drama about a jazz pianist (Darin) tormented by his desire to make it big and his reluctance to sell out. Fascinating for its autobiographical overtones—it was the fiercely independent director’s first major studio assignment—the film comes to life thanks to his gritty direction and David Raskin’s (Laura) memorable score, performed by jazz legends Slim Gaillard, Benny Carter, and Shelly Manne. Wed, Jul 10 at 4:30, 7, 9:30pm

A Woman Under the Influence (1974) 155min With Gena Rowlands, Peter Falk. The titular character in question is rapidly unraveling housewife Mabel Longhetti (Rowlands, in her defining performance), whose erratic mood-swings and loosening grip on reality turn a working-class Italian-American family’s domestic life into an emotional minefield. Cassavetes directs this riveting portrait of a family under siege with the same manic energy that governs its volatile central character. “Cassavetes' masterpiece. It has an emotional rhythm unlike anything else I've ever seen” (Dave Kehr). 35mm restored print courtesy of the UCLA Film & Television Archive. Preservation funded by The Film Foundation and GUCCI. Fri, Jul 12 at 7:30pm and Sat, Jul 13 at 3, 6, 9pm

About BAMcinématek

The four-screen BAM Rose Cinemas (BRC) opened in 1998 to offer Brooklyn audiences alternative and independent films that might not play in the borough otherwise, making BAM the only performing arts center in the country with two mainstage theaters and a multiplex cinema. In July 1999, beginning with a series celebrating the work of , BAMcinématek was born as Brooklyn’s only daily, year-round repertory film program. BAMcinématek presents new and rarely seen contemporary films, classics, work by local artists, and festivals of films from around the world, often with special appearances by directors, actors, and other guests. BAMcinématek has not only presented major retrospectives by major filmmakers such as Michelangelo Antonioni, Manoel de Oliveira, Shohei Imamura, (winning a National Film Critics’ Circle Award prize for the retrospective), Kaneto Shindo, Luchino Visconti, ,

but it has also introduced New York audiences to contemporary artists such as Pedro Costa and Apichatpong Weerasethakul. In addition, BAMcinématek programmed the first US retrospectives of directors Arnaud Desplechin, Nicolas Winding Refn, Hong Sang-soo, and, most recently, Andrzej Zulawski. From 2006 to 2008, BAMcinématek partnered with the Sundance Institute and in June 2009 launched BAMcinemaFest, a 16-day festival of new independent films and repertory favorites with 15 NY premieres; the fifth annual BAMcinemaFest will run from June 19—28, 2013.

Credits

The Wall Street Journal is the title sponsor of BAM Rose Cinemas and BAMcinématek.

Steinberg Screen at the BAM Harvey Theater is made possible by The Joseph S. and Diane H. Steinberg Charitable Trust.

Pepsi is the official beverage of BAM.

Brooklyn Brewery is the preferred beer of BAMcinématek.

BAM Rose Cinemas are named in recognition of a major gift in honor of Jonathan F.P. and Diana Calthorpe Rose. BAM Rose Cinemas would also like to acknowledge the generous support of The Peter Jay Sharp Foundation, The Estate of Richard B. Fisher, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, Brooklyn Delegation of the New York City Council, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, New York State Council on the Arts, Bloomberg, and Time Warner Inc. Additional support for BAMcinématek is provided by the Coolidge Corner Theatre Foundation, The Grodzins Fund, The Liman Foundation and Summit Rock Advisors.

BAMcinematek is programmed by Florence Almozini with the assistance of Nellie Killian and David Reilly.

Special thanks to /Westchester Films; Linda Evans-Smith & Marilee Womack/Warner Brothers; Todd Wiener & Steven Hill/UCLA Film & Television Archive; Judy Nicaud/Paramount; Chris Chouinard/Park Circus; Paul Ginsburg/Universal; Christopher Lane & Michael Horne/Sony Pictures Repertory; Joe Reid & Caitlin Robertson/20th Century Fox; Andrew Youdell/.

General Information

Tickets: General Admission: $13 BAM Cinema Club Members: $8, BAM Cinema Club Movie Moguls: Free Seniors & Students (25 and under with a valid ID, Mon—Thu): $9 Bargain matinees (Mon—Thu before 5pm & Fri—Sun before 3pm no holidays): $9

BAM Howard Gilman Opera House, BAM Rose Cinemas, and BAMcafé are located in the Peter Jay Sharp building at 30 Lafayette Avenue (between St Felix Street and Ashland Place) in the Fort Greene neighborhood of Brooklyn. BAM Harvey Theater is located two blocks from the main building at 651 Fulton Street (between Ashland and Rockwell Places). Both locations house Greenlight Bookstore at BAM kiosks. BAM Fisher, located at 321 Ashland Place, is the newest addition to the BAM campus and houses the Judith and Alan Fishman Space and Rita K. Hillman Studio. BAM Rose Cinemas is Brooklyn’s only movie house dedicated to first-run independent and foreign film and repertory programming. BAMcafé, operated by Great Performances, is open for dining prior to BAM Howard Gilman Opera House evening performances. BAMcafé also features an eclectic mix of spoken word and live music for BAMcafé Live on select Friday and Saturday nights with a special BAMcafé Live menu available starting at 8pm.

Subway: 2, 3, 4, 5, Q, B to Atlantic Avenue – Barclays Center (2, 3, 4, 5 to Nevins St for Harvey Theater) D, N, R to Pacific Street; G to Fulton Street; C to Lafayette Avenue Train: Long Island Railroad to Atlantic Terminal – Barclays Center Bus: B25, B26, B41, B45, B52, B63, B67 all stop within three blocks of BAM Car: Commercial parking lots are located adjacent to BAM

For ticket and BAMbus information, call BAM Ticket Services at 718.636.4100, or visit BAM.org.