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Accidental Genius: How John Cassavetes Invented the Independent Film

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I just saw one of John Cassavetes' early films as a director, 1963's "A Child Is Waiting", which he apparently disowned once producer Stanley Kramer edited it to make the story of mentally disabled children in a state-run institution a more sentimental movie. Despite Cassavetes' misgivings about the finished product, what remains has some truly unexpected moments of emotional honesty. Author Marshall Fine, film and TV critic for Star Magazine, has written a thorough, sometimes effusive biography of the film auteur who died in 1989. Cassavetes is most definitely a worthy subject for a comprehensive book, as he was a groundbreaking filmmaker who made gritty, low-budget independent films well before Sundance.

His style was polarizing, but there is no getting around the fact that he dared to go to places other filmmakers feared, primarily the dark spaces where self-pity and hurtful actions were predominant. Even though his favorite director was ironically the supreme optimist Frank Capra, Cassavetes liked exposing the chaotic nature of life among the middle classes and refused to tie up loose ends for the sake of a happy ending. Fine does an illuminating job of showing the filmmaker's psyche at work and how he kept the focus constantly on the actors, especially as he created an intimate environment where spontaneity was encouraged and prized. Lacking the desire for a more formal process, Cassavetes employed a hand-held, semi-documentary style to elicit the naturalism he wanted to capture even when it meant constant script rewrites.

The author also explores the downside of the filmmaker's work techniques: his quick temper, his megalomania, his lack of savvy in dealing with studio bosses. More importantly, Fine takes us behind the scenes on each of Cassavetes' films beginning with 1959's jazz-infused "Shadows" of which he did two versions. From there, we see him at work on such acknowledged classics as "Faces" and "A Woman Under the Influence" all the way through the end of his life when he took over from Andrew Bergman on 1989's "Big Trouble" as he was dying of cirrhosis of the liver. Recollections are meticulously detailed but do not feel extraneous. It's a fascinating career well documented by Fine, though I wish he could have been more critical on the finished films and more interested in letting us know who is carrying on Cassavetes' legacy.

Biographer Marshall Fine (Harvey Keitel and The Life and Times of Sam Peckinpah) introduces us to John Cassavetes by describing a 1954 night on a deserted New York street when the actor frightened away four thugs by "pretending to be a madman having a full-blown psychotic episode."

From this incident we learn as many would later discover that Cassavetes was someone who enjoyed turning things around, he loved spontaneity. Later he would become known as a gifted actor, an innovative director, the man whom many consider to be the father of independent films.

Although she declined to be interviewed, responding as she always did that John did not want a biography, Cassavetes' widow, Gina Rowlands, did give Fine her approval and access to many of the actor's close friends and associates. Thus, we are rewarded with an intimate portrait of this enigmatic individual who so changed the way we view and think of movies today.

After success as a star in 1950s television, Cassavetes began his highly acclaimed motion work work and made his first film, Shadows (1959). It was while he was serving as director of an acting workshop that he came up with a blueprint for films other than the ones made inside the then accepted system. In order to do this he tackled subjects other film makers wouldn't touch - race relations in America, marital relationships.

Faces, which many consider to be one of his finest works, received three Academy Award nominations, one of which was for best screenplay by Cassavetes. Later, Woman Under The Influence garnered an Oscar nomination for Gina Rowlands as best actress in a leading role and Cassavetes was nominated Best Director. Those were not his only accolades - as an actor he won an Oscar nomination as best supporting actor for The Dirty Dozen.

Much of the richness in this extensive bio is found in the recollections of Cassavetes' close friends, such as Peter Falk and Ben Gazarra. Accidental Genius is a fascinating account of a dynamic and driven man who said, "It is not so important that people like your films. It's only important that you make something you like."

Highly recommended.

- Gail Cooke

Marshall Fine is on to something here. Anyone who has aspirations to make an independent film owes it to themselves to read this book. Part inspiration, part determination and a huge dose of humanity, Accidental Genius delivers more than a look at Cassavetes the man. This is a "how to" masterpiece in a biographical wrapping. I loved it and am giving copies to all of my film-loving friends.

Movie lovers, indie fans and film history buffs, have to check out Marshall Fine's Accidental Genius for the most compelling, insightful and entertaining book about the independent film industry I've ever read.

Mr. Fine has given us a terrific, indepth view of Mr. Cassavetes, truly an original of the American cinema. I can recall, as Mr. Fine does in his book, being moved the first time I saw a Cassavetes film--there was nothing like it, even in the great film decade of the '70s. The author does a wonderful job of capturing both the power of the films and the struggle of Cassavetes to bring his vision to the screen. Students of the creative process will appreciate how Fine brings that to life also. He shows Cassavetes thought processes, including how he values the input of his friends and creative circle. Mr. Fine has a very accessible writing style that makes the reading enjoyable and easy. The sheer volume of facts covered in the book suggests that the author is an accomplished journalist as well as a movie lover.

After years of either being forgotten by the genral public or written about in the most pretentious, yawn-inducing dirges, author Marshall Fine finally got it right in his bio of actor/director John Cassavetes. The author's style is accesible, his subject fascinating and the theme is undeniable. Cassavetes is to independent cinema what Elvis Presley was to Rock and Roll: Neither one invented their respected venues but they definitely created the way in which they are percieved today.

Not only does the author give the man his due, but the freshly recounted anecdotes of Cassavetes' cohorts certainly brings the man back to life. No, it's not like having him in the room with you -- it's more like being at the Irish wake in which friends recount with a glass held high what it was that made the man so great.

To the naysayers who have already written about this book, what did you guys read?? Fine does not state that Cassavetes 'created' independent American films but is the progenitor, as in laying down the groundwork that others have followed. Before Ruth Orkin and Morris Engels, there was also independent black filmmaker Oscar Michenaux and Kenneth Anger, and countless others but the original consistency of effort and undeniable style belonged to Cassavetes alone. All hail the Acciental Genuis!!

One quibble: Why no index? It makes looking up remebered moments MUCH eaiser to find.

I can't imagine anyone who has an interest in film NOT being swept away by this exceptionally well-researched and highly readable biography. I've read Ray Carney's blather; the guy is from another planet. When I read what he writes about the Cassavetes films, I wonder if we're even talking about the same movies - plus his writing is totally impenetrable, full of academic hogwash and bizarre interpretations that don't seem to have anything to do with Cassavetes' intent. But Fine captures Cassavetes, both his personality and his artistic drive, with writing that is clear and concise and never slips into the kind of weird idol worship in which Carney engages. It's full of information about Cassavetes that even I, a long-time Cassavetes fan, wasn't aware of and keeps you turning the pages from start to finish.

Lacking anything other to read about John Cassavetes outside of "Cassavetes on Cassavetes" (excellent book, by the way) I was happy to read this one. I agree with one reviewer who said it was a bit tame, but not one star tame, in my mind anyway. I love the detailed stories and anecdotes by the participants in each of the films. I do disagree sometimes with the author's interpretations of various scenes in the films, but that's part of the fun, isn't it? I laughed at some of the mule-headed, stubborn things John did to get his films made, and then immediately wished that I had more of that in me. I guess John's films are an acquired taste, talking to others. I myself never had to bother with that, I loved them since I caught "Chinese Bookie" on TV when I was a teenager on some UHF channel late at night. I'd recommend the book to fans of John's who don't know a lot about him, and for people who love to debate the meaning, substance and quality of his films.

The rise of independent film in Hollywood is an event which boils down to the efforts of one man: John Cassavetes. ACCIDENTAL GENIUS: HOW JOHN CASSAVETES INVENTED THE AMERICAN INDEPENDENT FILM is thus a biography any film buff will want: it holds an essential key to understanding the foundations and evolution of independent film as a whole, revealing his life and work in context of the evolving Hollywood industry. Any film library needs this.

Diane C. Donovan

California Bookwatch

The genius of this book is no accident: like a seamless tracking shot through the man, the work, and the legacy, it reveals a deft portrait of Cassavetes' contribution to cinema that, among other rewards, will deeply enrich film lovers' enjoyment of the maverick auteur's influential work. But, of course, the drama behind the scenes is often even more enthralling and, in many ways, it is actually Cassavetes' legacy as an actor that is most indelible and fascinating. Check, check it out...