Husbands

PG-13

1970

2h 18m

Comedy

Drama

List

65%

34 Reviews

Tomatometer

79%

1,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

The quiet, simple family lives of Gus, Harry and Archie (John Cassavetes, Ben Gazzara, Peter Falk) are shattered when their best friend, Stuart, has a heart attack and dies suddenly. Now facing their mortality, the three men fall into their own midlife crises. First by spending their days playing basketball and nights drinking, and eventually by ditching their families altogether for a sudden getaway to London, where they face the temptation to cheat on their wives for the first time.

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Jarrod R

Certainly captures a moment in

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

12/29/23

Full Review

TheFilmReviewer 1

Devastatingly raw and funny, John Cassavetes creates a tension-filled atmosphere like no other in Husbands. Peter Falk, Ben Gazzara and the director himself provide powerhouse performances and enable this film to be one of Cassavetes' best works.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

03/05/23

Full Review

Audience Member

A very anti-hollywoods type of film from the 70's churned out by actor-turned-director John Cassavetes. The 3 leads are pretty engaging and there are a few strong moments. Overall, Husbands is a mildly fascinating yet narratively fumbled indie.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

02/20/23

Full Review

Shioka O

Silly three men messing around. Sketchy and lengthy. This is terrible and disgusting, but somewhat gripping. I love their broken friendship. There are some funny moment, too.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

11/19/22

Full Review

Audience Member

I loved it so so much. These characters (these men!!) were so awful and so frustrating it's such a perfect description of the kind of male friendships that tends to drive me insane. The ones that make you wonder if those supposed friends are really friends? because they just seem constantly aggressive and annoyed with one another and never seem kind, open or understanding. And they were so unlikable as people that I almost couldn't stand it. They're so unlikable but somehow at the same time I couldn't help but being drawn to them (and therefore, kept watching the movie and didn't just turn it off). I just love it so much. ++ John Cassavetes officially won my heart with that small dialogue about astrology ("I'm a Sagittarian and I'm short. But I have a lot of charm don't I?" PLEASE)

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

01/20/23

Full Review

William L

Cassavetes is pretty hit-or-miss for me, and this one is more of a miss. It's intimate and important, but it can't help but seem like an overlong ripoff of Catcher in the Rye, with multiple middle-aged protagonists and a fear of death replacing a fear of failure. The shots are close and almost claustrophobic, and the dialogue carries the director's signature style - with an authentic, improvisational feel, with characters talking over one another rather than simply reading lines. The film is unnecessarily long (how many scenes of this trio getting drunk and trying to pretend they're young do we really need?), but provides an important look at an uncomforable subject - aging from the male perspective - that innovates from where midcentury productions like Death of a Salesman left off, allowing them to commit acts of cruelty or anger, recognizing the faults of the three leads and providing some background into their motivations, but refusing to forgive them. I suppose its repetitive nature can be construed as a function of the film, to reiterate the themes, but it does feel without purpose at times. Falk, Gazzara, and Cassavetes are all certainly good actors, but the distinctive lack of structure in their delivery will likely polarize potential fans. (3.5/5)

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

12/22/20

Full Review

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John Cassavetes

Director

Ben Gazzara

Harry

John Cassavetes

Gus

Peter Falk

Archie

Jenny Runacre

Mary Tynan

Jenny Lee Wright

Pearl Billingham

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Phil Strassberg

Arizona Republic

[Husbands] serves up heavy dosage of humor and tragedy and an impressive honesty rarely captured in American movies. Cassavetes' scripting and direction are quite realistic and often brilliant.

Aug 18, 2021

Full Review

Richard Brody

New Yorker

Few films capture with such life-affirming wonder the despair, hatred, and incomprehension that drives the sexes together and apart.

May 3, 2013

Full Review

Derek Malcolm

London Evening Standard

Cassavetes was a masterful anti-Hollywood director who probed human failings until he reached right under the skin.

Rated: 4/5

Sep 28, 2012

Full Review

Nathanael Hood

Unseen Films

The film is too overlong, too dreary, too unfocused for anything to have any real impact.

Rated: 3/10

Jun 10, 2020

Full Review

Matt Brunson

Film Frenzy

Some astute observations are lost in an avalanche of endless scenes and a cascade of tiresome and self-absorbed characters.

Rated: 2/4

Jun 7, 2020

Full Review

Terry Alan Smith

Bay Area Reporter

[Cassavetes is] really a medical examiner: vivisecting human relationships and recording his findings on celluloid.

Apr 28, 2020

Full Review

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Synopsis

The quiet, simple family lives of Gus, Harry and Archie (John Cassavetes, Ben Gazzara, Peter Falk) are shattered when their best friend, Stuart, has a heart attack and dies suddenly. Now facing their mortality, the three men fall into their own midlife crises. First by spending their days playing basketball and nights drinking, and eventually by ditching their families altogether for a sudden getaway to London, where they face the temptation to cheat on their wives for the first time.

Director: John Cassavetes
Screenwriter: John Cassavetes
Production Co: Columbia Pictures Corporation
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Streaming): Dec 15, 2010
Runtime: 2h 18m

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