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The film, set in California, opens with Cosmo Vittelli (Ben
Gazzara) making the final payment on a longstanding gambling debt to a sleazy
loanshark (played by the film’s producer Al Ruban). To celebrate his long-anticipated
freedom, cabaret owner Vittelli has an expensive night out with his three
favorite dancers (“Margo”, “Rachael” and “Sherry”). The evening culminates in a
poker game in which Vittelli loses $23,000, returning him to the debtor’s
position he had just left. Using the debt as leverage, his mob creditors coerce
him into agreeing to perform a “hit” on a rival. Vittelli is led to believe
that his target is a small-time criminal of minor consequence, the Chinese
bookie of the film’s title; but in fact, he is the boss of the Chinese mafia,
“the heaviest cat on the West Coast.” Vittelli manages to kill the man and
several of his bodyguards, but is severely wounded before escaping.
In addition to the potentially fatal gunshot wound he
sustains, Vittelli comes to realize that his assignment was a set-up: that his
mob employers double-crossed him and had no expectation he would survive his
debut as a hitman. Forced into a corner again, Vittelli manages to kill or
elude his assailants, but the film ends with no indication of whether Vittelli
will survive his ordeal, as the show at his club goes on.
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