John Cassavetes: To Risk Everything to Express It All 28 years old

It’s tempting, when praising Cassavetes’s films, to resort to generalizations about the director’s admirable intentions; descriptions like “original,” “raw,” and “human,” while certainly true, need to be expanded upon in order to get at what makes Cassavetes’s work special, and the film’s interview subjects sometimes fall into the trap of leaving things at the level of simplification. But for those new to the director’s films, there’s still some good material here: the commentary from Cassavetes mainstays Ben Gazzara, Gena Rowlands, Al Ruban, Seymour Cassel, and (especially) Peter Falk is predictably engaging, and the selected footage from formative early works like Shadows and Faces is revealing of a filmmaker in the process of discovering his voice.

Credits

John Cassavetes: To Risk Everything to Express It All Cast

Name Character
Peter Falk He was 68, 83 years old when he died as Himself
Anthony Quinn He was 80, 86 years old when he died as Himself
Seymour Cassel He was 60, 84 years old when he died as Himself
Ben Gazzara He was 65, 81 years old when he died as Himself
Gena Rowlands She was 65, now 93 years old as Himself

John Cassavetes: To Risk Everything to Express It All Crew

Name Department
Rudolf Mestdagh as Director. Directing
John Cassavetes: To Risk Everything to Express It All (28 years)

  • Release day: Monday, January 01, 1996
  • Runtime: 53 minutes