Main Cast: Jack Danskin, Sean Joyce, Gena Rowlands, Seymour Cassel, Val Avery, Timothy Carey, Katherine Cassavetes
Release Year: 1971
Country: US
Run Time: 114 minutes
MPAA Rating: GP
Plot
Can a straight-laced woman find happiness with a scruffy hippie who has a bad habit of getting beaten up? Minnie Moore (Gena Rowlands) was a prom queen in high school but has become disillusioned with life now that she is a divorcée who has just turned 40. Her marriage ended badly, and her current relationship with her boyfriend Jim (John Cassavetes), who is inconveniently married to another woman, is hardly going any better. Jim treats Minnie with little respect, but she tries to calmly soldier on with her work as a curator at a museum. When Jim's wife threatens to commit suicide if he doesn't break off his affair with Minnie, he agrees to stop seeing her. He goes to museum where Minnie works, bringing along his two children to serve as witnesses, and he tells her that they're through. Emotionally shattered by this experience, Minnie blankly and uncomprehendingly accepts a blind date with a loud-mouthed boor named Zelmo Swift (Val Avery), who proposes marriage only an hour after they've met. Angered by her lack of enthusiasm for this proposal, Zelmo angrily follows Minnie to a nearby parking lot, where the attendant, Seymour Moskowitz (Seymour Cassel), comes to her rescue, though he hardly emerges victorious in battle. Shaggy-haired and steadfastly bohemian Seymour has just arrived in Los Angeles from New York City looking to make some changes, and after a few minutes with Minnie, he's convinced that he's met the love of his life. Minnie isn't buying it, but she eventually agrees to go out on a date with him, and before long, these two polar opposites find that they're attracted to each other after all. A typically low-budget labor of love from writer/director/actor John Cassavetes, Minnie and Moskowitz features John's wife Gena Rowlands as Minnie, his mother Katherine Cassavetes as Seymour's mom, his brother-in-law David Rowlands as a minister, and several of his children in a party sequence; John's friend and frequent collaborator Timothy Carey also appears in a small role. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
John Cassavetes - Jim; Elizabeth Deering - Girl; Santos Morales; Holly Near - Irish; Kathleen O'Malley; Judith Anna Roberts - Wife; David Rowlands - Minister; Lady Rowlands - Georgia Moore; Eleanor Zee - Mrs. Grass; Elsie Ames - Florence; Timothy Avery; Chuck Wells; Jimmy Joyce; Jack Danskin - Dick Henderson; Sean Joyce - Ned
Credit
Helen Colvig - Costume Designer, Louis A. Stroller - First Assistant Director, Kevin Donnelly - First Assistant Director, John Cassavetes - Director, Michael Economou - Editor, Frederic Knudtson - Editor, Bo Harwood - Composer (Music Score), Bo Harwood - Musical Direction/Supervision, Arthur Ornitz - Cinematographer, Michael D. Margulies - Cinematographer, Alric Edens - Cinematographer, Al Ruban - Producer, Melvin M. Metcalfe Sr. - Sound/Sound Designer, John Cassavetes - Screenwriter
Following a break-up, Minnie Moore, a museum curator, becomes disillusioned by love and meaningful relationships. But after a seemingly chance encounter, she meets Seymour Moskowitz, a parking-lot attendant. After this event, Moskowitz falls in love with Minnie, trying desperately to get her to love him back.
Production
It was one of a small number of low-budget (less than $1 million) films bankrolled by Universal Studios in the early 70s, in an attempt to copy the success of Easy Rider. Several months after the film's release, Universal Studios decided to shorten the running time by cutting out a scene near the beginning of the film, even though it violated their contract with Cassavetes. All releases (including the Anchor Bay DVD) since that time are missing this scene.
