Mickey One (1965)

A stand up comic (Warren Beatty) is in hot water with the Detroit mob so he flees to Chicago to hide out. But his increasing paranoia convinces him that he's been followed and everyone is suspect. Directed by Arthur Penn (BONNIE AND CLYDE), this is an interesting failure that has since become a cult film. Influenced by the French New Wave, it has the feel of a French film adapted from an American pulp novel (think Truffaut's SHOOT THE PIANO PLAYER). It did well in Europe but not surprisingly, American critics were less enthusiastic with charges of pretentiousness leveled against its surrealism (and not unjustifiably). But if it's a failure, it's an ambitious and fascinating one. The biggest problem I had with it is that Beatty doesn't have the bearing or timing of a stand up comic. In the movie, audiences laugh and applaud but we know he's just not funny. But there are things to savor like Ghislain Cloquet's (THE FIRE WITHIN) crisp B&W lensing, Aram Avakian's editing and the jazz score by Eddie Sauter (with a little help from Stan Getz). With Hurd Hatfield, Franchot Tone and Alexandra Stewart.