Mikey and Nicky (1976) - Breakdown of what we might call "a hell of a night"

Much like most of Cassavetes' work, Mikey and Nicky has a style that's organic, real and fun at the same time.

Picture this. A man is holed up in a shawdy hotel room, has a gun in his hands and is on a verge. On a verge because he's looking out the window constantly on to the street outside, he's disheveled, sweaty and shows traits of someone who's in a spot of bother. Now, if this isn't one of the greatest beginnings to a film, I'll be damned. If you're a writer, this particular situation gives you countless opportunities for a story. Make him a mob guy who's being chased, make him a murderer on the loose or hell, make him a tax evader. Make him anything and this scene still holds good. Nicky or Nick is the man in the desperate situation and Mikey comes over to help him out. That's all the setup the filmmaker needed to start-off. Everything that transpires post that is of less significance in terms of plot because when it's Peter Falk and John Cassevettes playing Mikey and Nicky, we may need nothing anyway.

Although this one's a gangster picture, Mikey and Nicky aren't the Corleones for the world to care about. Instead, they are low-level & petty - the kind of gangsters who freelance in the world of crime and pick from options that suit their needs best. Mikey is Nicky's childhood friend and when a distress call from the latter reaches him, he's obviously worried. He comes over immediately, tends to his friend and takes charge of his life for the time-being. Both men are in the forties now, wearing suits that are soon to get crumpled because the night's about to get a bit erratic. And unlike most films where it's erratic in the most obvious sense, this one's about annoyance. They have disagreements all along on what to do, where to go and whom to see and that's pretty much about it. Now, at a time when we're watching cinema that's so fluffy in plot and action, something like this is a reminder of what good cinema is all about. It's about people, not concepts.

It isn't a surprise that Cassevetes and Elaine May (writer-director of the film) got together to work on this picture. Improvisation has been a key trait for both personalities and much like in Cassavetes' Husbands, Mikey and Nicky too is about one hard night. It is one of those pictures where you feel the exasperation of that really rough night. Fatigue of an internal kind that's taken over completely and reached a point of saturation. The filmmaking too is simple because that's exactly what you need when you have a story like this in hand. A lot of the charm lies in the silences and those drawling moments which one would wish to be done with as soon as possible. Elaine May lets the two men talk it out, settle the small issues of the past and see what leads where. Watch this movie on a lazy Saturday afternoon over a couple of beers. It's a low-budget comedy film with two grown men getting out one night to drink some booze and visits their mothers' graves. Leave a comment if you can!