Husbands **** (1970, Peter Falk, John Cassavetes, Ben Gazzara, Jenny Runacre) – Classic Movie Review 5729

Writer-director-star John Cassavetes’s intelligent and thoughtful epic 1970 film account of three buddies, Harry (Ben Gazzara), Archie Black (Peter Falk) and Gus Demetri (Cassavetes), out on the razzle after a common friend’s sudden death, is a startlingly idiosyncratic piece of work.

It is advertised as ‘a comedy about life, death and freedom’. The three men, married with children, reconsider their lives as they lustily enjoy their short-lived freedom. It is great to see Gazzara, Falk and Cassavetes working together on top form like this. The actors galvanise the screen with a frenzy of improvised acting, and the virtuoso writer-director astonishes with his brio in nailing naked emotions.

It runs 154 minutes, with a cut original release version at 138 minutes, and a TV version at 131 minutes.

Also in the cast are Jenny Runacre as Mary Tynan, Jenny Lee Wright as Pearl Billingham, Noelle Kao, Ron Kullers, Meta Shaw [Stevens], Leola Harlow, Delores Delmar, Eleanor Zee, Claire Malis, Peggy Lashbrook, Eleanor Gould, Sarah Feltcher, Gwen Van Dam, John Armstrong, Nick Cassavetes, Alexandra Cassavetes and Marilyn Clark.

It was the first film that John Cassavetes’s son Nick Cassavetes (playing Nick) worked on.

It is produced by Faces Music Inc, released by Columbia Pictures, shot by Victor J Kemper, produced by Al Ruban and Sam Shaw and designed by Rene D’Auriac.

It is rated PG-13 for mature thematic elements, including sexual situations, strong language, drunkenness, and brief domestic violence.

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 5729

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