The third film by eternally underrated genius Elaine May, Mikey and Nicky is an unclassifiable masterpiece of the 1970s, though it’s safe to say that very few people knew it at the time. Beset by chronic production delays and cost overruns, the film took three years of shooting and two years of editing, resulting in lawsuits between May and Paramount (major studios were still funding movies like this in 1976!). May lost final cut, the movie was dumped on the street, and basically disappeared, all of which is a damn shame, because this razor-sharp film is really something special. It’s a comedy, a gangster movie, a buddy movie…and none of those things. It’s ultimately a movie about friendship and betrayal, anchored by two phenomenal performances from John Cassavetes and Peter Falk. The two were well acquainted, having already worked together on two Cassavetes films (Husbands and A Woman Under the Influence). May gives them plenty of room to do their thing—the extended improvisations favored by all three parties are supposedly one reason the film was so over schedule—and they deliver. One of the great, unheralded movies of a rich era. ~SM