The Killing of a Chinese Bookie is a John Cassavetes character study where a strip club owner is caught between his personal motivations and a mob hit job. Ben Gazzara puts on a fantastically subtle performance and hides his true feelings until the end. However, his character really only faces challenge, not conflict, and this merely decent story is lifted by affecting lighting and music direction but destroyed by very poor camera angles that obscure choreography almost as much as several pitch-black scenes.