Several years of relative inactivity followed. He moved back to Los Angeles with Gena Rowlands, his wife, companion, muse, and main protagonist of many of his future movies. The end of the 1960s brought a new, mature period of his oeuvre. His acting in Hollywood productions was only to raise money for his independent movies. In total, he would make nine independent films. In addition to the above-mentioned Shadows, there were successively: Faces, Husbands, Minnie and Moskowitz, A Woman Under the Influence, Killing of the Chinese Bookie, Opening Night, Gloria, and Love Streams. He died in 1989 after a long struggle with cirrhosis of the liver.
From the beginning, Cassavetes’ films aroused controversy. Approached with caution in the United States, he was greeted enthusiastically in Europe. Krzysztof Mętrak keenly summed up, in a broad sense, the director’s films, when he referred to them as Cassavetes pulp, a phrase that can be attributed multiple meanings. Cassavetes rejected formal and thematic conventions, serving his viewers the pulp. More importantly, he did not suggest any solutions. He touched very painful issues in a very precise way, ultimately showing no way out, no simple solution but pulp. Viewers who made the decision to immerse themselves in Cassavetes’ world, might well feel beaten to a pulp.
(Elżbieta Durys)
Filmography
1959 Cienie / Shadows
1961 Spóźniony blues / Too Late Blues
1963 Dziecko czeka / A Child Is Waiting
1968 Twarze / Faces
1970 Mężowie / Husbands
1971 Minnie i Moskowitz / Minnie and Moskowitz
1974 Kobieta pod presją / A Woman Under the Influence
1976 Zabójstwo chińskiego bukmachera / The Killing of a Chinese Bookie
1977 Premiera / Opening Night
1980 Gloria
1984 Strumienie miłości / Love Streams
1986 Wielki kłopot / Big Trouble
TV films
Johnny Staccato, odcinki / TV episodes: Murder for Credit (1959), Evil (1959), A Piece of Paradise (1959), Night of Jeopardy (1960), Solomon (1960)
The Lloyd Bridges Show, odcinki / TV episodes: A Pair of Boots (1962), My Daddy Can Beat Your Daddy (1963)
Bob Hope Presents Chrystler Theatre, odcinek / TV episode: In Pursuit of Excellence (1966)
Columbo, odcinek / TV episode: Étude in Black (1972)
