John Cassavetes Practically Invented the American Independent Film, but Some of His Best Movies Were Made for Studios — SkimNews
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- Major studios financed and distributed half of John Cassavetes' 12 directed features, complicating his reputation as a purely independent filmmaker
- After his independent debut "Shadows" (1960), Cassavetes directed studio films "Too Late Blues" (Paramount, 1961) and "A Child is Waiting" (United Artists, 1963), both of which he more or less disowned
- "Faces" (1968), Cassavetes' self-financed return to independent filmmaking, earned three Academy Award nominations — for his screenplay and for Seymour Cassel and Lynn Carlin
- "Minnie and Moskowitz" (1971) was greenlit by Universal executive Ned Tanen's low-budget unit, the same program that backed Monte Hellman's "Two-Lane Blacktop," Miloš Forman's "Taking Off," and Dennis Hopper's "The Last Movie," and was ultimately paid for by the unit's lone hit, George Lucas' "American Graffiti"
- Cassavetes exploited real-life tensions on set — his wife Gena Rowlands disliked costar Seymour Cassel, who had a crush on her — giving them contradictory directions and never telling Rowlands he had cast himself as her abusive lover until shooting began
- Universal reportedly dumped the film with poor advertising because it lacked movie stars (the studio wanted Jack Nicholson for Cassel's part), and the movie hasn't had an American physical media release since Anchor Bay's long-out-of-print DVD
- The New Beverly Cinema is screening a 35mm print of "Minnie and Moskowitz" on a double bill with Lasse Hallström's "Once Around," both starring Gena Rowlands
Why it matters: Cassavetes' 1971 Universal rom-com 'Minnie and Moskowitz' — absent from American physical media since Anchor Bay's out-of-print DVD and missing from the Criterion Collection — screens on 35mm at Tarantino's New Beverly Cinema, giving Los Angeles cinephiles a rare chance to judge whether the film belongs alongside 'Faces' and 'A Woman Under the Influence' as one of his true masterworks.
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