Cassavetes gets a bang up haircut
July 3, 2012 1:53 AM Subscribe
In 1982 Actor/Director John Cassavetes gave up a long weekend to star in a film student's short. The end product, The Haircut, is a charming, nearly magical, story of a man going for a haircut and getting much more. The director,Tamar Simon Hoffs, had a daughter Susannah who played in a band then called The Bangs, later The Bangles, who appear near the finish.
I saw 'Love Streams' in some playhouse in Denver and was blown away. That made me see his other stuff. I had no idea this existed but thank you for sharing it.
Also, John Cassavetes' eyebrows will fuck you up where you stand.
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 2:12 AM on July 3, 2012 [2 favorites]
Also, John Cassavetes' eyebrows will fuck you up where you stand.
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 2:12 AM on July 3, 2012 [2 favorites]
The barber is Nicholas Colasanto, Coach from Cheers.
posted by HuronBob at 3:13 AM on July 3, 2012 [2 favorites]
posted by HuronBob at 3:13 AM on July 3, 2012 [2 favorites]
I really should spend some time watching some of Cassavetes' own work. His performances seem interchangeable -- realistic, tense, and unhappy -- and afterwards I always feel like I need to watch a sitcom and bring my clothes to dry cleaner to get the smoke out. But I am sure that's not giving him credit.
posted by Clyde Mnestra at 5:50 AM on July 3, 2012
posted by Clyde Mnestra at 5:50 AM on July 3, 2012
BTW, also at the barber's is Meshach Taylor of Designing Women fame, and Joyce Bulifant, Murray's wife on Mary Tyler Moore. It's Cassavetes and his polar opposites.
posted by Clyde Mnestra at 5:54 AM on July 3, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by Clyde Mnestra at 5:54 AM on July 3, 2012 [1 favorite]
And the shoeshine guy looks to be Arsenio Hall.
posted by leotrotsky at 5:58 AM on July 3, 2012
posted by leotrotsky at 5:58 AM on July 3, 2012
And the shoeshine guy looks to be Arsenio Hall.
That's Taylor, I believe.
OK, in confirming Bulifant, I have discovered that she recently married the ex of Jo Anne Worley. Gives a whole new meaning to Match Game. Hey now!
posted by Clyde Mnestra at 6:14 AM on July 3, 2012
That's Taylor, I believe.
OK, in confirming Bulifant, I have discovered that she recently married the ex of Jo Anne Worley. Gives a whole new meaning to Match Game. Hey now!
posted by Clyde Mnestra at 6:14 AM on July 3, 2012
I can't think of Cassavetes without recalling this song.
posted by exogenous at 6:17 AM on July 3, 2012 [2 favorites]
posted by exogenous at 6:17 AM on July 3, 2012 [2 favorites]
If you're looking for other pre-Bangles Susanna Hoffs roles (or, alternately, other Tamar Hoffs films), you should check out STONY ISLAND (1978) [ Sun-Times article | Wikipedia | official website | WBEZ blog 1 | WBEZ blog 2 ], a flawed but still interesting film about some guys getting a band together on Chicago's South Side. In particular, the music is great, and seeing so much late-seventies Chicago on screen is fantastic. It was written and produced by Tamar Hoffs (director of the FPP's short) and Andrew Davis (whom you may remember from such films as THE FUGITIVE), who also directed.
Last year, I saw a screening of it at the Siskel Film Center in Chicago (projected from the director's personal print, I believe!), introduced by the director, with many of the people who appeared in the film there in the audience -- quite a way to see a movie!
posted by orthicon halo at 6:37 AM on July 3, 2012
Last year, I saw a screening of it at the Siskel Film Center in Chicago (projected from the director's personal print, I believe!), introduced by the director, with many of the people who appeared in the film there in the audience -- quite a way to see a movie!
posted by orthicon halo at 6:37 AM on July 3, 2012
I really should spend some time watching some of Cassavetes' own work.
You definitely should. A Woman Under the Influence is absolutely incredible.
posted by shakespeherian at 7:57 AM on July 3, 2012
You definitely should. A Woman Under the Influence is absolutely incredible.
posted by shakespeherian at 7:57 AM on July 3, 2012
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