Was the interupptions and put downs between Cassavetes/Falk and the actress singing scripted or not? At the end she turned to her left and whispered to someone else "he's drunk" and then the scene ends. I can't find anything online saying that scene was ad-libbed, but it had to be with that much beer going around. They were all drunk in real life.
Randy lay there like a slug. It was his only defense.
~A Christmas Story
I read that the dialogue in Cassavetes' films where scripted but he wanted them to add there own interpretations to the script. Cassavetes loved filming alot of real human behavior, that particular scene, may have been something the actress who sang "It was just a little love affair" added on her own and in the editing it could have been left in to capture more real human emotions in the film.
I am sure, especially in Faces alot of those huge pieces of dialogue were on on the edge of impromptu, however making it an immensely strong film.
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From "The Films of John Cassavetes" book: The only entire scene in Husbands that was not scripted in advance was the singing contest, including the long interchange with Leola Harlow (the woman wearing the red tam-o'shanter who sings "It was just a little love affair"). But there was a method to the apparent madness of going off-book for this particular interchange. Harlow told me that when Cassavetes, Falk, and Gazzara swarmed all over her about her singing, she didn't realize it was part of the scene. She thought that she was being directed to change her performance and that her performance as an actress was genuinely being rebuked. She was genuinely hurt and upset by the criticism.
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