Husbands (Rock Tee Graphic/John Cassavetes Shirt)

Three men. One funeral. Several terrible decisions.

Released in 1970, Husbands is one of John Cassavetes' most fascinating, exhausting, funny, and occasionally unbearable films—a nearly two-and-a-half-hour exploration of male friendship, grief, middle age, and the extraordinary lengths men will go to avoid talking about their feelings.

Cassavetes stars alongside his real-life friends Peter Falk and Ben Gazzara as Gus, Archie, and Harry, three suburban New York husbands whose lives unravel after the sudden death of their fourth friend. What begins as a funeral turns into an extended bender involving drinking, singing, fighting, vomiting, gambling, and eventually an impulsive trip to London.

And that's pretty much the plot. But with Cassavetes, the plot was never really the point.

The film feels almost dangerously intimate. The three actors laugh, argue, insult one another, break down, and behave like absolute idiots, often in scenes that seem to go on forever. Cassavetes used extensive improvisation and rehearsal to create something that feels less like watching a movie and more like being trapped at a table with three men who desperately need therapy.

There's also something fascinating about the film's portrayal of male intimacy. These men are physically affectionate, emotionally dependent, jealous, competitive, and deeply in love with one another in ways they barely understand. For all its aggressively heterosexual behavior, Husbands has an unmistakable undercurrent of homoerotic tension and a wonderfully uncomfortable relationship with traditional masculinity.

Critics were divided when it premiered, but Husbands has since become one of the defining works of American independent cinema, admired for its raw performances, emotional honesty, and complete disregard for conventional Hollywood storytelling.