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Husbands



The trailblazing independent auteur John Cassavetes pushes his raw, uncompromising emotional realism to its limit in this unflinching portrait of masculinity in crisis. Cassavetes joins Ben Gazzara and Peter Falk—both of whom would become key collaborators of the director's—playing a trio of middle-aged Long Island family men who, following the sudden death of their best friend, channel their grief into an epic, multiday bender that takes them from Manhattan to London in a desperate, debauched quest to feel alive. By turns painfully funny and woundingly perceptive, this self-described "comedy about life, death, and freedom" stands as perhaps the most fearless, harrowingly honest deconstruction of American manhood ever committed to film.

SPECIAL FEATURES

• New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
• Audio commentary from 2009 featuring critic Marshall Fine
• New interviews with producer Al Ruban and actor Jenny Runacre
• New video essay featuring audio recordings of John Cassavetes in his own words exploring the actor-director's spirited approach to acting
• The Story of "Husbands"—A Tribute to John Cassavetes (2009), a half-hour program featuring Ruban, actor Ben Gazzara, and cinematographer Victor J. Kemper
• Episode of The Dick Cavett Show from 1970 featuring Cassavetes, Gazzara, and actor Peter Falk
• Trailer
• PLUS: An essay by filmmaker Andrew Bujalski

paa400 wrote: Wed Dec 07, 2005 5:06 am I started a petition for Husbands to get released on DVD.

http://new.petitiononline.com/jch70/petition.html

Actually, doesn't Sony also own the rights to Love Streams and Minnie & Moskowitz? How about a Cassavetes box?

I think they do-but they put out Minnie and Moskowitz and its OOP and Love Streams is out in region 2.

I thought Anchor Bay released Minnie?

Anchor Bay briefly held the license to Minnie & Moskowitz, but it has since reverted. I was pretty sure it was licensed from Universal.

Either way, Sony/MGM not only holds the unreleased Husbands and Love Streams, but also A Child is Waiting and the documentary I'm Almost Not Crazy: John Cassavetes - The Man and His Work. Throw in the fact that they own the previously released Gloria and Big Trouble, and you have a crapload of Cassavetes that could easily be collected.

Your right, it was anchor bay. I realise that there are several different versions of Husbands, but I figure lets at least get the 131 minute cut on DVD and then we can go forward and have the footage that was cut out put back in. If only we could see that 225 minute version. I just cant stand watching that horrible pan and scan video anymore.

paa400 wrote:Your right, it was anchor bay. I realise that there are several different versions of Husbands, but I figure lets at least get the 131 minute cut on DVD and then we can go forward and have the footage that was cut out put back in. If only we could see that 225 minute version. I just cant stand watching that horrible pan and scan video anymore.

225???? Are you kidding me?

No-Im not-LOL-at one point he had a 225 minute cut of the film, but was forced to cut it way down because of his contract with Columbia.

I assume a lot of that would have been in the beginning and the ending.

Im not sure-I think the 225 minute version must have had cut scenes as well as scenes that were extended. Its briefly described in Cassavetes on Cassavetes.

Only 21 signatures? I shouldn't be surprised, but I was hoping to at least get to 100!

OK, signed. I was waiting to see if there would be a new petition urging them to release the other films as well.
Have you thought of sending a note to Ray Carney about this? Many dislike him but he also has a large crew of devotees -- colleagues, former students, etc. -- and the number of signatures would shoot up much more quickly if he put it on his site.

Thanks to everyone who have signed so far. Ray is more than welcome to sign, I don't want to bother him with it.

What if you were to tell everyone on the petition to vote for it at the turner classic movie site at tcmdb.

paa400 wrote:Im not sure-I think the 225 minute version must have had cut scenes as well as scenes that were extended.

Excerpts from cut scenes can be glimpsed in Tristam Powell's BBC doc Making of Husbands, but that may be the only place where that footage exists anymore. Cassavetes allegedly trashed the trims & outtakes to all of his films in the belief that no one would ever be interested in seeing them. Even if any of that footage still existed, it's highly unlikely that Gena Rowlands would let it be screened; remember, she's the one that vetoed Criterion's release of the first cut of Shadows that Carney unearthed.

I've seen the making of Husbands documentary and those cut scenes look as Gazzara would say terrific! Especially that huge circus scene with Falk. Too bad the footage is gone, maybe John saved his editing logs. I've been following the Shadows fiasco-thats a sad situation.

Not to go too off topic, but briefly what exactly happened with Shadows?

JusteLeblanc wrote:Not to go too off topic, but briefly what exactly happened with Shadows?

http://www.criterionforum.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=47
http://www.criterionforum.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=537

Or go directly to Carney's site for his account of the the long and sordid tale.
Make yourself a cuppa joe and pack a lunch, you may be there a while.

There's a petition online to get Sony to release HUSBANDS on DVD, preferrably with the missing material restored:

http://new.petitiononline.com/jch70/petition.html

Thought some of you might like to know about it. According to Ray Carney, Sony also snipped material from MINNIE AND MOSKOWITZ (a "morning after" scene with Irish), and I recently discovered that their "new print" of LOVE STREAMS has most of the nude scene snipped -- you can barely see the girls in the shower. I wrote about that on this forum, but you can see photos/read more here:

http://alienatedinvancouver.blogspot.co ... being.html

I've written Sony about all this, but you know, I'm getting the feeling that they don't care a whole lot... They seem to have no respect for Cassavetes' legacy at all (tho' according to Carney, it's Rowlands who was behind the missing material from HUSBANDS -- she thought that much of the Leola Harlow sequence and the vomiting scenes afterwards were in "bad taste!"

Allan

So... Sony owns all three films? This is news to me, or maybe I'm misunderstanding.

Yeah, as far as I know, they're the current owners of all three films -- am I wrong?

A.

as well as A Child is Waiting, Big Trouble, and Gloria.

If they got their act together they could release a wonderful boxset. But there's no way that will happen.

justeleblanc wrote:as well as A Child is Waiting, Big Trouble, and Gloria.

If they got their act together they could release a wonderful boxset. But there's no way that will happen.

No boxed set with Big Trouble in it could be called "wonderful." Even Cassavetes hated that one, and only took the job for the money. By all accounts he was embarassed to have his name on it. (If you're dying of curiosity, it's currently available as one of those $5.98 going-out-of-print specials from Deep Discount DVD). Better that Columbia release a box set of Husbands with the complete Tristam Powell behind-the-scenes doc, as well as the as-yet-unpublished novel Cassavetes wrote based on Gus, Archie and Harry.

BTW as long as we're talking of Cassavetes, Seymour Cassell was the featured guest today on NPR's Fresh Air program; listen to it streaming online here.

I don't know, dude. Big Trouble doesn't fit into Cassavetes's body of work but I liked it more than I did Gloria. It's pretty funny.