Elaine May's 1975 film Mikey and Nicky faced a tumultuous production, with May battling Paramount Pictures for control. After two years of editing, she attempted to sell the film to a phoney company set up with star Peter Falk and others, but a judge ordered her to deliver it—minus two crucial reels that only reappeared after the studio let her supervise the final cut.
A groundbreaking gangster film
Set in Philadelphia, Mikey and Nicky follows gangsters Nicky (John Cassavetes) and Mikey (Peter Falk) over one tense night. Nicky is on the run after robbing his boss, while Mikey struggles between loyalty and self-preservation. The film is praised for its raw portrayal of male friendship, filled with love and betrayal. Despite its brilliance, it was met with poor reviews upon release, as audiences expected a comedy from May, known for her work with the improvisational duo Nichols and May.
Julian Schlossberg, May's friend and former Paramount executive, recalled: "The audience came in looking for a comedy, and it had some funny moments, but it turned tough pretty quick. They thought they’d been suckered. There were a lot of walkouts."
Personal roots and artistic risk
May drew inspiration from her Chicago childhood, where she knew real gangsters. She rejected repeating past successes, even worrying early on that the film was too funny. This same drive led her to leave Nichols and May at their peak. In 1978, she and Schlossberg bought back the rights and released a revised cut, which has since gained legendary status.
Gender bias in Hollywood
While male directors like Stanley Kubrick and Francis Ford Coppola were celebrated for going over budget, May faced harsher criticism. Schlossberg noted: "A guy can do what she does, and he’d be considered strong, and then she does it, and she’s considered difficult." May's 1987 film Ishtar, a buddy comedy about US intervention in the Middle East, lost an estimated $40 million and effectively ended her directing career, though it has since been reappraised.
Enduring legacy
Despite her struggles, May's work continues to attract fans like Lena Dunham, Martin Scorsese, and Greta Gerwig. Daniel Sullivan, a programmer for the Lincoln Center retrospective, said: "May is a major artist who, it seems to me, is becoming more appreciated as time goes on because her methods, her sensibility, the substance of her films, and even the trials and tribulations that she experienced across her career, all feel exceptionally modern and obviously relevant." The retrospective runs from 26 June to 2 July, featuring a 4K restoration of Mikey and Nicky and a wider US release this summer.
