Slideshow
GLORIA
U.S., 1980
Directed by John Cassavetes
Starring Gena Rowlands
Approx. 123 min. DCP.
Kid averse ex-moll Gena Rowlands gets stuck with an 8-year-old when her neighbor, mob accountant/ FBI informant Buck Henry, gets noisily rubbed out. Then it’s a road movie for the smart-mouthed twerp and smartly suited, heat-packing Rowlands (Best Actress Oscar nomination).
Reviews
“Cassavetes films Rowlands, his wife, with self-deprecating adoration; the demanding man likens himself to the defenseless boy, and both are saved by this gloriously burdened woman who would kill for them.”
– Richard Brody, The New Yorker
“It’s an infectious performance—if infectious is the word to describe a chain-smoking dame who charges around town in her high heels, dragging a kid behind her.”
– Roger Ebert
“Cassavetes set out to transform New York City into Never-Never Land. From the film’s magically evocative opening sequence, a series of aerial shots of a nighttime New York approaching dawn, the city of Gloria is beautiful, recognizable and completely alien.”
– Vincent Canby, The New York Times
“John Cassavetes clearly set out to make a commercial film, but, intransigent personality that he was, he turned in a slice of pure avant-garde.”
– Dave Kehr