The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (1976)

Ben Gazzara plays so well the club owner with a personal touch
Ben Gazzara's character is a classic in this story of a strip club owner's troubles with the underworld. It's one of my favorites too with its dark and sleazy atmosphere and the characters that drive this story. The gangsters are not cartoon characters. They actually have personalities. In fact, this film has many colorful characters. The Criterion version is longer and exposes more of this tawdry world but it is part of an expensive five film collection. This film deserves to be seen in the longer version.

Behind-the-scenes info for Cass buffs
For a fascinating behind-the-scenes info about The Killing of a Chinese Bookie and a list of books about Cassavetes' work, go to Ray Carney's website dedicated to John Cassavetes (found through any search engine).

Fine film noir
an indebeted club owner has to knockoff a prolific underworld figure as means of settling his tab. subtext abounds in this noir classic.