Cinefile - John Cassavetes

Great stories from Peter Falk, back in '93.
From a bunch of VHS tapes that I'm currently archiving - I haven't seen this elsewhere. Sorry about the quality and occasional tracking.

[@missdee4927]

The great Peter Falk (one of the best actors of all time) speaks so beautifully about John Cassavetes. I found everything he said here fascinating and moving.

[@davidsanderson5918]

Peter could talk about what he had to eat yesterday and I'd be riveted. One of the great great great storytellers.

[@frimports]

Cassavetes made independent films when such a thing wasn’t done, a true pioneer and his films are so unique. They are comfortably unsettling is the best I can say.

[@LenHummelChannel]

Ben, Peter, John, - they lived it fully: with all the slop and the contradictions: they pretty much lived every minute. Cassavetes was truly a unique talent.

[@Jmacplus182]

R.i.p. Cassavetes, gazzara, falk.

[@BarryPennock]

Thanks for posting! Peter Falk is so eloquent.

[@tarnopol]

This crew was really deep. Best part of mid-century America; real film counterculture.

[@deb7457]

I’ve always been a huge fan of John Cassavetes! He had such a New York, early 1960s kind of coolness to him that fascinated me. He, along with Falk, embodied that, for me!

[@Valkonnen]

A time when some people were serious and they actually had talent to back it up.

[@mdweinberg60]

brilliant and moving.

[@LenHummelChannel]

Thanks for sharing this. he was a fascinating & complex man & artist. crazy. ... but crazy like a fox.

[@robertmcgowan4149]

Thank you for this, you do amazing work!! !! !!

[@mattstovall3075]

Thank you! What a gem

[@trents3515]

interesting. my reaction to some of the Cassavetes stuff was to consider him a brute rather than an artist. like a blind man continually telling others what he sees, i figured he couldn't really feel, which is why he was so over the top in everything he did. now, after listening to Falk (truly, one of the greatest actors of his generation - in part, it seems, due to the challenging influence of Cassavetes), i must trust his judgment. Falk said Cassavetes felt love and saw with unusual clarity the ways in which people could fall short of realizing it. so, Cassavetes maybe did actually feel TOO much. that, possibly, could explain the drinking, too, although there are other possibilities there (like an addictive personality or someone dead inside who needs to feel constantly stimulated). provided that Falk is giving the straight skinny here, i guess Cassavetes was a bit of a madman (conceded by Falk when he said Cassavetes housed everything within him in the extremist form) like i thought but also an idealist, too. it has long been apparent to me that Cassavetes was a force (clearly, his personality even overcame his own actors in an uncomfortable way as they can end up sounding like him) but maybe there was some - or a lot - of soul behind it all. i don't know. all i know is he was on the right track in trying to elicit authentic expression from his actors. everything else is much less interesting. i feel the same way when taking pictures, for instance - if it's staged, it's worthless. Cassavetes saying that he would rather work in a sewer than do a film he didn't like does speak to a deep feeling of regard for his profession and his output, which is a sign of a talented individual. so, much respect to Falk and Cassavetes. may they both RIP. they accomplished a lot, which i still enjoy to this day. i may spend years more trying to understand all this.

[@redmustangredmustang]

Pete, John, and Ben were truly great friends. Hell they even did a interview on the Dick Cavett show and they were wasted out of thei rminds. Sadly all that drinking and partying came back to bite John in the ass with cirrhosis.

[@geoff6401]

Thank you for posting this

[@TomandAmyinthePI]

Edge of the City was a great film starring Cassavetes and Poitier

[@michaelg.golden7327]

I think he improved all his movies like Faces etc. which seem wildly disjointed but fun. Nice interpretation by Falk of his movies and his life by a good friend who probably new his intentions best.

[@pontiacgrandprix733]

Best of the best, they were great friends, did you ever see in the Sunday paper they do a Q&A with sports stars and the question is 3 dinner companions, who's your 3 people you'd like to have a meal with, My choices , Cassavetes, Falk, Gazzara

[@karenschneiderman7180]

and Gena

[@davidsanderson5918]

I don't think there's be much eating done at that dinner party! :) Have you seen em all together on the Dick Cavett show?

[@pontiacgrandprix733]

@@davidsanderson5918 I believe your correct, I’ll eat, they can drink, get more stories out of them, I’ll be the designated driver, one of them has to have had a Rolls or a Bentley when they were amongst us (alive)!

[@ellas9206]

Colombo (an all time classic) talking about his mate.

[@ShakespeareCafe]

Great filmmaker, no doubt. I enjoyed Gena Rowland’s portrayal in Woman Under the Influence but in Opening Night her character was overly agonized. I could only sit thru half the movie.

[@karenschneiderman7180]

I loved them all in every Cassavetes movie and in some other things. They might be an interesting dinner group but if they got too drunk I would call them a cab and throw them out, rather than not inviting them at all.

[@juniorjames7076]

You invite that Cassavetes crowd to your place for drinks, I have news for you, your placed is getting wrecked!! And your neighbors will be calling the cops on you...ha ha ha!

[@dstuart2918]

I was sad when I learned my hero smoked--so did Cassavetes, who so sadly drank him self to death.

[@forreal245]

You must be VERY young to be "sad" about an era when ALL smoked/drank & most were unaware of health risks.

[@iggyspirit]

revelational.

[@peterdurkin1499]

Bobby Darin

[@manuelboucherie3025]

faabbb thx

[@richardichard4237]

Talentless.

[@pennypane1736]

That sounds like your very jealous