John Cassavetes’s directorial debut revolves around a romance in New York City between Lelia, a light- skinned black woman, and Tony, a white man. The relationship 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. Shot on location in Manhattan with a mostly nonprofessional cast and crew, Shadows is a penetrating work that is widely considered the forerunner of the American independent film movement.
Genre: Drama
Cast: Ben Carruthers, Lelia Goldoni, Hugh Hurd, Anthony Ray, Dennis Sallas
Producer: Seymour Cassel, John Cassavetes, John Cassavetes, John Cassavetes, Maurice McEndree
IMDb Score: 7.2/10 by 99 users
Runtime: 87 minutes
Released: 11/11/1959