Sunday, March 11, 2018

A Woman Under the Influence 1974


     Nick Longhetti is a blue-collar worker in Los Angeles.  He’s a construction foreman and his wife Mable has mental instability.  They have three young children and Nick’s mother Margaret helps Nick with the children and Mable.  Nick is supposed to come home but he’s held up at work.  Mable goes out to a bar and she drinks a LOT.  Nick brings the workers home with him and Mable makes spaghetti.  This should be a normal activity but Mable isn’t normal and she makes the workers feel uncomfortable. 
     At times I wonder if it’s Mable with the mental problems or is it Nick?  There are moments when they are both unstable.  Nick reacts with a LOT of yelling.  Mable reacts with unusual behavior.  3* (This movie is OK)  

155 min, Drama directed by John Cassavetes with Gena Rowlands, Peter Falk, Fred Draper, Lady Rowlands, Katherine Cassavetes, Matthew Labyorteaux, Matthew Cassel, Christina Grisanti, Geroge Dunn, Mario Gallo, Eddie Shaw, Angelo Grisanti, Charles Horvath, James Joyce.

Note:  Imdb 8.2 out of 10, 95% critic 92% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Roger Ebert 4*, Amazon 4.0* out of 5* with 88 reviews,
Special Note:  Filmed in Los Angeles, California.  A restored print was screened at the Castro Theater in San Francisco on April 26, 2009 as part of the San Francisco International Film Festival.
Awards:  Golden Globe Best Actress Gena Rowlands, Grand Prix de I’UCC, KCFCC Best Actress Gena Rowlands, National Board of Review Best Actress Gena Rowlands, National Film Preservation Board, San Sebastian International Film Festival OCIC Award and Silver Seashell John Cassavetes, Best Actress Gena Rowlands.  Cassavetes and Rowlands are married.  John originally wrote this film as a play but Gena talked him into making a film.  She felt it was too harrowing and exhausting to play this role night after night.  Katherine Cassavetes is John’s mother.

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