Mickey One (1965)

Following Oscar success with The Miracle Worker (1962), Arthur Penn’s third – and most stylised – movie finds Warren Beatty as a nameless Detroit night club comic on the run from the Mob for reasons which are never made clear.

He flees to Chicago’s skid row to acquire a new identity (“Mickey One”) and hide behind dead-end jobs, living in poverty.

But he can’t stay away from the dingy clubs. He heckles a comedian, trades quips and lands a job as a comic at a bum ‘n’ grind strip club.

His girl Jenny (Alexandra Stewart) and his agent (Teddy Hart) then persuade him to audition at Club Zanadu, a swank downtown nightclub.

The club owner (Hurd Hatfield) – himself a frontman for the Mob – is fascinated by him. During a frantic third-degree interrogation by a voice asking questions from behind the lighting booth’s spotlight, Mickey runs from the darkened stage. Finally, he decides to come back – for there is no escape – and confront the Mob.

But the plot cannot convey the tension and the excitement of producer-director Arthur Penn’s electrifying style. It’s a stunning, dynamic and memorable film.

Mickey
Warren Beatty
Jenny
Alexandra Stewart
Castle
Hurd Hatfield
Ruby Lapp
Franchot Tone
Berson
Teddy Hart
Fryer
Jeff Corey
The Artist
Kamatari Fujiwara
The Girl
Donna Michelle
Police Captain
Ralph Foody
The Evangelist
Norman Gottschalk
Employment Agent
Dick Lucas
Cafeteria Manager
Jack Goodman
Helen
Jeri Jensen
The Singer
Charlene Lee
Nightclub Comic
Benny Dunn
Stripper
Denise Darnell
Boss at Shaley’s
Dick Baker
Landlady
Helen Witkowski
Iggie
James Middleton

Director
Arthur Penn