MUSEUM OF TELEVISION & RADIO SCREENING SERIES, THE:
CASSAVETES, PACKAGE 1: JOHNNY STACCATO
Summary
John Cassavetes (1929-89) was a pioneer, not simply in
technique or the crazy risks he took for his art, but in
his distinctly humanistic approach to cinema. Fifteen
years after his death, he is revered as the spiritual
godfather of the American independent film, but an
appreciation of his considerable legacy is incomplete
without a survey of his contributions to television, for
it was his background as an actor in that medium that
honed his aesthetic as a director. The hallmarks of a
Cassavetes film -- the roving camera, the combustible
atmosphere, the improvisatory (but fiercely rehearsed)
performances -- are all exponents of the live television
dramas in which Cassavetes got his start in the fifties.
As a familiar face on the leading anthology programs of
the era, he was at the vortex of a dynamic and intensely
creative dramatic form that prized character exploration
over plot, emotional veracity over narrative gimmickry.
This emphasis on personal relationships, on the small,
messy, raw truths of the human condition, left an
indelible impression on Cassavetes, just as the
experience of working in episodic television, with its
hurried shooting schedules, meddling studio
bureaucracies, and resolved storylines, provided both
the grounding and impetus he needed to set out on his
own. Television not only shaped the do-it-yourself
paradigm Cassavetes brought to fruition with such
intensely personal films as "Shadows," "Faces," and "A
Woman Under the Influence," but enabled him to explore
-- as both an actor and a director -- themes and ideas
that would preoccupy him throughout his life. The
Museum's nine-part screening series, which includes
several programs unseen since their original broadcast,
offers the first comprehensive overview of Cassavetes's
parallel career on television.
Package 1: "Johnny Staccato"
As an actor, Cassavetes is probably best known for such
Hollywood fare as "The Dirty Dozen" and "Rosemary's
Baby" -- and for his short-lived stint on television as
the ivory-tickling gumshoe Johnny Staccato. Cassavetes
had initially balked at a series commitment, but faced
with the task of finishing his debut feature "Shadows,"
he agreed on the condition that he could name his own
producer and have a creative hand in the show. With its
noirish setting (a smoky jazz club known as Waldo's),
Elmer Bernstein's brassy inflections, and a highly
charged mise-en-scŽne, Staccato was a broodier,
grittier, more character-driven cousin to Peter Gunn.
At Cassavetes's urging, the show tackled some hefty
themes -- payola, dope addiction, the Red Scare -- but
it was the star's radical notion of downplaying the
heroic qualities of his detective (suggesting, for
instance, "I want to not solve some crimes too") that
really raised the ire of the sponsors. Cassavetes took
his views to the press: "I feel very privileged to be
in a business where I'm paid to communicate and
certainly I think that the public, the people that watch
us or pay us our salary in essence, deserve to get the
best of what we can give, not just, say, as I've heard
so many times on a studio floor, 'What's the difference,
it's television.' Well, it's not television to me and
probably that's where I get a reputation of being kind
of hot because I won't put up with it." In the end,
Staccato proved too hip for the room and Cassavetes,
who always took his work as seriously as a surgeon,
opted out after twenty-seven episodes. The badge of
"difficult, temperamental maverick" would stick with
him the rest of his life. Four episodes will be
screened: "The Nature of the Night," "A Piece of
Paradise" (directed by Cassavetes), "A Nice Little
Town," and "The Wild Reed." (1959-60; 25 minutes each)
Details
- NETWORK: N/A
- DATE: November 30, 2004
- RUNNING TIME: 1:43:46
- COLOR/B&W: Color and B&W
- CATALOG ID: T:85085
- GENRE: Drama, police/private detective
- SUBJECT HEADING: Drama, police/private detective
- SERIES RUN: N/A
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- John Cassavetes