Shadows

"A film not to be missed."

1960 1h 27m EN

👍

6.9

SOLID

🔥

100%

CERTIFIED FRESH

💯

METACRITIC

⭐

7.2

IMDB

★6.9TMDB · 276🍅100%Rotten Tomatoes●86Metacritic★7.2IMDB · 12,859

Drama

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

The relationship between Lelia, a light-skinned black woman, and Tony, a white man is put in jeopardy when Tony meets Lelia’s darker-skinned jazz singer brother, Hugh, and discovers that her racial heritage is not what he thought it was.

“A film not to be missed.”

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Where to watch · US

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Cast

Ben Carruthers
Ben
Lelia Goldoni
Lelia
Hugh Hurd
Hugh
Anthony Ray
Tony
Dennis Sallas
Dennis
Tom Reese
Tom
David Pokitillow
David
Rupert Crosse
Rupert

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: John Cassavetes
Writers: John Cassavetes
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

87 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

66 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by John Cassavetes, shot by Erich Kollmar. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Charles Mingus. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor John Cassavetes shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Ben Carruthers and Lelia Goldoni and Hugh Hurd carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "A film not to be missed.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0053270 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

John Cassavetes directs. Erich Kollmar behind the camera. Charles Mingus scores. John Cassavetes cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

187 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.
266 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
3Directed by John Cassavetes, shot by Erich Kollmar. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
4Original score by Charles Mingus. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
5Editor John Cassavetes shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
6Ben Carruthers and Lelia Goldoni and Hugh Hurd carry the top of the cast.
7Marketing tagline: "A film not to be missed.".
8IMDB entry: tt0053270 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

The technical file

Cinematography: Erich Kollmar
Original score: Charles Mingus
Editing: John Cassavetes
Production design: Bob Reeh
Runtime: 87 min · 1h 27m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Original language: EN
Certification (US): PG
IMDB: Shadows (1960)
Rotten Tomatoes: 100% 🍅 Fresh
Metacritic: 86/100
IMDB rating: 7.2/10 · 12,859 votes
MPAA: PG

Awards

Nominated for 4 BAFTA 2 wins & 5 nominations total

Also by

John Cassavetes

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2024-02-19
★ 6/10
On paper, this jazz-fuelled, experimental looking, observation of racial tensions within a small group of friends made for an interesting concept. The execution though, well I found that really quite messy. There's three siblings. "Benny" (Ben Carruthers); "Hugh" (Hugh Lord) and "Leila" (Leila Goldoni) with the sister having a far fairer skin tone than her brothers. "Benny" is a bit of a loose cannon, going with the flow in life; "Hugh" is a musician who is having a bit of a crisis of confidence that not even his supportive manager "Rupert" (Rupert Cross) can pull him from and finally there's the sister. She meets "Tony" (Anthony Ray) and falls completely for his charms. When he meets her brothers, however, there's an immediate sense of hostility. Not a violent one, especially, just one with pretty clear racial undertones that sets the scene for a drama to unfold in a meandering yet at times quite potent fashion. "Leila" finds herself caught up between her family and her lover and as the temperature gradually rises and the jazz accompaniment - trumpets particularly - gets more frenzied, this all encourages the dynamic of the story to become more turbulent and unsettling. So far, so good. It's just the acting. It's not very good nor is it very natural. There's a constant fluidity to the scenario that doesn't tally when "Leila" becomes smitten. It's never a plausible definite in this story of transience and movement, and way too much of the atmosphere here comes from the soundtrack - performances are almost incidental save for a few brawling scenes that seem to suggest that's mankind's solution to everything. It is innovative, I'd give it that, but John Cassavetes fails to invest his characters with any qualities that made me want to care, one way or the other, so i just didn't.

Production companies