SunnyHello Nice effects though.

Claysaba Excellent, Without a doubt!!

Lachlan Coulson This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

Rosie Searle It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

akoaytao1234 This film tells the story of a problematic petty thief who falls in danger after a questionable dealing with a mob boss. With minutes behind his hit man, he asked his gangster friend for help to bail him out one last time. Ultimately, his awful behavior takes a toll to their friendship and he is left to bail himself on his own. I have read a lot of reviews putting it high regard (even comparing it to the likes of the Godfather films and Scorsese gangster flicks) but it just did not do it for me. I mean I like the performances in here. It feels very organic and realistic compared to Cassavetes's work which seems to be the main inspiration of the film but it leaves you kinda detached to it. It just did not setup its character to be there with you throughout the film that by the end you could not care less about them. To conclude, the film would forever be remembered for May's directorial antics and not by its own merits. [2/5]

JasparLamarCrabb A brilliantly acted film. Infantile John Cassavetes is a low level gangster who finds he has a contract on his head. He enlists the help of best friend Peter Falk. What transpires is a night of truth-telling and betrayals that does not end well for either of them. Elaine May wrote & directed this tough-as-nails expose and it's as far from THE HEARTBREAK KID as it could be. Falk & Cassavetes excel and the outstanding supporting cast includes Ned Beatty, Sanford Meisner (the legendary acting teacher making a very rare movie appearance), Joyce Van Patten as Cassavetes extremely angry wife and, in a shocking role, Carol Grace (aka Carol Matthau). The expert cinematography is by credited to Victor J. Kemper but appears to have been worked on by a number of people. May reportedly shot more than a million feet of film, leading to a battle with Paramount Pictures over how best to assemble & release this. May's 119 minute version is astounding.

buzzdav4 (When will I ever learn-?) The ecstatic reviewer on NPR made me think this turkey was another Citizen Kane. Please allow me to vent my spleen...I will admit: the setting, presumably New York City, has never been so downright ugly and unappealing. I am reminded that the 70's was a bad decade for men's fashion and automobiles. And all the smoking-! If the plan was to cheapen the characters, it succeeded.For a film to work (at least, in my simple estimation), there has to be at least ONE sympathetic character. Only Ned Beaty came close, and I could not wait for him to finish off Nicky. If a stray shot had struck Mikey, well, it may have elicited a shrug of indifference at the most.I can't remember when I detested a film as strongly. I suppose I'm a rube who doesn't dig "art" flicks. Oh, well.

MARIO GAUCI A strange film to come from a woman film-maker and one best-known for comedy at that; its rough, intense quality makes it feel more like one of co-star John Cassavetes' own radical works and, in fact, around this same time made one of his finest films - THE KILLING OF A Chinese BOOKIE (1976) - which incidentally also deals with the trials and tribulations of a small-time crook (played by Ben Gazzara) who unwisely takes on the mob.The film under review is buoyed by two excellent performances from Peter Falk and Cassavetes who, for the most part, are the only people on screen; however, Ned Beatty is also notable as a beleaguered hit-man.The film, however, can't make up its mind whether to be an existential neo-noir gangster melodrama or a perverse, eccentric inversion of a "buddy" movie! Cassavetes' come-uppance at the very end is arguably the film's highlight and, interestingly, it was shot by veteran cinematographer Lucien Ballard who, among others, had previously shot THE RISE AND FALL OF LEGS DIAMOND (1960) a fine gangster picture and Budd Boetticher's Hollywood swan song. May herself would go on to direct just one more film, the unfairly maligned ISHTAR (1987; see review above); having watched her delightful debut, A NEW LEAF (1971; in which she also starred), I've only got THE HEARTBREAK KID (1972) left to catch up with (though I did miss a number of Cable TV screenings over here several years ago).