John Cassavettes decided as his first film, obviously as one that could be shot on a shoestring in New York and experiment with form and time, to not ave a script with dialog (merely an outline). And he delivered a 1959 feature equivalent of (present day) Curb Your Enthusiasm- all the actors know what to do and say and even have the right look in their eyes when they talk. In other words, it's one of the most naturalistic looks at a time and place, the "beat" generation, jazzed sweetly in it's score and telling a tale of racial tensions. A group of black siblings are the center-point, with one trying to get better gigs than the average strip-club, and has a sister, much more light-skinned than him, who gets entwined with a white man in a relationship, which shatters both sides. The film, however, isn't exclusively about that; Cassavettes likes to have his characters wander around New York City (which not many films did in 1959/1960), taking in mood, attitude and something akin to visual poetry, and his style of storytelling is like that of the improvisational jazz artists of the day. Dated, to be sure, but worth a serious look for film buffs. Martin Scorsese named this as one of his heaviest influences, if nothing else.
Review of Shadows
