John Cassavetes and The Bangs (Bangles - double your pleasure, double your fun.

In 1983, Tamar Simon Hoffs, a fine filmmaker and mother of Susanna, directed The Haircut starring John Cassavetes. It was her debut as a movie director and The Haircut was shown at various prestigious film festivals the year it was made. In addition to Cassavetes, it also features The Bangs, an early incarnation of The Bangles with Susanna Hoffs, Debbi Peterson and Victoria Peterson.

From Ben Pleasants’ Swimming To Cassavetes:

Tamar Simon Hoffs had twenty four hours with John Cassavetes as a young director when she was studying directing at AFI. Twenty-four hours and in that time she did one of the greatest films Cassavetes ever starred in. The awkward silences and the hard pauses. She watched and let the camera roll. The film was The Haircut. Twenty-two minutes long. It’s from her script, not the Ring Lardner short story. It’s won a number of awards. It’s how she got Malcolm McDowell interested in her film, Red Roses and Petrol in the first place. She charmed him with her writing. It’s how she got to cut John Cassavete’s hair as a beginning director in her first film, The Haircut. Cassavetes read the script and loved the idea of doing a little film. A two-reeler. A short.

“He gave me twenty-four hours with total dedication and all his majesty as an actor and a director,” she told me. “And he’s out there.” She pointed beyond her pool. I’m not getting it.
“‘I’m yours for twenty-four hours,” he said. “Till the limo picks me up and takes me back to the studio.” She was a student then and she knew how to listen. He liked her language, the way she set up the scenes, the humor of it. He liked the idea that he could play with what she wrote. And there were good supporting actors. The coach from Cheers is the barber. The story is about the haircut of a lifetime for a big shot in the music business.

As he acted, or stripped away the actor’s tricks, Cassavetes taught her what a director should be. How to look for the moment to shut up and let the actor work. How to listen for what was inside the face of a human being giving what he really is. How to wait for the pauses that are true to life.
They all knew they had something magical in twenty-four hours. Susanna Hoffs, The Bangle who was only a Bang was in it. Her mother wanted to take her out, but Cassavetes loved it for its realness.

When it was done and he had given everything he could give, John Cassavetes stood in the street and stripped off his suit, shirt, and shoes, dropping into the back seat of the limo to return to the studio in his shorts.”

If you’re a Cassavetes fan, this will be a real treat. And twice as cool if you like, as I do, The Bangles.