MovieChat Forums > The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (1976) Discussion > Favorite Scene?

Favorite Scene?

posted 19 years ago by noelartm
16 replies | jump to latest

My favorite scene is where Cosmo avoids getting gunned down by the mob in the parking garage. A lot of critics thought this scene anti-climactic, and it is. But that's the beauty of it. Cosmo stays alive by staying in the shadows and allowing his enemies to be blinded by their own fear of the dark. As Ray Carney pointed out in his book on Cassavettes, Cosmo would know how to use the light (and lack of it) to mask things, since he does this in his club all the time. So he's using his skills to take on the mob single handed. A lot of people miss it when Cosmo sneaks out of the garage unscathed. If you blink, you'll miss his silouhette going down the stairs. But it's a hilarious conclusion to a scene that otherwise would have been all too predictable.

[–] neil-reeves 19 years ago

I have two favourite scenes i can't seperate. The first is back at the club after the night out gambling, where Cosmo reluctantly auditions girl from the coffee shop. Love Bo Harwood's/Cassavetes' music as the girl changes and Cosmo's nervous ticks as she performs for him. The abrupt cut after his line 'I'm a club owner, i deal in girls' is superb. The other is the scene in the car with the gangsters as they talk Cosmo through the killing. Filmed almost in darkness it is typical of Cassavetes rough approach to filmmaking and strangely funny as they go into the bizzare details about the dogs and the burgers. Brilliant!

[–] OllieZ 19 years ago

I loved that scene in the car...in total darkness.

The opening credits were well done too (in 78 cut).

The killing of the bookie...the entire scene. Feeding the dogs hamburgers, then to sneaking around upstairs. Then the sadness of watching the old man kissing the girl...splashing water...then wandering around, wading - fianlly seeing Cosmo, who stares at him and then kills him. Stunning stuff.

When Cosmo loses that game, and needs credit, he goes to see the owner - and hsi face made me feel so on edge. The unflinching stare into Cosmo's eyes was just brilliant.

[–] clockworkoranged 19 years ago

When he's going to kill the Bookie and stops to phone in and ask about the "Paris Number" and has to sing the number out tothe other end twice.

[–] ammacinn 18 years ago

For me, the shots of the cars screeching to a halt when Cosmo has his blow out, with horns honking and so forth, really sticks in my mind.

The final shots of the film are pretty memorable, too -- both Cosmo out on the sidewalk and Mr. Sophistication doing a pissed-off take on "I Can't Give you Anything but Love" (didja notice he's got a wad of money in his hand and punctuates the song by throwing crumpled bills into the audience? Pure poetry).

A.

[–] 18 years ago

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[–] 18 years ago

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[–] jessbotk 18 years ago

Wow, I didn't notice the wad of money! I feel so much better about the scene now...since I had thought it was such a sad way to end. After the statement he had made in the dressing room before...saying its all about the girls, and his art was overlooked, I thought the last scene (sans wad) was quite fatalist. but, wow, I see it in a totally different way now! Like he was getting it all along.

[–] 18 years ago

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[–] csu16387 18 years ago

I'm with others about the actual killing of the Chinese bookie. Brilliantly done by Cassavetes.

I watched some of the extras recently, and Ben Gazzara mentioned that Cassavetes, despite coming up with the title of the film, had a difficult time on whether or not he wanted to kill the Chinese bookie. John was apparently not for violence or gangsters, so I found that pretty interesting that he really didn't want to kill off the guy. We actually find the bookie pretty sympathetic in that sequence, though he's not exactly a saint.

"Dry your eyes baby, it's out of character."

[–] haciendacaliente 18 years ago

There are a lot of great scenes and shots in the film. The killing of the bookie is extremely well done (and despite the howling about the final shoot-out being "anti-climatic", I think it is incredibly tense). I also think that the scene in the strip club where Cosmo is 'auditioning' the girl ("whaddaya call that junk, ballet?") is amusing, but I think that is more because it reminds me of the "Salaambo"(sp?) scene in Citizen Kane, where Susan Alexander struts across stage like a stripper, instead of gracefully walking like a trained dancer (I know Ray Carney would hate me forever for comparing anything from an Orson Welles movie to a John Cassavetes film), while this scene is obviously the antithesis (though I don't know if this was intentional on Cassavetes part, though I'd like to think that it was...just as I'd like to think that Cassavetes saw the humor in the fact that he was shooting a film starring Ben Gazzara down the street from Gazarri's). There's the scene with the mother near the end of the film. I think that all of Carey's work (though there is less of it in the '76 version, which is the version that I prefer) is excellent, but I'm always amazed by two shots: the first is where he's sitting in the restaurant and Seymour Cassel tells him that he has to kill Cosmo, and you see this one bead of sweat dripping down Carey's face right after Cassel says it. The second is when they enter the parking garage, and Carey leans on the hood of the car, letting out the most manic grin I've ever seen.

I could go on for days about all of the scenes and shots that I liked in the film...the '76 version is one of my favorite films.

[–] JimLoneWolf 16 years ago

I absolutely agree with you about the scene in the restaurant between Carey and Cassel, the one in which they discuss Cosmo's fate (not to give anything away).

That scene was absolutely perfect...it kindled something inside me, something strangely familiar, as if I knew both of these men personally. I got the feeling that I've lived that scene before. It takes something very common in crime films and (seemingly effortlessly) gives it a freshness and vitality that literally had me gasping. I showed it to someone else the next day and I waited patiently for their reaction at that moment...they gasped too! Everyone gasps. That scene is pure magic. It can never be duplicated. It is absolutely singular, and it's extraordinary.

I'd go so far as to recommend the entire film on the strength of that scene alone. And believe me, I loved the whole thing...even the (deliberately) awful Mr. Sophistication. But that scene was the clincher for me.

John Cassavetes is one-of-a-kind, and it's a shame we're still waiting for Love Streams on dvd. I managed to catch the edited Husbands and Minnie and Moskowitz on television, but that one has eluded me. Get it a dvd release!!!

[–] edgegrip17th 16 years ago

Hiding in the shadows after being chased by the mob shooting relentlessly around the abandon warehouse. Brilliantly done and it made my heart stop when watching that particular scene.

[–] megArnold 14 years ago

Seen it years ago, but two scenes stuck with me: Cosmo just sitting with the girls, small-talking and Mr Sophistication's song(s?).

[–] WarpedRecord 14 years ago

The scene from the phone booth where Cosmo checks in at the club and tries to get a sense of how the show is going, then he starts singing "I Can't Give You Anything but Love." It's hard to imagine that's just Ben Gazzara pretending to have a conversation there.

I think the mark of a good actor is the ability to have a convincing phone conversation and make you believe there's someone on the other end.

[–] MrCandy 12 years ago

Without question my favourite scene is the speech he makes at the end to encourage the disheartened strippers and Mr Sophisticaiton back onto the stage. It's an amazing speech for a number of reasons, namely that throughout the film we haven't seen Cosmo speak with such honest clarity (he tries to earlier at Rachel's house when talking to her mother but falls distinctly short of that), yet ironically the speech he makes is a typically sly attempt to convince Mr Sophistication and co. to get back to work.

The core of his message is also something that frankly had never occured to me and I considered it very elegantly put. It's true in many ways that we all have to work hard to be comfortable and that often we are only really happy when were in extremes or even being something that other people want you to be. When he says "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." is perhaps my favourite part, as it a) proves that he has more self awareness than I had previously expected b) is touchingly true to life.

Yeesh, I'm gushing over this, but then it is one of my favourite scenes in movies generally, let alone in just this film. Here's part of the speech:

"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."

[–] WarpedRecord 12 years ago

Excellent post, MrCandy, and you describe that very memorable scene very well.