Cosmo Vittelli, the proprietor of a sleazy, low-rent Hollywood cabaret, has a real affection for the women who strip in his peepshows and the staff who keep up his dingy establishment. He also has a major gambling problem that has gotten him in trouble before. When Cosmo loses big-time at an underground casino run by mobster Mort, he isn't able to pay up. Mort then offers Cosmo the chance to pay back his debt by knocking off a pesky, Mafia-protected bookie.

Where to watch it in Canada

By subscription (streaming)

Criterion Channel

For rent

Apple TV Store

To buy

Apple TV Store

Cast

Ben Gazzara

Cosmo Vittelli

Timothy Carey

Flo

Seymour Cassel

Mort Weil

Robert Phillips

Phil

Morgan Woodward

The Boss

Al Ruban

Marty Reitz

Azizi Johari

Rachel

Haji

Alice Friedland

Sherry

🎭

Derna Wylde

Derna

Ben Gazzara — Cosmo Vittelli

Biagio Anthony Gazzarra (August 28, 1930 – February 3, 2012), known as Ben Gazzara, was an American film, stage, and television actor and director. His best known films include Anatomy of a Murder (1959), Voyage of the Damned (1976), Inchon (1981), Road House (1989), The Big Lebowski (1998), Happiness (1998), The Thomas Crown Affair (1999), Summer of Sam (1999), Dogville (2003) and Paris, je t'aim

Timothy Carey — Flo

Timothy Agoglia Carey (born March 11, 1929 - May 11, 1994) was an American film and television actor.

Seymour Cassel — Mort Weil

Seymour Joseph Cassel (January 22, 1935 – April 7, 2019) was an American actor who appeared in over 200 films and television shows, with a career spanning over 50 years. He first came to prominence in the 1960s in the pioneering independent films of writer/director John Cassavetes. The first of these was Too Late Blues (1961), followed by Faces (1968), for which he was nominated for an Academy Aw