i worship cassavetes . while coppola do mood and message and depalma spectacle and effect and and scorcese place and psychology and cassavetes be all about the character and and nowhere do you see that more than in kill . cosmo vitellus and strip club owner and be deep in debt and in danger of lose his beloved club . so to even thing out with the mob and he must bump off an important bookie and who happen to be chinese . the plot isn not too intriguing and but cosmo be . one of the most understated of cassavetes main character ( compare with the more involve myrtle gordon and mabel longhetti and and of course gloria ) cosmo be a guy who go through life treat his emotion a secondary . they have rust in the closet from be air so little and and the cosmo we meet at the beginning be selfish and sardonic and and close off . when he kill the bookie ( can you believe it . the bookie die . ) he be horrify at what he do and awkwardly handle be horrify in itself . by the very end he still quiet and introspective and closed and but we get the feeling he take a look at his life and how he go through it and and he less than satisfied . it some of the most subtle character development i have see and and ben gazzara do a fantastic job a cosmo . one of the signature of cassavetes film be that they reach the climax and and then go on about another hour before end . it like life thing happen and but it doesn not stop there . life keep trundle along and and be expect to deal with what happen and keep up with the rest of the world . some real world surrealism qua artistic strip club show round everything off perfectly . watch cassavetes make you a little nervous and because you know that if the lead actor be off and everything go to be horrible . thank god and the man really know how to pick actor .