Too Late Blues and A Child Is Waiting
June 9th 2008 08:41
John Cassavetes: Part 3
Review By: Shaun KatzThis is part of an ongoing weekly series of reviews on the films of John Cassavetes.
The following two films 'Too Late Blues' and 'A Child Is Waiting' will be reviewed as one since they represent Cassavetes years as a studio director and are a fascinating example of how a director working in an environment which does not support his creative nature can have severe effects on the film - as opposed to later on when, aside from 'Gloria' (made in 1980), he would forever work independently.
Too Late Blues Poster
“Too Late Blues”
Please note that ‘Too Late Blues’ is currently unavailable in all formats and this review is based on a recorded television airing from Canada in 1990.
Too Late Blues was shot in 1961 after Shadows received critical favour in England and parts of Europe. Even though Cassavetes was unhappy with ‘Too Late Blues’, it still has some merit to it. Too Late Blues was the first of Cassavetes three fully directed studio films. The film stars Bobby Darrin and Stella Stevens. Darrin plays ‘Ghost Wakefield’, a jazz musician struggling with the ideals he has for music as his band continues to go nowhere.
Stella Stevens delivers a warm and sincere performance as Jess Polanski, a young singer who is disillusioned by the lack of talent she believes people see in her, yet frustrated by the attention she continues to get based solely on her appearance. Bobby Darrin also pulls off a fairly impressive performance but Stevens seems to be the better of the two actors.
Pop idols Bobby Darrin and Stella Stevens in Too Late Blues
At its best Too Late Blues is a promising film about the search for sincerity. At its worst the film falls flat when it doesn’t manage to find what its looking for and occasionally resorts too brief moments of badly contrived melodramatic conflict.
While the film is weak in comparison to Cassavetes other films, we see a few moments in the film which have the same spark he perfected in later films. The film doesn’t have as much spontaneity and energy as Shadows but there are brief moments where the camera gets in a bit too close to the actors and we feel the sweaty, intimate, embarrassing moments and intensity that would reign dominant in later films.
Another element which Cassavetes starts to incorporate in 'Too Late Blues' are some touches of male bonding and rowdiness that would in their more fleshed out form shape his later film 'Husbands', what we see in this one are merely the seeds of that camaraderie being planted.
Now where the film falls short, comes in on account of Cassavetes often relying on an actor or outside influence to add to his films, creating inspired moments of revelation. Unfortunately, working in a studio system for him was not very conducive to his working methods, so the film ultimately has the feeling of an artist behind the camera constantly searching for something that never arrives.
After Too Late Blues, Cassavetes embarked on what became his most miserable filmmaking experience.
A rarity, here is the opening 10 minutes of Too Late Blues
Part 2 of Too Late Blues – You can see the entire film by clicking HERE
A Child Is Waiting poster
‘A Child Is Waiting’
A Child is Waiting is based on a novel by Abby Mann, Produced by Stanley Kramer and starring Burt Lancaster and Judy Garland. The film is about a school for mentally handicapped children. A new teacher, Jean Hanson (Garland) arrives at the school and is taken aback by the head teacher, Dr. Clark’s (Lancaster) approach and toughness towards these children. These two are at odds, particularly on one student - ‘Reuben Whitaker’ who Miss Hanson takes sympathy on.
Dr. Clark: “Reuben holds a very special place in this institute. He represents our most spectacular failure”.
Judy Garland in the opening of A Child is Waiting
Cassavetes disappointment in this film reveals an extreme idealism he must have had regarding the Hollywood system, since the film is extremely powerful for the most part and probably hasn’t been tampered with anymore than your typical studio film of that time.
Kramer re-edited this film behind Cassavetes back and even though he tries to make the film more sentimental, he certainly was unable to change certain things which remain impressively raw. Kramer’s re-edits can be spotted easily as he used an unorthodox technique at that time of slow motion to attempt to make the film more sentimental, including the use of over sentimental music.
Cassavetes does an impressive job using real mentally challenged children in the film. The film certainly takes a toll on the viewer emotionally, unfortunately it does so in what seems to be a heavy handed manner (one could argue that this is also a result of Kramer’s re-edit). Despite it’s flaws, A Child Is Waiting is a tough film, which shows simply the hard truth about how the parents of these children are the real ones who are suffering.
Burt Lancaster gives a muscular performance as Dr. Clark (one of his best in my opinion) who walks a thin line between having enough sternness and enough sensitivity. Judy Garland does a fascinating job of getting under the viewers skin as Jean Hanson, who is so wrapped up with one child that she can’t see how much damage her inexperience is causing. Other cast members like Gena Rowlands, Paul Stewart and also Lawrence Tierney do great work in the film too.
Dr Clark: “Look at me Reuben. I know you don’t like me, I know that, but I have a secret - I like you Reuben. I know what you’re going through, I know you think I don’t but I do, you have to believe that.”
Cassavetes was so furious at Kramer’s re-edit that he attacked him physically, resulting in him being blacklisted from the Hollywood industry. Since Kramer was the most powerful producer on the West Coast at that time, Cassavetes would not be able to get as much as a walk on as an actor.
Available in the U.S on VHS
Cassavetes who married actress Gena Rowlands, had to rely on her solely as the bread winner of the family. Before Cassavetes was once again cast in a leading role by director Robert Aldrich in The Dirty Dozen, he began working on the script for Faces which would go on to do something unprecedented – become the first home movie (which was the phrase before the term ‘independent film’ was coined) to break through commercially, many consider Faces to be his masterpiece (including myself), but by the time ‘Faces’ would be made (exactly ten years after ‘Shadows’), he would be a very different artist, with no youth or idealism to be found. More on ‘Faces’ next week.
The Trailer for A Child is Waiting
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