The Killing of a Chinese Bookie 1976

Vincent Canby, New York Times: Watching the film is like listening to someone use a lot of impressive words, the meanings of which are just wrong enough to keep you in a state of total confusion, but occasionally right enough to hold your attention. What is he trying to say? Read more

Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader: A postnoir masterpiece. Read more

Keith Phipps, AV Club: Gazzara plays a strip-club owner committed to staging sad, unsexy, decidedly personal semi-nude musical revues. Read more

Richard Brody, New Yorker: John Cassavetes, who made much of his money performing in action films, put that experience to work as the director of this hard, brooding crime drama Read more

Jay Cocks, TIME Magazine: When Cassavetes is really cooking, even the moments that are awkward and forced can become electric. Read more

Melissa Anderson, Time Out: It's rather like a shaggy dog story operating inside a chase movie. Chinese Bookie is the more insouciant, involuted and unfathomable of the two; the curdled charm of Gazzara's lopsided grin has never been more to the point. Read more

Variety Staff, Variety: There's no cinematography credit, which suggests Cassavetes either added that hat to his writer-director wardrobe, or the real culprit left town ahead of the posse. Read more