Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		3.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		0.5
Overall		2.0

Gloria Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov August 16, 2023

John Cassavetes' "Gloria" (1980) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber. The only bonus features on the release are two vintage trailers for the film. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-Free.

What made some of John Cassavetes’ films quite interesting was their inexorable desire to break as many conventional cinematic rules as possible. They improvised a lot and some turned out very good. But the problem with this strategy was that once all rules were broken there was hardly anything else left to tweak. It is why the films Cassavetes directed toward the end of his career looked and behaved almost exactly like the films he made at the beginning of it.

Despite being praised by mainstream critics over the years, Gloria is arguably Cassavetes’ most disappointing film. However, it has the best excuse for not being the great film it could have been. I will explain why later.

In an old, poorly maintained building in New York City, several mobsters gather to kill a cheating accountant (Buck Henry) and his family. What the mobsters are about to do is more than a job, it is an important message to anyone working with them that cheating will never be tolerated. But before the mobsters fire their guns, a friendly neighbor, Gloria (Gena Rowlands), is able to hide the accountant's six-year-old boy, Phil (John Adames). When the killing begins, Gloria and Phil successfully exit the building and disappear amidst the crowds in the city.

Initially, it appears that Gloria and Phil will be able to reach a distant place where the mobsters will never find them, but the more time they spent together, the more complicated their relationship becomes. At one point, their frustration becomes so intense that they even consider terminating the relationship. Meanwhile, the mobsters discover that they have missed one of their targets and quickly begin tracking it down.

Gloria does not work for two very simple reasons. The first is Cassavetes’ decision to have Adames as one of its stars. The second is Cassavetes’ decision to force Adames to improvise as an adult actor. After Adames and Rowlands sneak out, everything that happens between them instantly begins to look like very badly scripted theater of the most absurd kind. In other words, it is exactly the type of material Cassavetes always worked hard to avoid.

The negative influence Adames has on Gloria is impossible to overstate but he is just an inexperienced kid who struggles in predictable ways, so either Cassavetes should have looked around for a superior alternative or the entire film should have been shot differently. As the drama begins to unfold, it is painfully obvious that Adames follows instructions rather than improvising while trusting his instincts and as a result Cassavetes and Rowlands have to do a lot of extra work to make him appear authentic. However, this extra work is incompatible with the crucial realistic fluidity of Cassavetes’ best and most interesting films.

The outdoor footage is a mixed bag. A few panoramic shots look good but virtually all of the supposedly accidental encounters between the fugitives and the mobsters are utterly ridiculous. Cassavetes and his crew must have been shooting very quickly and very cheaply because even the editing can be seriously unconvincing.

Only the rich jazzy score temporarily adds some real quality to the production. For example, the short prologue utilizes aerial footage and beautiful music and is so stylish it feels like it might have inspired a few areas of Ridley Scott’s sexy thriller Someone to Watch Over Me.

Gloria Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Gloria arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber.

The release is sourced from an old master that was supplied by Sony Pictures. This master is pretty decent but you will quickly realize that it has its fair share of limitations. For example, while delineation is pretty good, a lot of darker nuances and highlights fluctuate quite a bit and make it impossible for depth to be consistently pleasing. Many darker areas have obvious crushing, too. Colors are stable. However, the primaries and supporting nuances can be healthier, better saturated, and better balanced. The best news is that there are no traces of problematic digital corrections. Image stability is very good. There are numerous tiny white nicks and some blemishes. However, there are no large cuts, damage marks, warped or torn frames to report. (Note: This is a Region-Free Blu-ray release. Therefore, you will be able to play it on your player regardless of your geographical location).

Gloria Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature.

The lossless track is very solid. This did not surprise me because older masters that emerge from Sony's vaults almost always come with terrific audio tracks. To be honest, I cannot recall the last time I encountered an audio track with issues on an older master that was supplied by Sony. Clarity, sharpness, and stability are excellent. Dynamic intensity is very good. Also, Gloria has a lovely jazzy score and I thought that some of the subtle nuances it produces were lovely.

Gloria Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailers - two vintage trailers for Gloria. In English, not subtitled. (6 min).

Gloria Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

John Cassavetes and Gena Rowlands work so hard to make John Adames and the drama around him appear authentic that the bulk of the material in Gloria looks like it might have been extracted from a parody. I am tempted to speculate that perhaps Gloria should have been a conventional parody, or something similar to Louis Malle's Zazie dans le métro, but it seems extremely unlikely that Cassavetes would have been interested in directing that kind of a film. I have always thought of Gloria as a major misfire and consider it Cassavetes' most disappointing film. Kino Lorber's release is sourced from an old but mostly decent master that was supplied by Sony Pictures.