Film at Lincoln Center announces “Elaine May,” a special look back at the comedian, actress, writer, and director’s incomparable career behind the camera, running from June 26 through July 2. On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the release of May’s emotionally potent Mikey and Nicky, May and producer Julian Schlossberg will be in person at FLC to present a 4K restoration of the film, which May supervised herself. In addition to the revival run of Mikey and Nicky, the series includes screenings of May’s seminal directorial debut A New Leaf in a new 4K restoration and her fourth feature as a director, Ishtar. 

Born in 1932 to a family of performers in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, May joined her father in his traveling theater company at 3 years old, eventually moving to Los Angeles with her mother following her father’s death. Pursuing a career as an actress, May hitchhiked to Chicago in the 1950s to take classes at the University of Chicago, where she met Mike Nichols and formed the improvisational comedy duo Nichols and May, going on to influence generations of younger comedians such as Steve Martin and Lily Tomlin. May has directed four feature films throughout her career, making her debut in 1971 with the tender and cynical A New Leaf, starring Walter Matthau as a broke playboy who sets his sights on a wealthy odd-bird botany professor, played by May. Mikey and Nicky (1976) is May’s third feature and stars John Cassavetes as a Philly gangster running for his life and Peter Falk as his childhood friend who—unbeknownst to him—is helping his pursuers. May’s fourth directorial feature, Ishtar (1987), stars Warren Beatty and Dustin Hoffman as broke musicians who agree to take a gig as the lounge band for a hotel in Marrakesh and get swept up in a gaggle of plots and machinations along the way. May has won numerous awards for her lifetime contributions to her craft, including the National Medal of Arts in 2013 and an Honorary Academy Award in 2022. 

Organized by Florence Almozini, Vice President of Programming, Film at Lincoln Center, and Dan Sullivan, Programmer, Film at Lincoln Center.

Tickets go on sale Thursday, May 28 at 2pm, with early access for FLC Members beginning at noon. Tickets are $19; $16 for students, seniors (62+), and persons with disabilities; and $14 for FLC Members. Add all three films to your cart and save $2 per ticket upon checkout (excluding Q&A screening and matinees).

Tickets for the June 26 Q&A screening of Mikey and Nicky are $25; $22 for students, seniors (62+), and persons with disabilities; and $20 for FLC Members. The first daily screenings of Mikey and Nicky are eligible for matinee pricing: $14; $11 for students, seniors (62+), and persons with disabilities; and $9 for FLC Members.

FILM DESCRIPTIONS
All films screen at the Walter Reade Theater (165 W. 65th Street)

Playing daily June 26–July 2
4K Restoration
Mikey and Nicky
Elaine May, U.S., 1976, 106m

Mikey and Nicky. Courtesy of Muscle Distribution/Hollywood Entertainment.

Elaine May’s third feature stands apart from the rest of her oeuvre in a number of ways, not least of which is the fact that it finds her working with another paradigm-shifting actor/director in John Cassavetes. Here Cassavetes plays opposite his frequent collaborator Peter Falk, the former playing a Philly gangster who has run afoul of his boss and gone underground due to a fresh contract on his life; the latter playing his childhood friend who—unbeknownst to him—is helping with the assassination plot. Set entirely across one anxious night, Mikey and Nicky remains an eminently potent, emotionally tremulous portrait of male friendship (and male betrayal) that crackles with the raw energy of three of the era’s most indelible and uncompromising American film artists working together. A Muscle Distribution/Hollywood Entertainment release.
Friday, June 26 at 6:00pm – Q&A with Elaine May and producer Julian Schlossberg (co-presented by Muscle Distribution and Hollywood Entertainment)

New 4K Restoration
A New Leaf
Elaine May, U.S., 1971, 102m

A New Leaf

Elaine May made her directorial debut with this seminal two-hander, loosely based on a short story by Jack Ritchie. Walter Matthau gives a signature performance as Henry Graham, the playboy failson scion of a prominent New York family who learns that he’s blown through his own inheritance and is effectively broke. He gets the idea to marry into money and subsequently give his bride the Bluebeard treatment, and he sets his sights on the supremely awkward, wealthy odd-bird botany professor Henrietta Lowell (May). One of cinema’s great debut features, A New Leaf is a dark-ish love story, tender and cynical in equal measure, whose wry, madcap pleasures make it an enduringly influential high-water mark for screen comedy. 4K restoration by Vinegar Syndrome and Cinématographe.
Friday, June 26 at 9:00pm
Sunday, June 28 at 3:30pm

Ishtar
Elaine May, U.S., 1987, 107m

Ishtar

Mired with one of cinema’s most infamous production histories, and badly misunderstood and maligned by critics and audiences at the time of its release, Elaine May’s fourth directorial feature now stands as a major, culminating work by one of comedy’s sharpest, most inventive minds. Again centering on the relationship between two (ridiculous) men, the film stars Warren Beatty and Dustin Hoffman as broke, hack, wannabe Simon-and-Garfunkel types who agree to take a gig as the lounge band at a hotel in Marrakesh. But when one of the men loses his passport en route in the fictitious country of Ishtar, and the other finds himself roped into an obscure CIA scheme, it becomes clear that this “Road to…” is as perilous as it is absurd. Also featuring especially memorable turns by Isabelle Adjani and Charles Grodin, Ishtar is a cursed-then-rehabilitated masterpiece whose devotees include the likes of Martin Scorsese and Quentin Tarantino.
Saturday, June 27 at 6:00pm
Monday, June 29 at 8:30pm

FILM AT LINCOLN CENTER
Film at Lincoln Center (FLC) is a nonprofit organization that celebrates cinema as an essential art form and fosters a vibrant home for film culture to thrive. FLC presents premier film festivals, retrospectives, new releases, and restorations year-round in state-of-the-art theaters at New York’s Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. FLC offers audiences the opportunity to discover works from established and emerging directors from around the world with a passionate community of film lovers at marquee events including the New York Film Festival and New Directors/New Films.

Founded in 1969, FLC is committed to preserving the excitement of the theatrical experience for all audiences, advancing high-quality film journalism through the publication of Film Comment, cultivating the next generation of film industry professionals through our FLC Academies, and enriching the lives of all who engage with our programs.

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