Due to his previous Faces’ three Oscar nominations and critical success, director John Cassavetes’ next effort was granted a higher profile. Three middle-aged drinking buddies (Cassavetes, Ben Gazzara, Peter Falk) gather to celebrate one of their best friends who has died from a sudden heart attack. Beset by the spectre of their own looming mortality, the trio go on a extended binge, spanning various New York City locales. When one of them has an argument with his wife, the three impulsively fly to London to continue their spree. Picking up three women, they return to their hotel, but their ability to connect with their new ‘acquaintances’ fizzles big time. This was another controversial project for Cassavetes, sharply dividing critics. Though Time’s Jay Cocks and the Chicago Tribune’s Gene Siskel gave it rave reviews, others panned it or damned it with faint praise. Regardless of reviews, actors Cassavetes, Falk and Gazzara exhibit a phenomenal chemistry together.
“It gives a better picture of a kind of lingering desperation than has ever been shown before…it is John Cassavetes’ finest work…it is an important, and a great film. Cassavetes insinuates his movie into the lives of his audience, making viewers laugh or ache as if they were reliving individual memories.” – Jay Cocks, Time Magazine
“Few films capture with such life-affirming wonder the despair, hatred, and incomprehension that drives the sexes together and apart.” – Richard Brody, New Yorker
Read the 1969 Life magazine cover story about Husbands on the New Beverly blog.
