Mikey and Nicky (1976)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ 

Mikey and Nicky (1976) – E. May

This is essentially a two-hander for John Cassavetes and Peter Falk with the improvisational style of the former’s work but directed by Elaine May (heretofore known for comedy, although not without poignancy). The duo are two low-level mobsters who have been friends for years but also may not entirely trust each other. Cassavetes believes that there is a contract out on his life, from his own mob boss (potentially after a betrayal) -- the facts of the story are far from clear and come out mostly in passing, while the relationship between the two men is the main focus. (We eventually come to realise that Cassavetes may be right, when we see hitman Ned Beatty driving around looking for him).  Falk and Cassavetes are old hands at this style of naturalistic acting (see them together in the latter’s Husbands, 1970) and they carry it off with aplomb. In May’s hands, the portrayals take on a more determined form than in some of Cassavetes oeuvre – there is a caustic feeling to this analysis of male behaviour that disembowels a friendship in favour of competition. The ending seals the deal and may be more planned than anything else in the film (edited together from hours and hours of footage) allowing some reverb after the credits roll.  A masterful demonstration of this technique. 

All the President’s Men (1976)

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Cria Cuervos (1976)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ½

Cria Cuervos (1976) – C. Saura

Superb blend of memory and reality channelled by a child who has seen and heard too much (played precociously by Spirit of the Beehive’s Ana Torrent).  Ana and her two sisters experience the deaths of their mother (played by Geraldine Chaplin) and father, an officer in Franco’s army, but not after bearing witness to fights over the father’s infidelity (which they later play-act in their bedroom).  Ana may be haunted by the spirit of her mother who appears in the house at night, repeating well-rehearsed lines from the past; or the vagaries of memory may lead to overlapping in the recall of the periods when Ana and her sisters subsequently lived with her strict but well-meaning Aunt Paulina.  Matters are made all the more mysterious by the fact that Chaplin also plays the adult Ana who occasionally speaks directly to the camera.  The title refers to an idiom “raise ravens and they’ll pluck out your eyes” – suggesting that parents are to blame for the consequences of their actions on their kids (and their kids’ adult behaviours).  No doubt, director Carlos Saura also meant the film to be a slap in the face to the Franco regime, suggesting that the years under fascism would have far-reaching and lasting effects on Spain.  But the picture works as a potent tale of childhood, where emotional events are writ larger on budding lives. 

  

Bound for Glory (1976)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Bound for Glory (1976) – H. Ashby

David Carradine is an easy-going Woody Guthrie escaping the dustbowl for California and developing a social conscience in Hal Ashby’s moving film based on Guthrie’s autobiography.  Haskell Wexler deservingly won the Oscar for his cinematography, with golden brown a prominent hue.  Ronny Cox is excellent in support as Ozark Bule, the protest singer that inspires Woody and hooks him up with the radio station that helped him to become a big star.  But as played superbly by Carradine, Guthrie is restless, forever wanting to be among the people spreading the Union word through song, so much so that he neglects his wife and family (thus leaving viewers with a very ambivalent feeling toward him, to Ashby’s credit).  Of course, it is the songs themselves and the guitar picking (seemingly performed by Carradine himself) that dominate everything and lend a wistful consistency to the whole film.  And when I say the film is moving, I mean that Woody Guthrie’s message about support for workers against capitalists who would exploit them resonates more today than it probably did in 1976.  This land is made for you and me.

Man on the Roof (1976)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Man on the Roof (1976) – B. Widerberg

The police procedural has long been the province of TV shows, so it is easy to forget that there are movies that may be able to do things better (for example, on a bigger budget or in a less formulaic way).  I’m thinking of Kurosawa’s High and Low or Fincher’s Zodiac.  But Bo Widerberg’s Man on the Roof, based on one of a series of Swedish crime novels featuring homicide cop Martin Beck and his colleagues, should be ranked highly with them. After a bad police lieutenant is murdered in his hospital bed, the wheels start turning and Beck and his weary team (each given enough attention to have a distinct personality) begin their painstaking investigation.  As usual, they start with interviews of people who might know something, record searches, and, yes, examination of evidence at the crime scene.  Slowly this leads to a suspect, but just as things are at their most dreary (as investigations are wont to get), the film explodes into a different kind of situation requiring strategic action from the police (and giving the film its title).  The cops (and Widerberg) handle things just as methodically as in the early part of the film (although less successfully at times), leading to the (not unexpected) conclusion.  Still, it is absorbing all the way.