I have been a lifelong John Cassavetes fan. Not John Cassavetes the maverick director but John Cassavetes the ultra-cool actor. This stems from my Dad taking me to The Dirty Dozen when it first came out in the theaters. Of all the great badasses in that classic film, I walked away in love with the insolent, grinning Franco. (Lee Marvin was a close second with his cool insolence. I guess I always loved insolence.)
Over the years I enjoyed him as the slyly abusive husband in Rosemary's Baby, the groovy biker Cody in Devil's Angels, and as one of Columbo's most memorable villains. And perhaps my favorite non-Franco role: Johnny Staccato, the jazz detective. (Probably will do a post on that TV show in the future.)
I tried watching a couple of his directorial efforts but his improvised, talky approach never really took with me.
In 1980's Gloria, however, Cassavetes throttled back his arty impulses and delivered a fairly straightforward crime drama. He wrote the screenplay, most likely to make a buck, and had no intention of directing the film. But when his wife, the recently passed Gena Rowlands, was cast in the lead, he stepped up to the director's chair.
Gloria, a former mob leader girlfriend, knocks on the door of her neighbors. She finds them in a state of panic, as the husband ratted out the Mafia and they are waiting for gunmen to come and kill them all. Gloria takes their six year old son Phil back to her apartment for safety. Shortly afterwards, the mobsters arrive and slaughter everyone in the family.
Before fleeing, Phil is given a notebook full of mob secrets by his father. The killers tear the apartment apart but can't find it. Gloria flees with Phil (and her cat) and the notebook to an empty apartment owned by a mob associate. After spending the night, they leave, but are spotted on the way out by another hit team. She is followed by the killers, who urge her to turn over the boy and book. She responds by emptying a pistol into their car.
This is where Gena Rowlands the badass emerges. The rest of the movie is basically a plotless pursuit, where Gloria tries to find a way out of town, but everywhere she turns, she's confronted by mobsters. But every time she is cornered, she lashes out violently, humiliating killers, snarling at them in contempt, shooting a few dead.
Rowland’s performance is really the only thing that elevates this movie. Cassavetes' direction is workmanlike and his script is embarrassing at points. He puts dialog into the mouth of a six year old kid that is not remotely believable. First and only time child actor John Adames was slagged by some critics; I think he's okay for a non-professional but it's really the cringe, grown-up dialog he's made to spout that undermines him.
The grimy background of a decaying late seventies New York helps ground the film. But the cast of supporting characters is nearly forgettable, many of them seem like they were just picked up off the street and thrown in front of the cameras. The mob boss Tanzini, Gloria's former lover, is played by Basilio Franchina, who's not even an actor. A weird choice for a key character who figures in a climatic final showdown. Maybe that's Cassavetes' indie modus operandi, but the recurring poor acting significantly undermines the narrative.
I did really like Bill Conti’s soundtrack, however.
One of the more puzzling elements of the movie is the ending. (spoilers) Earlier in the movie, Gloria takes Phil to a cemetery to choose a random headstone to say goodbye to his family. At the end of the movie, Phil and Gloria separate; she leaves him behind in a hotel room while she goes off to confront Tanzini and try to make a deal for his life. She gives him money and instructions to leave if she doesn't return in three hours. At the meeting, she is forced to flee and the last we see of her is a descending elevator being ventilated with gunfire. Phil makes his way to Pittsburgh where he finds another cemetery and another headstone and says goodbye to Gloria in a touching scene.
If the movie ended right there it would have been beautiful. But...
A limousine rolls up and out steps Gloria, in disguise. There's a heartwarming reunion and credits roll.
I have a few questions.
How did Gloria escape unscathed from the bullet riddled elevator?
How did she know Phil was going to this particular cemetery?
What's with the limousine? She says, "We're rich?" How?
This ending really felt like a cop out and I hate cop out endings. Maybe that's the way Cassavetes wrote it, intending to just make some quick money. Or maybe the studio imposed the ending on him.
Regardless of its flaws, Gloria is an engaging mobster movie featuring an Academy Award nominated performance by Rowlands as one of the first great movie female badasses.