Grimey tension.
I think that’s what I can tell you about Mikey and Nicky, a 1976 crime film starring Peter Falk and John Cassavettes as two gangsters who spend a long night waiting for the inevitable.
Written and directed by Elaine May and very much in the style of crime films from the 1970s.
I’d never heard of it, and a friend, knowing the kinds of things I like recommended it.
So let’s start where most people are going to check out: this movie looks bad. Shot in an ultra-realistic style and awash in 70s noir darkness it very much feels different from what most of us visually expect from a movie.
If you told me that May stole a camera and then shot the film outlaw style without getting any permits, permission, or other actors outside of her two leads I would not have been surprised.
That’s obviously not true as we get bit parts from great actors like M. Emmet Walsh, William Hickey, and Ned Beatty. Beatty is perfect in everything and here he gets to play the heavy. That’s always fun.
But this looks icky. And that’s probably a visual choice by the director but I also imagine there was not a lot of money to be spent on sets or costumes or lighting. You can see what you probably need to see. And if the sound and the visuals are a little off well let’s just chalk it up to an enthusiasm for realism.
The plot is simple and the emotions are complex. Nicky (Cassavetes) is in trouble. He calls his old pal Mikey (Falk) to help him out. And the two hang out together as Nicky tries to escape the mob and Mikey (spoiler) tries to set him up to get killed.
Cassavetes burns bright. He’s not so much a human being as he is a breathing example of nervous dread.
Falk is friendly and warm. Even though he has dark plans.
Meanwhile, IMDB claims that Falk would start shooting Columbo in the midst of the behind-the-scenes drama on this flick. And you see here the charm that would eventually lead to him becoming an iconic TV detective.
There isn’t any detective work here. It’s just Nicky is already stressed beyond imagining when the movie opens and Mikey trying to pretend to be a pal to an old friend.
They talk, they visit a graveyard, and they see their wives and Nicky’s girlfriend. What Nicky knows and doesn’t know about Mikey’s plans are part of the movie but only a small part.
Much of it is just wrapped up in two old friends trying to deal with each other while both of them are under the kind of pressure that turns coal into diamonds. Or in this case, just crushes you into dust.
An accusation in a graveyard made me cackle.
“You take that back!” Mikey shouts. As if it wasn’t true.
There’s a damning situation for both of them involving Nicky’s mistress where both men prove that they are repugnant. Even if their lives could be saved, their souls were lost years ago.
There are a couple of scenes late in the movie that suggest Mikey is trying to save Nicky from the hit. He leads the hitman on a chase that turns up nothing. And then in a bit of business I enjoyed, he tries to negotiate with his boss over whether or not the hitman will be allowed to wait at his home in case Nicky shows up.
I viewed it as Mikey trying to stave off the murder. But my friend probably called it correctly.
“He just doesn’t want to see it,” he said.
This movie is a hard one to recommend. There are few people in my life, I think, who would have the patience to get through the rough visuals or the subject matter.
Here are a few other flicks that probably compare: The Friends of Eddie Coyle, Mean Streets, and Killing Them Softly.
Another flick this reminded me of was Uncut Gems, which was a heart attack disguised as a movie.
Technically, this is a mob movie. But there is no glamour here, no fancy nights at the Copa or lavish weddings.
It’s just Mikey and Nicky living and dying in the gutter.
Showing Off: Elaine May’s ‘Mikey And Nicky’
In ‘Mikey and Nicky,’ Elaine May Nails a Pair of Desperate Characters
Dark Highways 