Name: Mikey and Nicky
Genre: Crime, Drama
Released: 1976-12-21
Duration: 106 min
Rating: 8.1
Cast: Peter Falk, John Cassavetes, Ned Beatty, Rose Arrick, Carol Grace

1976·Crime·1h 46m

8.1

★

Nick is desperate, holed up in a cheap hotel, suffering from an ulcer and convinced that a local mob boss wants him killed. Terrified, he calls Mikey, his friend since childhood and a fellow gangster. So begins a long night…

Directed by Elaine May

philadelphia, pennsylvania

hitman

male friendship

on the run

bookie

one night

existentialism

woman director

intense

depressing

bold

excited

gloomy

Rank

#6 in 1976·#724 overall

Trailer

IMDB

N/A

Where to Watch

Cast

Peter Falk

Mikey

John Cassavetes

Nicky

Ned Beatty

Kinney

Rose Arrick

Annie

William Hickey

Sid Fine

Sanford Meisner

Dave Resnick

Joyce Van Patten

Jan

M. Emmet Walsh

Bus Driver

David Pendleton

Bar Patron

Reuben Greene

Franklyn

Elaine May

Woman on TV (voice) (uncredited)

Crew

Elaine May

Director

Elaine May

Writer

John Carter

Editor

Victor J. Kemper

Director of Photography

Popular Reviews

754 reviews

fel1111x

5.0★ · 03/15/26

some incredibly funny writing and dialogue.
unfortunately i didnt really enjoy a lot of things other than that to be honest..

thanks to kaylee for picking this for the 6th week of our weekly film club!

brunettegsundae

7.0★ · 02/27/26

I never felt so sorry and angry at the same time for someone like Nicky. He was a troublemaker, and yes, unfortunately, he had an ending I was not expecting
I could hear them talk about nothing and everything for hours

Jack Sinclair

10.0★ · 12/18/25

Jack Sinclair

9.9★ · 10/19/25

polina

9.0★ · 06/11/25

Elaine May did such a good job of portraying toxic masculinity, and portrayed men more honestly than they do most of the time. I frequently have issues with films featuring clearly bad people. however, rather with directors who make this the main subject of the picture and strive to demonstrate as much as possible about how horrible they are. and I can't get over how fantastic Elaine depicts her characters. yes, they are gansters and they mock people, but most importantly, they are humans. humans with many sensual experiences, confusion in their thoughts, lack of knowledge of themselves and their motives in life. > responsibility and consequences are the main themes of the film for me. this perfectly depicts the feeling of getting into trouble, remembering the past events that caused it, and realizing that nothing was worthwhile. constant bad actions towards others will eventually result in desperate consequences, so an apology is no longer sufficient. > the film's livelyness is what made me love it the most. I truly believe every dialogue in this, and I felt like each of them spoke directly to me in their own way. Mikey and Nicky have a very deep emotional connection, even though this relationship is obviously unhealthy between equally unhealthy people. It's a case where only one person can truly understand you and share your imperfections, even if they condemn them. everything is destroyed by selfishness, aggression, and violent tendencies. It's not uncommon for people to realize their desire to change their way of life too late to take action. I have so much love for John Cassavetes as a director, and he's an incredible actor as well. I was blown away by his performance in the last minutes of the film. he also had such a beautiful smile