Best friends Gus (John Cassavetes), Harry (Ben Gazzara), and Archie (Peter Falk) are each successful, driven ‘family men’ who’ve known each other since childhood. One day the fourth member of their crew, Stuart, dies of a heart attack, bringing the three of them together for the funeral and all the drinking that follows. Their sudden grief shakes them to the core, reminding them of their own mortality and that their youth is well and truly passed. After a particularly alarming altercation with his family, Harry decides to flee to London and start anew. Gus and Archie accompany him and see him off with a boys trip of even more drinking, gambling and girls. But boys they are no longer.

Praised by Jay Cocks of Time magazine as “the best movie anyone will ever live through” while being dragged through the mud by critics Canby, Kael, and Ebert on release, Husbands has remained divisive ever since. In our book, it’s Cassavetes’ funniest, saddest and most biting studies of male friendship – a dudes-rock hangout that quickly confirms these dudes do not rock; they are in-fact very scared of admitting they are actually adults with wives and children and make it everyone else’s problem throughout their carousing. All the while Cassavetes’ camera doesn’t bat an eye, holding onto moments long past their prime, revealing the ugly truth in these men’s eyes.

Audience note: contains scenes depicting sexual assault and domestic violence.