Drama

Shadows

Lion International

United States of America

English

Ben Carruthers

Lelia Goldoni

Hugh Hurd

Anthony Ray

Dennis Sallas

Tom Reese

David Pokitillow

Rupert Crosse

Davey Jones

Pir Marini

Victoria Vargas

Jack Ackerman

Jacqueline Walcott

Cliff Carnell

Jay Crecco

Ronald Maccone

Bob Reeh

Joyce Miles

Nancy Deale

Gigi Brooks

Lynn Hamilton

Marilyn Clark

Joanne Sages

Jed McGarvey

Greta Thyssen

John Cassavetes

Seymour Cassel

Arlene Corwin

Bobby Darin

Avalon Lee

Ellen Paulos

Gena Rowlands

Lisa Seagram

Jean Shepherd

Mel Stewart

Maurice McEndree

Nikos Papatakis

David Simon

Maxine Arnold

Judy Kaufman

Erich Kollmar

Shafi Hadi

Mary Anne Ehle

Leslie Reed

Al Giglio

Wray Bevins

Anne Draper

Charles Mingus

Al Ruban

Len Appelson

Randy Liles

Larry Shaw

CinemaSerf

On paper, this jazz-fuelled, experimental looking, observation of racial tensions within a small group of friends made for an interesting concept. The execution though, well I found that really quite messy. There's three siblings. "Benny" (Ben Carruthers); "Hugh" (Hugh Lord) and "Leila" (Leila Goldoni) with the sister having a far fairer skin tone than her brothers. "Benny" is a bit of a loose cannon, going with the flow in life; "Hugh" is a musician who is having a bit of a crisis of confidence that not even his supportive manager "Rupert" (Rupert Cross) can pull him from and finally there's the sister. She meets "Tony" (Anthony Ray) and falls completely for his charms. When he meets her brothers, however, there's an immediate sense of hostility. Not a violent one, especially, just one with pretty clear racial undertones that sets the scene for a drama to unfold in a meandering yet at times quite potent fashion. "Leila" finds herself caught up between her family and her lover and as the temperature gradually rises and the jazz accompaniment - trumpets particularly - gets more frenzied, this all encourages the dynamic of the story to become more turbulent and unsettling. So far, so good. It's just the acting. It's not very good nor is it very natural. There's a constant fluidity to the scenario that doesn't tally when "Leila" becomes smitten. It's never a plausible definite in this story of transience and movement, and way too much of the atmosphere here comes from the soundtrack - performances are almost incidental save for a few brawling scenes that seem to suggest that's mankind's solution to everything. It is innovative, I'd give it that, but John Cassavetes fails to invest his characters with any qualities that made me want to care, one way or the other, so i just didn't.

Shadows (1959) ORIGINAL TRAILER [HD 1080p]

Martin Scorsese on John Cassavetes

Shadows (1959) - trailer

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Shadows

Cast & Crew

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Cast

Ben Carruthers

Lelia Goldoni

Hugh Hurd

Anthony Ray

Dennis Sallas

Tom Reese

David Pokitillow

Rupert Crosse

Davey Jones

Pir Marini

Box office

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