Mickey One
| Mickey One | |
|---|---|
original film poster
|
|
| Directed by | Arthur Penn |
| Produced by | Arthur Penn |
| Written by | Alan Surgal |
| Starring |
Warren Beatty Alexandra Stewart Hurd Hatfield |
| Music by |
Eddie Sauter Stan Getz (improvs) |
| Cinematography | Ghislain Cloquet |
| Edited by | Aram Avakian |
| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
|
Release date
|
|
|
Running time
|
93 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Mickey One is a 1965 surrealistic dramatic film starring Warren Beatty and directed by Arthur Penn from a script by Alan Surgal. Its kaleidoscopic camerawork, film noir atmosphere, lighting and design aspects, Kafkaesque paranoia, philosophical themes and Warren Beatty's performance in the title role turned the film into a cult classic. Penn and Surgal ignored the usual conventions of narrative for a freewheeling approach to their dramatic devices and Chicago locations.
The film's soundtrack, reverberating with hints of everything from Béla Bartók to bossa nova, reteamed Stan Getz with arranger Eddie Sauter, following their classic album Focus.
After incurring the wrath of the Mafia, a stand-up comic (Warren Beatty) flees Detroit for Chicago, taking the name Mickey One (from the Greek ethnic name Mikolas Ongeoffery on a Social Security card he steals off a homeless bum). He uses the card to get a job at a seedy diner hauling garbage. Eventually he returns to the stage as a stand-up comic, but is wary of becoming successful, afraid that he will attract too much attention. When he gets a booking at the upscale club Xanadu, he finds that his first rehearsal has become a special "audition" for an unseen man with a frightening, gruff voice (Aram Avakian). Paranoid that the mob has found him, Mickey runs away. He decides to find out who "owns" him and square himself with the mob, but he doesn't know what he did to anger them or what his debt is. Searching for a mobster who will talk to him, he gets beaten up by a bunch of nightclub doormen. Mickey finally concludes that it's impossible to get away and be safe, so he pulls himself together and does his act anyway.
In traveling about the city, Mickey continually sees a mute mime-like character known only as The Artist (Kamatari Fujiwara). The Artist eventually unleashes his Rube Goldberg-like creation, a deliberately self-destructive machine called "Yes," an homage to the sculptor Jean Tinguely.
...
Wikipedia