the price was good and the product was shipped in a timely manner. My only complaint is that the booklet fell apart when first opened.

The theme that all of the indispensable films in this set return to is how vulnerable we can be. At bottom what each of us wants is to be respected, to be acknowledged and to be loved. Anyone who loses that vulnerability -- which is for Cassavettes an ability: the ability to feel to express and to allow oneself to be heard without the stifling of self-censor -- anyone who loses that vulnerability whether by yielding to habit or by repression or self-control, may manage to achieve power but does so at the cost of a core component of their humanity.

Plot, while not absent from any of Cassavettes films, is less important to him than the task of painting portraits of the fragility of human relationships and human needs. "The Killing of a Chinese Bookie" is probably the one in this collection that, on paper and plotwise sounds most like mainstream cinema. But the story, of the owner of a strip club who is coerced into killing a bookie in order to pay off the debt he borrowed from the mob in order to finance his operation, is much less important here than is the honest depiction of a man who sees that the dignity he has tried to achieve and build up for himself, the respect he has come to feel he deserves, is crumbling around him and he is fighting in the only way he can see, not so much for his life as for the sense that he matters, and that his life is not worthless.

All of these films have something special and unique about them, and they are beautifully rendered in this exceptional collection. My personal favorite is "A Woman Under the Influence" and especially the unforgettable performance of Gena Rowlands as a woman who is easily classifiable as mentally unstable. What is so remarkable about the film apart from her performance is the way in which it is structured so as to challenge the ease with which we categorize her. What makes her obviously on the edge or "under the influence" is her inability to respond to social cues, her neediness that causes her to violate the personal space of others in ways that make them uncomfortable. She says what comes to mind and lacks a strong "self-censoring" mechanism. But, the film shows delicately, her "problem" is on a continuum with the way each of the characters in this film (and by extension all of us) behave. She says things that we might think but don't speak aloud. When we do slip up, and many of the characters in the film do, and say things that make others uncomfortable we immediately detect the signs and pass what was said off as a joke. A perfect example is when Nick (Peter Falk) brings his buddies home for dinner -- when there is an uncomfortable pause or when someone is called upon to speak they don't always say the "right thing" but they know when they haven't and laugh. Instead of laughing, she waits, she watches, she thinks, she appeals for some kind of approval. She needs what we all need, but she doesn't know when to stop asking for it. When we might turn in to ourselves, and allow our insecurities to become more and stronger prohibiitions: when we internalize the fear of slipping up by inwardly telling ourselves "don't say that again, that was stupid" she tries to say something else to lighten the mood and only succeeds in raising the level of discomfort. What Cassavettes is trying to show in this film is that in our needs, at our most intimate level, we are not rational or under control. Better, perhaps, to be "crazy in love" than sane in our isolation, connecting with each other only via the approved forms of ritual greeting that Mabel (Rowlands) can never quite master. A beautiful and unforgettable film that is perhaps the highpoint of this indispensible collection.

Considered to be "the father of independent film," John Cassavetes (1929-1989) was also a gifted actor (The Dirty Dozen; The Killers), screenwriter, and director. He was married to actress Gena Rowlands. Their daughter, Zoe, is known for her recent 2007 film, Broken English. The five films of this must-have Criterion collection reveal that Cassavetes was both a film genius and a true visionary. He not only defined indie film. He set the standard. Arguably, Cassavetes paved the way for Sundance, Miramax, and the IFC.

Filmed in 1950's Manhattan with a hand-held camera, Cassavetes' debut film, Shadows (1959), tells the Beat-Generation story of an interracial relationship between Lelia (Lelia Goldoni), a light-skinned black woman, and Tony (Anthony Ray), her hipster white man. Their jazz-soaked romance ends after Tony meets Lelia's brother Hugh (Hugh Hurd), a struggling black jazz singer, thereby revealing the truth about Lelia's racial background. While Jean-Luc Godard was making film history in France with Breathless, to make this emotionally sincere film, Cassavetes was meanwhile raising funding from his friends and family. It won the Critics Award at the Venice Film Festival, and was later released in the United States as an import. Film scholars consider this film to be the birth of indie film in the U.S.

Shot in cinéma vérité-style, again using a hand-held camera with high contrast 16 mm black and white film, Faces (1968) tells the story of a disintegrating marriage between a middle-aged couple, Richard (John Marley) and Maria (Lynn Carlin). While he spends the night socializing with businessmen and whores, she socializes with her friends and a young hippie they meet at a bar. This film is gritty and real. Unlike other Hollywood films at the time (and still today), this film confronts the complexities of relationships with brutal honesty through a series of conversations between the characters, revealing their dissatisfaction with their suburban lives and empty marriages. For Cassavetes, middle-class life is no less shaky than his camera.

Cassavetes' critically-acclaimed classic, A Woman Under the Influence (1974), stars Gena Rowland as an unhinged suburban housewife and mother, Mabel, whose uninhibited, strange behavior leads her bigoted and bewildered husband, Nick Longhetti (Peter Falk, Columbo), to commit her to a mental hospital for treatment, leaving the family even more dysfunctional than before (though that term was not in use at the time). Nick and Mabel Longhetti may be in love, but they do not belong together, and by the end of the two-and-a-half hour film, viewers will find themselves emotionally exhausted by the two. The film was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Actress and Best Director.

Rough, gritty, and suspenseful, The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (1976) stars Ben Gazzara in a superb performance as Cosmo Vitelli, a small-time strip-club owner, who is pressured by mobsters to murder a rival Chinese bookie to pay off his $23,000 gambling debt and thereby save his club (the Crazy Horse West) along with his three favorite strippers, Sherry, Margo, and his personal favorite, Rachel. Though not one of the better films in the box set, the film reminds me of Scorsese's Mean Streets.

In Opening Night (1977), Gena Rowlands plays Myrtle Gordon, a diva-like, middle-aged Broadway actress rehearsing for a mirror-like play about a woman in denial about her age. Myrtle is childless, single, aware of her mortality. After witnessing the death of a fan, she succumbs to alcoholism and hallucinations, falling apart when confronting her own inner demons. This film is more disturbing than the others.

The collected Criterion edition of these films offers new transfers and Charles Kiselyak's 2000 documentary, A Constant Forge--The Life and Art of John Cassavetes. A highly-recommended collection for anyone with a serious interest in independent film.

G. Merritt

Five BIG stars for these incredible films, and for the beautiful transfers, but 0 stars for Criterion's dishonorable dealings with Cassavetes scholar Ray Carney who put in immeasurable work towards this release and was then fired (after all but completing his work for Criterion) and left completely UNCREDITED! Reportedly, this was due to a feud between he and Jena Rowlands over the inclusion of an earlier version of "Shadows" and an alternative cut of "Faces". These might have been included in the set, in the same way that the two cuts of "The Killing of a Chinese Bookie" are. Apparently the battle over this turned ugly and not only were these versions not added to the set, but Carney's voice commentary, as well as any written essays he may have added to the booklet, were removed just prior to the release. It is strange not to have the presence of a Carney, who has written no less than five scholarly books about Cassavetes, including the indispensable compilation of Cassavetes' own thoughts on film making and life in his book, "Cassavetes on Cassavetes."

I want to state that even though I am not always a fan of Carney, as a writer, I am a huge fan of John Cassavetes the filmmaker, the actor, the person, etc., and I have been incredibly thankful for Carney's research and the insight it has provided over the years.

Of course, it is somewhat painful to knock Criterion, who have once again provided an excellent package of films and extras, but it is shameful that the integrity with which they master their releases was not reflected in their dealings with the man who's work had an undoubted major influence on this project.

For years to come these will be the best versions of these films available so I can't expect people not to buy them, but I will find mine used instead of giving the full price to Criterion. It's a shame that such an important release of films was tainted in this way.

Now let's all cross our fingers for the release of "Husbands" and "Love Streams"...

Resolutely independent filmmaker John Cassavetes is a hero to film buffs, and this indispensable collection comprises five of his groundbreaking dramas. Though the rawness and immediacy of a Cassavetes film can be unnerving to watch, we feel sympathy, even affection for many of his characters. Our hearts break for the deflowered girl in "Shadows," the bewildered housewife in "Influence," even the two-bit gambler in "Killing," whose only home is his strip-club, his only family its sleazy denizens. A Cassavetes film usually makes the viewer a bit uncomfortable, like someone who's walked into a party uninvited, one which could turn ugly any second. Such is the impact of the "truth" Cassavetes empowered his actors to find, reflecting life as a wondrously weird, often messy phenomenon. Here's your chance to see him- and his troupe- at their very best.