Retrospective: Mikey and Nicky (Patreon)

Sometimes a movie that matches Mean Streets and The Godfather in quality gets sadly overlooked. And sometimes that movie has Peter Falk wearing a Columbo-esque coat, and a scene where Peter Falk threatens to kill someone. Sometimes the same movie makes you text your friend "Columbo is being mean" to your friend who recommended the movie to you.

Anyway, if that didn't convince you to watch Mikey and Nicky, let's mention the premise: Nicky (John Cassavetes) is a paranoid gangster with a hit out on him, and Mikey (Peter Falk) is his friend who has to cover for him. Over the course of the movie, Nicky reveals himself to be a complete sack of shit, while his big brother figure Mikey shows that he's always had to live in Nicky's shadow. He's both a protector and an enabler — he witnesses Nicky doing evil, evil things which he refuses to prevent. Nicky is something of a release for him — he does the awful things Mikey isn't permitted to do.

Elaine May delivers a stellar exploration of the violent misogyny of brotherhood, a perspective Scorsese and Coppola have never really dedicated much time to. Watch this in a marathon with Mean Streets and The Godfather, and it'll both fit in and serve as a panacea to the hypermasculinity of those works. It's as good as Seventies cinema got; two of the best actors of their generation getting the writer-director they needed.