Saturday Matinee Classics/Enzian Film Club
50th Anniversary! New 4K Restoration!
Featuring a post-film Enzian Film Club discussion with Michael Furlong from the University of Central Florida.
“On a night like this...there are no rules"
Small-time mobster Nicky (John Cassavetes) is holed up in a fleabag motel after finding out the boss he stole money from has put a hit out on him. Terrified and with nowhere to run, he calls on Mikey (Peter Falk), his oldest friend and the one person he thinks can save him. But does Mikey actually want to help Nicky this time, or is he merely leading him to his doom?
Troubled by a notoriously difficult years-long journey to the screen that, at one point, saw director Elaine May create a fake production company to attempt to wrestle control of the film away from Paramount, Mikey and Nicky spent decades as one of American cinema's great “lost” masterpieces. Today, thanks to restoration and critical reappraisal, it's recognized as one of the defining films of the New Hollywood era, praised for its raw performances and emotionally devastating realism.
Inspired by real-life figures from May’s own childhood and anchored by electrifying performances from Cassavetes and Falk, Mikey and Nicky is a harrowing portrait of male friendship turned tragic and a masterpiece of American cinema.
1976, 106 minutes, USA, directed by Elaine May, Rated R
“[May’s] genius for finding the squirmy humanity within toxic characters finds its purest and most heartbreaking expression in Mikey and Nicky.”
– Nathan Rabin, THE CRITERION COLLECTION
“To watch Cassavetes and Falk inhabit their roles is to watch two great jazz musicians riffing on a score.”
– J. Hoberman, NEW YORK TIMES
“What the director and actors are doing here – it’s what people call a “high wire act,” and the artists walk it bravely. And it is, at times, astonishing.”
– Kim Morgan, THE NEW BEVERLY CINEMA
“In its emotional extremes, distills a lifetime of frustrated energy into a single night.”
– Richard Brody, THE NEW YORKER
“The entire movie is a cornucopia of anxieties, pulsating and quivering not unlike a freshly bit lip.”
– Gina Telaroli, FILM COMMENT
