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‚Äö√Ñ√Â
¥ own work, but with May‚Äö√Ñ√Â
¥ 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