Reeling from the unexpected death of a friend, three middle-aged buddies (John Cassavetes, Ben Gazzara and Peter Falk) go on an epic drunk. It’s not enough. They roll home, collect their passports, and take off for an impromptu weekend of gambling, women and booze in London.
John Cassavetes’ purposefully infuriating comedy is one of his greatest films. Utilizing a cinema-verite shooting style with long takes and pushing scenes almost to the point of exhaustion, Cassavetes contrives an unflattering self-portrait of desperate, boorish men smacking their heads against walls they only dimly perceive. It’s funnier than it sounds, but also grueling.
Interviewed by Playboy magazine during the release, Cassavetes talked about how the studio sent him the numbers of walk-outs from the New York shows, and pleaded with him to shorten the film. He refused: “I won’t make shorthand films because I don’t want to manipulate audiences into assuming quick, manufactured truths. If I had my way Husbands would be twice as long as it is and everyone could walk out if they wanted to.”
He wanted to rub our noses in it, and his own too.
Screening here in the restored 142-minute version.
Few films capture with such life-affirming wonder the despair, hatred, and incomprehension that drives the sexes together and apart.
Richard Brody, The New Yorker
John Cassavetes
John Cassavetes, Ben Gazzara, Peter Falk, Jenny Runacre
USA
1970
English
Indigenous & Community Access
Indigenous Access Tickets Community Access Tickets Ticket Donation Requests
Credits
Screenwriter
John Cassavetes
Cinematography
Victor J. Kemper
Editor
John Cassavetes
Also in This Series
Getting Real charts the evolution of screen acting in American film from 1945-1980, diving into the psychological realism which took audiences somewhere deeper and more authentic than ever before.
A Streetcar Named Desire
"I don't want realism. I want magic!" declares Blanche du Bois, the tragic heroine who meets her nemesis in her sister's husband, Stanley Kowalski, in Tennessee Williams' great play. Brando's performance as Stanley is a turning point in American acting.
On the Waterfront
Marlon Brando's definitive performance as Terry Malloy, a New York dockworker (and once a promising boxer) who loses faith in his union and his smarter but corrupt older brother Charlie (Rod Steiger) after a whistleblower is murdered.
East of Eden
Salinas, 1917. Cal Trask's forlorn attempts to win the affection of his self-righteous father (Raymond Massey) represented James Dean's first leading role in the cinema, and his emotionally raw performance ennobled misunderstood youth everywhere.
Rebel Without a Cause
Kids turned bad in the 1950s -- and their newly comfortable middle-class parents couldn't understand why. Ray points the finger right back at them: "You're tearing me apart!" rails Jim Stark (James Dean), speaking for his generation.
Giant
This was the Yellowstone of its time: a big, sweeping modern Western built around an imposing ranch and family dynamics -- except Giant is much more subversive. James Dean strikes it rich as Jett Rink, much to the disgust of his former boss, Rock Hudson.
The Fugitive Kind
Sidney Lumet's movie brings together two of the greatest actors of the period, Brando and Anna Magnani, reason enough to check out this underrated poetical drama about a handsome musician who washes up in a small southern town.
Hud
Landmark modern western with Brandon de Wilde from Shane worshipping the wrong hero, Paul Newman’s eponymous heel. According to Paul Schrader, this movie marks the birth of the cynical (anti-)hero in American cinema.
Wild River
Tennessee Valley Authority man Montgomery Clift finds derision from the locals, love from the war widow Lee Remick, and obduracy from matriarch Jo Van Fleet, who just won’t leave that scheduled-to-be-flooded farm.