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Mikey & Nicky
The following description was submitted by the event organizer.
Directed by Elaine May
United States • 1976 • 119 mins. • In English
A deep departure from Elaine May’s previous two features—A New Leaf (1971) and The Heartbreak Kid (1972)—this New Hollywood picture owes quite a bit to the towering presence of stars John Cassavetes and Peter Falk, who play the titular characters: small-time Philadelphia criminals on the run from a pissed-off mob boss. Nicky (Cassavetes) is a wiry, violent grifter constantly getting into trouble and asking pal Mikey (Falk) to bail him out, financially and otherwise. The pair, pursued by hitmen, go through a spell of self-examination—both as individuals and about their friendship, which may not have weathered worse conditions. A contentious production in which May famously shot 1.4 million feet of film, with Paramount ultimately taking control of the final edit (essentially burying the film for many years), Mikey & Nicky has come to be regarded as a masterpiece, a key film of the New Hollywood movement, and a crucial examination of American masculinity. Content warning: gendered violence. New restoration!