The films of John Cassavetes: part 11 - GLORIA
August 16th 2010 12:46
John Cassavetes described Gloria as ''a thoughtless, fast moving piece about gangsters''. Made in 1980, Gloria is his most unaccomplished work since Too Late Blues. He admitted to have made the film, which he wrote as well, as a gig specifically to make money (you gotta pay the bills right?). This constantly uncompromising artist made Gloria specifically as a favour to his wife and long time collaborator Gena Rowlands who by the time he dies was in seven of his films. Rowlands, the fine actress that she is, always wanted to play a larger than life character, a tough talking, hip woman who could take care of herself. Rowlands had always admired Marlene Dietrich and wanted to act in a role more heroic (in Opening Night there is even a photo of Dietrich in ‘The Blue Angel’ in the corner of Mytle’s dresser, which was Rowlands favourite film).
Gloria, stars Gena Rowlands as Gloria Swenson. She is an older woman, who lives on her own, no husbands, boyfriend or children, an independent woman if you want to look at it positively. The family who live next door are in trouble with the mob when the father, played by Buck Henry in the miscast of the century, runs a foul with some gangsters. After they are all wiped out, Gloria accidentally saves the youngest child, Phil, played by John Adames (who to no shock or surprise, but definitely to my amusement was nominated for a Raspberry award). Gloria begrudgingly becomes protective guardian over Phil as she has to tackle these gangsters herself who are still after Phil, who is carrying a vital piece of information that they want.
Now – I believe that even though there are way too many films that have an abundance of style over substance, for all of Gloria’s self admitted lack of substance it seriously could have used some style. We are seeing first hand why Cassavetes wasn’t interested in making entertainment, he has no patience for fictions or escapisms and the style factor in Gloria, necessary to make this work is about as hip as going to the supermarket with your grandma. At the same time there are things that I like about it, particularly it’s ragged appeal. As a family film it works great. The gritty locations that filming is done in create a most un-touristy picture of New York, shying away from famous landmarks many other film makers would have included, turning their film into a post card. This works really well to place the characters in a gritty, exciting world. There is a fabulous energy from the direction which while may not be very visual or stylised does have some cool tricks up its sleeve, making for some impressive and memorable moments. I also really enjoyed the local flavour of the world the film inhabits and the musical score by Bill Conti is great.
Unfortunately the whole idea of Gena Rowlands playing a tough old broad with a gun is an unconvincing one which doesn’t mesh for me and I don’t enjoy watching her in this role either. The kid, Phil, dots around and thinks he’s a tough guy which he learnt from too much TV, constantly yelling out “I’m the man!”. While the kid is annoying and you occasionally develop the urge to wring his neck, I do like what Cassavetes attempts with him, to create a child character who doesn’t fall back on the conventions of cuteness expected for someone his age and can give as good back to Gloria as she does to him. I do find it endearing though how he seems to be constantly in shock at everything around him – kind of like Cassavetes himself, but Adames is useless and the worst non-actor Cassavetes has ever used.
The main problem with Gloria is the two main characters. While you want to see a friendship develop between Gloria and Phil, it works only in the way a family film would work, but this isn’t a family film, it’s meant to be a gangster film and it just doesn’t jive. The way these characters have been written are completely devoid of any themes or ideas, which even if Cassavetes was admittedly just doing an entertainment piece, he could have at least tried to include. Oh – and did I mention that there are some lines of dialogue which are so badly written, as well as cheesy, that when they come out of the actor’s mouths you just want to hide under your chair. You do have an interest in the characters and root for them but that is simply a result of the conventions of the story.
Gloria is a thoughtless film which has some nice touches in it but is ultimately forgettable. Perhaps I’m being too harsh on it, but compared to Cassavetes other films this is truly a long way down for him. On the positive side, this film did spawn an entire sub-genre, which included some excellent films, specifically Luc Besson’s Leon, a masterpiece which has an almost identical story but with so much more going on in it.
Here’s a scene from Gloria - a film I wouldn't recommend
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