John Cazale 90th Anniversary Retrospective to Play at Film Forum in June
The retrospective will run at Film Forum from Friday, June 13 to Thursday, June 19.
By: Josh Sharpe May. 21, 2025
A retrospective of the short but extraordinary movie career of actor John Cazale, whose five films–THE GODFATHER, THE GODFATHER PART II, THE CONVERSATION, THE DEER HUNTER, DOG DAY AFTERNOON–were all Oscar® Best Picture winners or nominees, will run at Film Forum from Friday, June 13 to Thursday, June 19.
Free screenings of Richard Shepard’s documentary I KNEW IT WAS YOU: REDISCOVERING John Cazale (2009), featuring interviews with Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Sidney Lumet, Francis Ford Coppola, Meryl Streep, and Gene Hackman, will also play. A post-film conversation with director Richard Shepard and Film Forum Repertory Artistic Director Bruce Goldstein will take place on Sunday, June 15 at 1:40 PM.
John Cazale (1935-1978) began his career as a theater actor in New York City, and for much of the ‘60s appeared in regional, off-Broadway, and Broadway productions alongside Al Pacino, Meryl Streep and Sam Waterston, often earning extra cash as a cab driver and messenger for Standard Oil.
Cazale would soon become one of Hollywood's premiere character actors, starting with his momentous role as the doomed Fredo Corleone opposite longtime friend Pacino in Francis Ford Coppola's THE GODFATHER (1972) and THE GODFATHER PART II (1974). He then appeared in Coppola's THE CONVERSATION (1974) as the jittery protege and top assistant to Gene Hackman, and Sidney Lumet's DOG DAY AFTERNOON (1975) as the anxious sweat-stained bank robber Sal.
Cazale was diagnosed with lung cancer in 1977 during the filming of THE DEER HUNTER, but decided to complete his role in the film. Due to his illness and the studio's initial reluctance to include him, all of Cazale's scenes were filmed first, with Meryl Streep and director Michael Cimino reportedly threatening to walk off the set if Cazale was replaced. It became Cazale's final film role, and he passed away before its premiere in 1978, cutting his remarkable career short. Author and The New Yorker contributor Michael Schulman will introduce THE DEER HUNTER on Monday, June 16 at 7:00 PM.
“In his five cinematic roles, Cazale endangers countless lives, waves a gun in a friend’s face for no reason, steps on a bride’s wedding dress for no reason, leers and whines and bullies and snivels and beds cocktail waitresses two at a time. But there is something almost adorable, even saintly, about the way he sins… He was and still is Hollywood’s undisputed master of the everyday. I don’t mean everyman acting à la Jimmy Stewart or Tom Hanks, where the main qualifications are being handsome and preternaturally charismatic. Cazale excelled, instead, at playing people who are weak, weird, unprincipled, and visibly uncomfortable in their own skins. Like I said, everyday… Everyday doesn’t come to Hollywood every day.” (Jackson Arn, The New Yorker).
Public Screening Schedule
DOG DAY AFTERNOON
U.S., 1975 Directed by Sidney Lumet
Starring John Cazale, Al Pacino, Chris Sarandon, Charles Durning
Screenplay by Sidney Lumet, Frank Pierson
WINNER Academy Awards® – Best Original Screenplay (Frank Pierson), 1976
Approx. 124 min. 4K DCP.
Saturday, June 14 at 5:10
Monday, June 16 at 3:20
Tuesday, June 17 at 5:40
Thursday, June 19 at 12:40
Friday, June 13 at 12:30
THE DEER HUNTER
U.S., 1978
Directed by Michael Cimino
Starring Christopher Walken, John Cazale, Robert De Niro, Meryl Streep
WINNER Academy Awards® – Best Picture, Best Director, Best
Supporting Actor (Christopher Walken), Best Film Editing, Best Sound, 1979
Approx. 184 min. 35mm.
Friday, June 13 at 3:00
Saturday, June 14 at 12:30
Monday, June 16 at 7:00* *Introduced by author and New Yorker contributor Michael Schulman
Wednesday, June 18 at 12:30
I KNEW IT WAS YOU: REDISCOVERING John Cazale
U.S., 2009
Directed by Richard Shepard
Featuring Al Pacino, Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Steve Buscemi, Sam Rockwell
Approx. 40 min. DCP.
Free Screenings!
(NOTE: A $1.50 per ticket handling fee will be charged for online bookings. There is no fee for tickets at the box office.)
Friday, June 13 at 6:30
Saturday, June 14 at 4:00
Sunday, June 15 at 1:40* *Post-film conversation with director Richard Shepard and Film Forum Repertory Artistic Director Bruce Goldstein
Monday, June 16 at 5:50
Tuesday, June 17 at 4:30
Wednesday, June 18 at 4:00
Thursday, June 19 at 5:40
THE GODFATHER
U.S., 1972
Directed by Francis Ford Coppola
Starring Al Pacino, Marlon Brando, John Cazale, James Caan, Diane Keaton
Based on Mario Puzo’s The Godfather
Music by Nino Rota
WINNER Academy Awards® – Best Picture, Best Actor (Marlon Brando), Best Adapted Screenplay, 1973
Approx. 175 min. 4K DCP.
Friday, June 13 at 7:35
Sunday, June 15 at 3:40
Tuesday, June 17 at 1:00
Wednesday, June 18 at 7:40
THE CONVERSATION
U.S., 1974
Directed by Francis Ford Coppola
Starring Gene Hackman, John Cazale, Harrison Ford, Teri Garr
Screenplay by Francis Ford Coppola
WINNER Cannes Film Festival – Palme D’or, 1974
Approx. 113 min. 35mm.
Saturday, June 14 at 7:40
Monday, June 16 at 1:00
Tuesday, June 17 at 8:15
Wednesday, June 18 at 5:20
Thursday, June 19 at 3:10
THE GODFATHER PART II
U.S., 1974
Directed by Francis Ford Coppola
Starring Al Pacino, John Cazale, Robert De Niro, Diane Keaton, James Caan, Robert Duvall
Music by Nino Rota
WINNER Academy Awards® – Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor (Robert De Niro), Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Art Direction, Best Original Dramatic Score, 1975
Approx. 200 min. 4K DCP.
Sunday, June 15 at 7:10
Thursday, June 19 at 7:00
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