MovieChat Forums > Mikey and Nicky (1976) Discussion > At the End, Weren't You Glad, (SPOILER)

At the End, Weren't You Glad, (SPOILER)


When Nickey finally got blasted? The guy was such a creep you couldn't feel sorry for him.

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[deleted]

i'm sure i'm in the minority, but i find the ending extremely sad, and i usually cry at the end. i almost hope that when i watch it, and it's coming towards the end, that it will be a different ending. but sadly it's always the same.




hi, my name is carleen...i'm harmless.

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@cassavetes45

You are a gem of a movie-watcher.




The closest movies to my heart: http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=46910443

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ahhh..how kind of you to say, punk. thank you.

with this particular movie i'm always touched with the relationship between mikey and nicky, but even more so between peter falk and john cassavetes....the real-life friendship they shared throughout so many years is so apparent in this film.

i miss john so much, and now that peter is in his sad state, i miss him as well. ben gazzara is still hanging out, and thankfully so.

the 3 of them were my guys, and it's just so hard to deal with all that has happened to them. but at least there are memories..




hi, my name is carleen...i'm harmless.

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I agree with that response, cassavetes45, and I wish I could have hung out with those two. So I guess my response to the Original Post is: Yes, I am glad at the end, but not because Nicky gets blasted away. Rather, I'm glad because I got to see a work of honesty and love by some amazingly talented people from when they were in their prime. As far as Nicky's death, I think it was just, according to the logic of the movie, but it wasn't anything to gloat over or to celebrate. It simply had to be done. Mikey had to shut Nicky out of his life. Nicky was just too out of control, he didn't respect any limits. It's sad because of how likeable he was.





The closest movies to my heart: http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=46910443

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very well said.

yes, you're totally correct. if i was truthful to myself i would have to admit that the ending had to go that way, and as much as i try to fight it, it had to conclude with nicky's death. (but i still find it so sad. )

if you haven't seen it already, 'husbands' is another good movie that has cassavetes, falk, and ben gazzara.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0065867/

it's a cassavetes film, and they can sometimes be hard to watch, but i checked out your favourite movie list and i see it includes 'opening night', so i'm sure you could handle 'husbands'. a lot of fans of cassavetes don't really like 'husbands', but i absolutely love it, and i think it's hysterically funny.



hi, my name is carleen...i'm harmless.

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I have seen "Husbands", and enjoyed it okay; it had some pretty priceless moments. Now, you've gotten me in the mood to see it again. As you may have heard, Cassavetes had an acting class, so for him, one of the most important things is to watch performances, whereas his plots, like in "Husbands", I find to be sometimes meandering. That's one of the reasons I like "Mikey & Nicky" so much, Elaine May's screenplay is pretty tight plot-wise, but it still leaves room for Cassavetes and Falk to stretch out. I think after this movie and "Opening Night", I love "The Killing of a Chinese Bookie", "Love Streams", "Faces" and "Shadows". The others are fine; each one is a good time. I think if "Husbands" was the only movie he'd have made, I'd be crazy about it, but I find enough beauty in the ones I mentioned to satisfy me.




The closest movies to my heart: http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=46910443

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oh wow, so you've viewed all of those, and i have too. i love cassavetes to a fault, but sometimes i have such a problem viewing 'his' films. the only one i can comfortably watch is 'husbands'...and maybe 'opening night'...and 'the killing of a chinese bookie'.
'love streams' is such a heartfelt classic to me. it is 'john' personified. it's a hurtful film to watch because,other than the disaster of 'big trouble', this was john's last film. and i've said this so many times, but when he is in that window, while it's storming outside, and he takes off his hat and waves goodbye, it always stirs me. oh john, i miss you. and that scene really captures it.






hi, my name is carleen...i'm harmless.

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Likeable? I thought it was a good movie (7/10) but I can't sign on to likeable, not for either character. They struck me as violent, misogynistic, and plain rude.

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See a list of my favourite films here: http://www.flickchart.com/slackerinc

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The Cassavetes character Nicky reminded me of the De Niro character Johnny Boy of Mean Streets; one had limited sympathy with either.

When Nicky is shot, bullets go through the door. I was half expecting either Mikey or his wife, positioned just behind the door, to be hit as a result. I think it might have made a preferable ending - perhaps better the death not of Mikey but of his more or less innocent wife.

"I beseech ye in the bowels of Christ, think that ye may be mistaken."

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Thank you! The exact same comparison(Johnny Boy / Mean streets) went through my mind as I ground my way through this dire movie.. "Will someone please shoot this guy so this can end. Utterly obnoxious characters.. so they carry their own seeds of destruction.. but I'm afraid I just wanted them to go..

few visible scars

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I loved Nicky... I was so sad that he died, and how he died. Betrayed by his best friend. Even Mikey was saying how his father didn't like anyone, except Nicky.

It's so tragic.. Forget Shakespeare, this moved me much more. And the end, when he won't open the door.

It's also the funniest movie I ever saw..!

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I agree with you, it is extremely sad. Just because he is a rude, obnoxious, annoying character, you can tell he's not all bad, he does feel guilty at times, and he knows he's wrong. Both of them are not the most sympathetic characters to grace the screen, but that's part of the beauty of it. I have had some very unsympathetic friends in my life, some people who most could not deal with on many levels. Does not mean they were all bad, they deserved to die, or you shouldn't be friends with them, just means that they are challenged in one way or another. Or many ways as both of these characters were.

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