MIKEY AND NICKY (1976)

Anywhere he went, Mike Nichols was always the smartest guy in the room.  Or was if past comedy partner Elaine May didn’t show up.  Then he’d settle for Silver.  And this may help explain their inflated film reputations, especially among New York-centric cognoscenti.   But if Nichols kept up appearances by sweeping duds under the rug (see: DAY OF THE DOLPHIN; THE FORTUNE; CATCH-22, et al.), May has but four titles and no wiggle room.  Instead, her champions must elevate the last two flame-outs, infamous ISHTAR/’87 and this low-level mob internecine hit job, a crude long-night-of-the-soul affair, into unheralded masterpieces.  Wasn’t it made by the smartest person in the room?  Truth is, inarticulate (even dumb) people have been known to make good films . . . and vice versa.  Here, John Cassavetes, acting loud enough so you can’t miss him, is the mob ‘rat’ roaming New York in hopes of avoiding (or at last delaying) a hit that’s been put on him.  Peter Falk, fellow mid-level mob associate and his only friend, wants to help him . . . maybe.  Falk really wants to help set him up at some obscure location to facilitate the hit.  Claims of realism dissolve in the heavy-handed Method acting seen in so many Cassavetes projects.  (If everyone you know is a Method actor, especially ones hoping to be called on stage for a class critique, I suppose it may ring true.)  And with May shooting 100 feet of film for every 1 used, no surprise to find the film doesn't cut together.  More like cleaning out the fridge and calling the result boeuf bourguignon.  ISHTAR may have been dissed (in spite of a few seriously funny set pieces), but M&N was simply dismissed.  Still around, still utterly hilarious at testimonial speech-making (a niche market to be sure, but Ms. May a genius at it), but Academic dogma now sticks M&N right up there with the usual set of auteur reclamations.  And this time, we can’t even blame the French.

WATCH THIS, NOT THAT/LINK:  For this sort of mob rubout/best-friend turncoat story, one that’s deservedly been raised into the canon, try the originally dismissed THE FRIENDS OF EDDIE COYLE/’73.    https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2018/10/the-friends-of-eddie-coyle-1973.html

ATTENTION MUST BE PAID:  Cassavetes, under the impression he’s not doing enough to steal focus, adds a snort to his laughs, a snort!  Falk quickly spots what Cassavetes is doing and quickly copies it.