The Killing of a Chinese Bookie
R
02 hours 15 minutes
- Seymour Cassel, Ben Gazzara, Timothy Carey
- John Cassavetes
- Drama, Thriller, Crime
- February 15, 1976
- English
- 7.3
Synopsis
Cosmo Vitelli owns the Crazy Horse West, a strip joint in Los Angeles. He’s laconic, vet, and a gambler. When we meet him, he’s making his last payment on a gambling debt, after which, he promptly loses $23,000 playing poker. The guys he owes this time aren’t so friendly, pressuring him for immediate payment. When he’s not able to do so, they suggest he kill a Chinese bookie to wipe away his debt. Vitelli and the film move back and forth between the double-crossing, murderous insincerity of the gamblers and the friendships, sweetness, and even love among Vitelli, the dancers, a dancer’s mother, and the club’s singer, Mr. Sophistication.
