John Cassavetes' improvisational 1970 film HUSBANDS (Extended Cut) is finally released on DVD (Aug 18)

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A comedy about life, death and freedom.

"A master at the top of his groundbreaking form.
Never before had Cassavetes been this powerful and personal." —(Rolling Stone)

"HUSBANDS is an important and great film!"
—(Time Magazine)

"A time capsule of its era: men on the verge of a nervous breakdown."
—(New York Post)

HUSBANDS (Extended Cut) — on DVD »
(available August 18)

Culver City, CA – Sony Pictures Home Entertainment will release Husbands, written and directed by independent cinema pioneer John Cassavetes (Faces, A Woman Under the Influence), for the first time ever on DVD on August 18, 2009. The widescreen disc has a suggested retail price of $19.94.

The follow-up to his Oscar®-nominated Faces (Best Writing, Story and Screenplay - Written Directly for the Screen, John Cassavetes, 1969), Cassavetes was nominated for the Best Screenplay Golden Globe® for Husbands.

Billed as "A Comedy about Life, Death, and Freedom," Husbands was originally released to preview audiences at a length of 139 minutes but subsequently cut by 11 minutes. The DVD presents the film in its full-length, original version, largely unseen by audiences since 1969 (total running time 142 minutes).

Husbands stars Ben Gazzara (Anatomy of a Murder, The Strange One) and Peter Falk ("Columbo"), two of Cassavetes' most consistent collaborators, as well as Cassavetes himself. Special features include a commentary with Cassavetes biographer Marshall Fine, as well as interviews with Gazzara, producer Al Ruban (Faces) and cinematographer Victor Kemper (Dog Day Afternoon).

Husbands follows three middle-aged friends (Gazzara, Falk, and Cassavetes), with wives and houses in the New York suburbs, who go on a wild spree after a close friend dies of a heart attack. Ending up in London, the three must confront their own mortality and decide how to spend the rest of their lives.

The film, in cinéma vérité style (resembling documentary film-making), was described by Time magazine as Cassevetes' finest work while condemned by other prominent critics. It consisted largely of lengthy improvisations by the cast, and provides what one recent critic described as a "devastatingly bleak view of the emptiness of suburban life."

More recent critics have accepted the film's shortcomings while noting its deeper meaning. Writing in 2007, The Guardian's critic John Sutherland said that "Sigmund Freud himself could not have done the job more efficiently. It's a film that - like much of Cassavetes' work - is excessively boring, hard to follow, and extraordinarily illuminating about masculinity and its incorrigible delusions."

DVD Bonus Features include:
• Extended Cut version (142 minutes)
• Commentary with author Marshall Fine
• The Story of Husbands: A Tribute to John Cassavetes

NOTE: although the above publicity photograph is shown as black & white, the film was shot and presented in COLOR (as is the DVD).

"Husbands may be one of the best movies anyone will ever see. It is certainly the best movie anyone will ever live through."
—Jay Cocks (Time Magazine)

Rated PG-13 for mature thematic elements including sexual situations, language, drunkenness, and brief domestic violence

Film Synopsis:
A comedy about life, death and freedom.
HUSBANDS, 1971 Golden Globes® nominee for best screenplay, follows three middle-aged husbands, with wives and houses in the New York suburbs, who go on a wild spree after a close friend dies of a heart attack. Ending up in London, the three must confront their own mortality and decide how to spend the rest of their lives.

From maverick director John Cassavetes comes this humorous story of three New York husbands who lose their best friend. Depressed and confused, they decide to fly to London on a whim to try to recapture the freedom of their youth. In between, they talk, argue and laugh, living a life on screen as if in real time, in the trademark Cassavetes style that is unorthodox yet engrossing. The cast is comprised of real-life friends and artistic collaborators Peter Falk, Ben Gazzara, and Cassavetes himself.

John Cassavetes continues to delve the depths of the human condition with this story of three men who embark on a journey to cope with the death of their best friend. Harry (Ben Gazzara), Archie (Peter Falk of TV's "Columbo"), and Gus (Cassavetes) gather together to pay their respects and decide, on a whim, to travel to London to get away from the pressures of work and family. Upon arriving, they gamble and bring three call girls back to their hotel room; these actions unwittingly present them with individual life issues with which to contend.

As usual with Cassavetes's films, there is no traditional narrative; rather, there is a series of seemingly insignificant exchanges that need to be processed moment to moment for the film to deliver its greatest impact. Superficially a comedy, HUSBANDS contains enough serious questions to keep it dramatic, making for a hysterical, challenging, and enlightening work. Collaborators Cassavetes, Gazzara, and Falk interact with an honesty enhanced by their being friends in real life, which allows their characters to emerge with truths inherent to these relationships.

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