Film Summary CCCXXVII (Husbands)

One of the most simplistic movies I've ever seen. Quite literally doesn't have a soundtrack. That is no editing sound effects outside of car noises and the ambiance of an airport.

It's the most John Cassavetes film I've ever seen.
Originally I wanted to compare this movie to Taxi Driver because of it's very strange seedy  atmosphere. But I realised that this movie is the absolute opposite to Taxi Driver. That film was built on sound, Ambiance and environment. Whereas 'Husbands' is completely depending on the acting talents of Ben Gazzara, Johe Cassavetes and Peter Falk. The three major stars of the film.
The whole thing feels very ad-libbed.
As if these three men were just talking to each other and somebody just happens to be recording it. And some of that may very well be true. There are long scene in the film that don't really have any reason to exist outside of the interactions. Such as the basketball scene, playing craps at a casino or even just sitting in the men's bathroom nursing hangovers.
In a way it almost resembles modern television.
TV over the years has become incredibly character-driven and that's all is this movie is. Nothing but character development.

So the actual story is simple. Four men live in New York City somewhere out in the suburbs. One of these men dies and the other three realise that they're getting older. Instead of trying to deal with the complexities of age they decide to fight back against it for a couple of days. Going out on large benders and just making a general ass of themselves.
Everything else just Builds on top of that. One of the characters has a massive dispute with his wife
and decides to run away to England. He convinces his other two friends to join him for a while and all three of them end up hooking up with these strange English women. But the realities of the real world come Crashing Down and two of our main characters will go back home to their families. The only Solace for them being that they didn't actually sleep with any women. So I guess you could argue that they were only kind of cheating on their wives*.

The real name of this movie should have been ''Broken''. Because everything here is broken, the economy is breaking, marriages are breaking. Health is breaking, the gas crisis is coming on its way. It's a real Downer time. It's a film that reminds you that; ''Yes we could be living in a far worse time and we are''
If you're the kind of person that likes watching movies for character interaction then this is the kind of film for you. If you're the kind of person that prefers spectacle then you may want to look somewhere else. Because this film is all about minimalism. Personally I'm a Peter Falk fan and I'm happy to see him and just about anything.

One of the most interesting things about the film has to be there film credit scene. At the beginning of the film we get two large title cards and on these cards you see everyone who was involved with the film. It's a very small crew and it makes you all the more impressed when you see what such a small number of people can create.

It also means that this film just ends. There's no ending credits, no ending card saying that the film is now over. It's just the last scene of the movie and then black. It's a little daunting, you almost wonder is if your watching an incomplete product. But it's just the way they made the film.




*They still cheated on their wives but it comes off more as a making a small mistake which could have turned into a big disaster. But they did manage to avoid all that and return home to their families as real men.