The film
About the film
Directed by Elaine May, Mikey and Nicky is a gritty, intimate crime drama that dives deep into male friendship, betrayal, and paranoia. The film stars John Cassavetes as Nicky, a small-time gangster who suspects a contract has been put on his life. He turns to his lifelong friend Mikey (Peter Falk) for help, and the two spend a long, restless night wandering through bars, buses, and back alleys of Philadelphia.
As the night unfolds, their conversations shift between loyalty, resentment, confession, and cruelty. May uses the mob-thriller framework not to deliver action set pieces, but to dissect the complex, often toxic dynamics of friendship and masculinity. Shot in a raw, improvisational style, the film has the loose realism of Cassavetes’own work, but with May’s sharp writing giving it a tragic inevitability.
Not embraced on its initial release due to production issues and studio clashes, the film was later reevaluated and is now hailed as a masterpiece—an unflinching portrayal of intimacy and betrayal, anchored by two towering performances from Falk and Cassavetes.
DIRECTOR-APPROVED BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES
• New, restored 4K digital transfer, supervised by director Elaine May, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
• New program on the making of the film featuring interviews with distributor Julian Schlossberg and actor Joyce Van Patten
• New interviews with critics Richard Brody and Carrie Rickey
• Audio interview from 1976 with actor Peter Falk
• Trailer and TV spot
• English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• PLUS: An essay by critic Nathan Rabin
New cover by Connor Willumsen
The edition
Edition details
| Format | Blu-ray |
|---|---|
| Region | Region B |
| Classification |
M Moderate impact. Not recommended for people under 15
|
| Director | Elaine May |
| Starring | John Cassavetes, Peter Falk, Ned Beatty, Carol Grace, Sanford Meisner |
| Original release | 1976 |
| Release date | 13 Jan 2025 |
| Label | Criterion Collection |
| Country | USA |
| Genre | Drama, Thriller, Crime |
| Barcode | 5060952897542 |
