New Connaught Rooms, 61-65 Great Queen Street, WC2
The cinema of John Cassavetes seems so quintessentially American that it comes as a bit of a shock to see his characters turning up in dear old Blighty.
Peter Falk, Ben Gazzara and Cassavetes himself are the three middle-ages mates shaken up by the death of a friend who scoot off to Europe – to London, in fact – for a manly bout of drinking, gambling, womanising and bonding. You either love or hate the jazzy, freeeform, improvisational style.
The London ‘hotel’ in which the three stay – and outside which it seems to rain continuously – is the New Connaught Rooms in Covent Garden. Originally built as a Masonic hall – to accommodate meetings and dinners of Freemasons – the Connaught isn't a hotel but a suite of function rooms for hire.
Trivia: the casino at which the three play craps and, with varying degrees of success, hit on women, was the Sportsman Club, which stood at 3 Tottenham Court Road, the site now occupied by the Virgin Megastore. The casino itself has relocated to 40 Bryanston Street, W1.
Husbands (1970, dir: John Cassavetes)
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