Mikey and NickyWith friends like these, who needs enemies? Mikey and Nicky is a crime drama about two men--the eponymous Mikey (Peter Falk) and his down-and-out "pal", Nicky (John Cassavetes)--over the course of one night in New York City. Nicky is at the end of his rope from the start, holed up in a cheap motel with a gun, fretting that someone is coming to kill him. He calls his childhood friend, Mikey, for help; Mikey in turn convinces him to leave the hotel and come with him to a bar. But secretly, Mikey is colluding with a second string hitman named Kinney (Ned Beatty) to bump Nicky off. Over the rest of the film, both men seem determined to prove who is the worse friend.
|
|
Mikey and Nicky was written and directed by Elaine May in 1976. Superficially, it resembles other films by the film's star (also an accomplished filmmaker), Cassavetes, in the way that it deals with elements including the city's seedy underbelly juxtaposed with impassioned interactions and the complexities of humanity. That's actually the real meat of Mikey and Nicky--not the plot or even the characters themselves, but the acting and dialogue which is rich and nuanced. It's like if you were to compare the film to food, it may look like a plain, old hamburger, but the ingredients which go into it set it apart from fast food. The relationship between Mikey and Nicky is almost derivative when you compare it with films like Martin Scorsese's Mean Streets--Nicky is fundamentally Johnny Boy, and Mikey is Charlie--but that would be denying the film its own identity and tone. You might also compare it to Cassavetes's own The Killing of a Chinese Bookie; both Nicky and Cosmo are morally dubious yet nonetheless charismatic protagonists, and coincidentally, both films were released in the same year. Mikey and Nicky is a dark film, in tone and appearance. It is set predominantly at night, on the barely illuminated streets of the city, in dimly lit bars, graveyards, and in one case, in the apartment of Nicky's mistreated girlfriend, Nellie (Carol Grace). Nicky's wife, Jan (Joyce Van Patten)--yes, Nicky's also married--has left him (understandably), leaving him with no one but Mikey to call for help in his darkest hour. And even though they have been "childhood friends", Nicky has--if Mikey is to be believed--all but abandoned him for a more profitable business relationship with a mobster named Dave Resnick (Sanford Meisner). There's almost no exposition about what it was that got Resnick so mad at Nicky to put out a hit on him, but Mikey makes a brief mention that suggests that Nicky was stealing from him, and that he wasn't alone in the theft. Nicky gets wise that his days are numbered after his accomplice gets whacked in a hail of gunfire, and it doesn't take much for him to put two and two together to see that he's next. But shouldn't Nicky have known better than to steal from the mob in the first place? Apparently not...and yet, one wonders just how much of what Nicky does is intentional or otherwise. Is he crazy, or crazy like a fox?
So, the big question in the film is whether Nicky knows that Mikey's in cahoots with Resnick or not? There's a telling scene when they're at the diner, around 1030pm or so. Mikey lets slip a comment about how he thought that he heard the phone on the wall ring, and that it's silly for someone to use a bar as an office or something. Mikey's been waiting for a call from Kinney, but we only just figure this out for ourselves at this moment, because it calls back to an earlier scene where Kinney was getting directions to the bar from an unknown party on the phone, although traffic has made him late. Nicky gives Mikey a long look with a stiff smile on his lips. This is where I think that Nicky figures it out. After all, he spends an inordinate amount of energy after this trying to throw Mikey's plans off balance. He says he wants to go to an all-night movie; on the bus, he nearly comes to blows with the bus driver (M. Emmet Walsh), then gets off to visit his mother's grave instead, making a deliberate point to leave through the front of the bus. He makes it so that Mikey can't give consistent instructions about his whereabouts to Kinney, leading the bereft hitman to drive all over the city, and complain later about having to wait for an hour in a no parking zone. Is Nicky doing this deliberately, and if so, is it because he has figured out that Mikey is in cahoots, or is there some other reason? And by that I mean that during the long night that Mikey and Nicky are stuck with each other, a fair deal of dirty laundry gets aired. Mikey eventually tells Nicky about how hurt he was that he had been ignored after Nicky started paling around with Resnick. Of course this leads one to wonder why Mikey is even helping out the mobster in the first place. Mikey is clearly doing well enough for himself to live in a community where he had to fill out an application for residency, and where they have their own private security, even if it's Nicky who struts around with a pocket full of a cool grand. Maybe Mikey's been on Resnick's payroll for a while now...maybe not. But if Mikey's doing so well, how is it that he needed to borrow two hundred dollars from Nicky, a debt he tries to square away...perhaps to assuage his conscience? Lots of questions, but getting answers or exposition for its own sake isn't the way with this picture. The more important thing is capturing that "slice of life" in the night that these two men are forced to examine their friendship put to the test, and watching it buckle under the pressure. Mikey seems conflicted, to put it lightly. On one hand, he seems genuinely invested in Nicky's welfare, listening to his rants about a contract killer who is looking for him. Is Mikey only playing a part of the concerned friend, or does some part of him still think that he's helping him out? How did Resnick manipulate him into becoming the "Brutus" to Nicky's "Caesar" in this sinister plot? But let's say for the moment that Nicky knows this betrayal to be true, and that he's been jerking Mikey around all night to both protect his hide and give discomfort to his assassin's accomplice. Why then does Nicky go to Mikey's house in the morning looking for him? Does he actually believe that he can salvage the friendship he shattered like Mikey's father's watch in the street? Is it for revenge? Who can say what thoughts are going on in his head as the pressure mounts.
It's said that Elaine May shot substantial amounts of film of the actors because she was looking for those authentic moments to capture and use in her film--so much film that she went overbudget and was deprived her final director's cut. One wonders what that might have been had that not happened; would Mikey and Nicky have been a movie shot in real time or something, running twelve hours long? Either way, Mikey and Nicky are achingly human characters--myriad flaws and all--even if we only get a metaphorical sketch of who they are instead of the comprehensive picture. But for two "friends" who may be less than that, maybe that says something in and of itself. Maybe we never truly know our friends, our loved ones, or anyone. We just know ourselves; and maybe in the case of Mikey and Nicky, not even that.
Recommended for: Fans of a gripping drama with devoted and engaging performances by the two leads. Don't go into Mikey and Nicky expecting a traditional crime story; it's really a deep character study and an exploration about a friendship in its death throes, and all of the heartache that comes with it.
So, the big question in the film is whether Nicky knows that Mikey's in cahoots with Resnick or not? There's a telling scene when they're at the diner, around 1030pm or so. Mikey lets slip a comment about how he thought that he heard the phone on the wall ring, and that it's silly for someone to use a bar as an office or something. Mikey's been waiting for a call from Kinney, but we only just figure this out for ourselves at this moment, because it calls back to an earlier scene where Kinney was getting directions to the bar from an unknown party on the phone, although traffic has made him late. Nicky gives Mikey a long look with a stiff smile on his lips. This is where I think that Nicky figures it out. After all, he spends an inordinate amount of energy after this trying to throw Mikey's plans off balance. He says he wants to go to an all-night movie; on the bus, he nearly comes to blows with the bus driver (M. Emmet Walsh), then gets off to visit his mother's grave instead, making a deliberate point to leave through the front of the bus. He makes it so that Mikey can't give consistent instructions about his whereabouts to Kinney, leading the bereft hitman to drive all over the city, and complain later about having to wait for an hour in a no parking zone. Is Nicky doing this deliberately, and if so, is it because he has figured out that Mikey is in cahoots, or is there some other reason? And by that I mean that during the long night that Mikey and Nicky are stuck with each other, a fair deal of dirty laundry gets aired. Mikey eventually tells Nicky about how hurt he was that he had been ignored after Nicky started paling around with Resnick. Of course this leads one to wonder why Mikey is even helping out the mobster in the first place. Mikey is clearly doing well enough for himself to live in a community where he had to fill out an application for residency, and where they have their own private security, even if it's Nicky who struts around with a pocket full of a cool grand. Maybe Mikey's been on Resnick's payroll for a while now...maybe not. But if Mikey's doing so well, how is it that he needed to borrow two hundred dollars from Nicky, a debt he tries to square away...perhaps to assuage his conscience? Lots of questions, but getting answers or exposition for its own sake isn't the way with this picture. The more important thing is capturing that "slice of life" in the night that these two men are forced to examine their friendship put to the test, and watching it buckle under the pressure. Mikey seems conflicted, to put it lightly. On one hand, he seems genuinely invested in Nicky's welfare, listening to his rants about a contract killer who is looking for him. Is Mikey only playing a part of the concerned friend, or does some part of him still think that he's helping him out? How did Resnick manipulate him into becoming the "Brutus" to Nicky's "Caesar" in this sinister plot? But let's say for the moment that Nicky knows this betrayal to be true, and that he's been jerking Mikey around all night to both protect his hide and give discomfort to his assassin's accomplice. Why then does Nicky go to Mikey's house in the morning looking for him? Does he actually believe that he can salvage the friendship he shattered like Mikey's father's watch in the street? Is it for revenge? Who can say what thoughts are going on in his head as the pressure mounts.
It's said that Elaine May shot substantial amounts of film of the actors because she was looking for those authentic moments to capture and use in her film--so much film that she went overbudget and was deprived her final director's cut. One wonders what that might have been had that not happened; would Mikey and Nicky have been a movie shot in real time or something, running twelve hours long? Either way, Mikey and Nicky are achingly human characters--myriad flaws and all--even if we only get a metaphorical sketch of who they are instead of the comprehensive picture. But for two "friends" who may be less than that, maybe that says something in and of itself. Maybe we never truly know our friends, our loved ones, or anyone. We just know ourselves; and maybe in the case of Mikey and Nicky, not even that.
Recommended for: Fans of a gripping drama with devoted and engaging performances by the two leads. Don't go into Mikey and Nicky expecting a traditional crime story; it's really a deep character study and an exploration about a friendship in its death throes, and all of the heartache that comes with it.