From 1953 through 1956 the "Golden Age" of TV afforded Cassavetes a unique opportunity to experiment as an actor; he essayed more than 80 roles during this three-year period. He began almost immediately to take on more filmmaking responsibilities, writing the teleplays for "The Night Holds Terror" (1955) and "Crime in the Streets" (1956). Shortly after performing opposite Sidney Poitier in Martin Ritt's "Edge of the City" (1957), a ground-breaking portrait of interracial bonding, Cassavetes began work on his own first feature, "Shadows"--also an interracial story, but with a profoundly different style.
Shot in 16-mm black-and-white on location in the streets of New York, "Shadows" (1960) began a new era in American film. As an actor turning to directing, Cassavetes displayed many of the same concerns that characterized the approach of the film critics-turned-auteurs who were revolutionizing French cinema. In a way, Cassavetes was the American New Wave, but with a difference. Instead of a critic's perspective, he brought an actor's understanding to the director's chair. Cassavetes' work is often mistaken as improvisational, or even as cinema verite. In fact, his films are thoughtful celebrations of the art of acting and, in most cases, are shot from precise scripts (even if those scripts are based on extensive improvisational exercises).
"Shadows", according to Cassavetes, "emanates from characters" thoroughly analyzed by the actors before improvisation. It is a family drama: jazz musician Hugh, the older brother, is dark-skinned; his younger brother Ben and sister Lelia are light-skinned. Hugh must confront racial tensions while Ben and Lelia can pass as whites, avoiding them. Hugh struggles with Lelia and Ben over their denial of color in a racist society, avoiding any comfortable resolution to a sensitive issue.
Despite its underground quality, "Shadows" was successful enough to gain the attention of Hollywood studio executives. "Too Late Blues" (1961) and "A Child Is Waiting" (1962), both studio productions, frustrated Cassavetes. He returned to acting to finance has next film, the independently produced "Faces" (1968).
"Faces", like most Cassavetes films, focuses intently on family and friends--on both sides of the camera--as the director tracks the breakdown of a marriage. Like "Shadows", it was an underground hit. (Throughout his career, Cassavetes was able to garner a much wider audience for his independent films than one might expect.) The late 60s witnessed some of his most memorable commercial film roles, in "The Dirty Dozen" (1967) and "Rosemary's Baby" (1968).
By 1970, the pattern was established, with fees for acting jobs paying for the occasional independent production. "Husbands" (1970), "Minnie and Moskowitz" (1971), "A Woman Under the Influence" (1974), "Opening Night" (1977), "Gloria" (1980) and "Love Streams" (1984) each celebrate relationships--mostly middle-aged--from different perspectives, and usually with the same group of acting family and friends collaborating.
For Gus (Cassavetes), Archie (Peter Falk) and Harry (Ben Gazzara), "Husbands" is a chance to explore their own lives as well as their chosen professions. These three suburbanites react to a friend's death by flying off to London for a drunken weekend. Along the way, they get to do some tour-de-force ensemble acting.
Having provided a vehicle for himself in "Husbands", Cassavetes offered a couple to his wife, Gena Rowlands, in "Minnie and Moskowitz" and "A Woman Under the Influence". "Minnie and Moskowitz" is a romantic duet between Rowlands, who works in a museum, and Seymour Cassel, a garage attendant. "A Woman Under the Influence" is a tragic duet between Rowlands and Peter Falk, who plays her husband, and remains an insightful essay on sexual politics. As Rowlands delicately crosses the line of sanity it becomes apparent that imposed social roles are the cause.
"The Killing of a Chinese Bookie" (1976) stars old friend and collaborator Ben Gazzara as Cosmo, a loner up against the mob. "Opening Night" (1977) is more directly about the job and art of acting. Rowlands, as star, superbly limns the complex relationships between actor and character, actor and collaborators. "Gloria", like "Bookie", is one of the more accessible Cassavetes works, featuring a relatively strong storyline. It also encourages audience identification with a tough, independent woman (Rowlands again), who learns to love a child that she is obliged to protect from the mob. "Love Streams" is a free-form, off-beat look at the emotional interdependence of a brother and sister.
Throughout his career, Cassavetes as a filmmaker was absorbed with the work he did as an actor. His style and concerns are so powerful they often come through just as strongly in his acting vehicles as in the films he wrote and directed. Elaine May's "Mikey and Nicky" (1976) stars Cassavetes and Falk in what looks like a sequel to "Husbands" with a bit of "Bookie" thrown in. And Paul Mazursky's "Tempest" (1982) stars Cassavetes as the Prospero figure in this reworking of Shakespeare's highly personal play about the life of the stage. Gradually, Cassavetes, the actor-director, overwhelms colleague Mazursky, the director-actor. No one in contemporary cinema has so eloquently illuminated the relationships of the stage, the bonds between the family of players.