The Short Version IS NOT A Chopped-Up Version of the Long-Cut

The shorter version, that Cassavetes was happy with and that he wanted people to see after the movie flopped in theaters, has scenes not in the long version, and is only short because of the run time. I just want to note that it's not a truncated version of the long cut. It's not the long cut dwindled down. In fact, many scenes from the long version chop up what's longer in the short version, like the expression on the tall waitress following Cosmo to audition, which sums up her character. Or when the lady owes the mobsters and the urologist walks in. Also, the shorter version begins so much better as the guys drive by and let Cosmo knows what their lives are, horny dudes, compare to his, a cursed man who owns the place the young guys would die to be.

And the really gorgeous girl at the bar who blows off Cosmo, right before he says, "I'm great," and the limo, is, in my opinion, more important to Cosmo's story than the cabbie rambling on for twenty minutes, which, granted, is the Cassavetes style -- beforehand. To me, though, BOOKIE was the first movie that really, truly went somewhere. Not just an exercise in improvisation, but a Neo Noir Slow-burn thriller. And it cuts to the chase far quicker when it needs to in the second version.

Anyhow, I know, it's all subjective and most hardcore Cassavetes fans like the longer version because it's the original, but I just have to note that the short version doesn't just edit down and chop apart the long original version. It's a thing all on its own. To call them The Long and Short versions is misleading.

All Movie Reviews www.cultfilmfreaks.com