{"id":57594,"date":"2025-03-19T08:01:51","date_gmt":"2025-03-19T12:01:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/?p=57594"},"modified":"2025-03-19T02:43:33","modified_gmt":"2025-03-19T06:43:33","slug":"before-seeing-mickey-17-why-not-watch-mickey-one","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/?p=57594","title":{"rendered":"Before Seeing Mickey 17<\/i>, Why Not Watch Mickey One<\/i>?"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Currently playing in theaters is Mickey 17<\/em>, a darkly funny sci-fi actioner from Oscar-winning filmmaker Bong Joon-ho<\/a> (Snowpiercer<\/em>, Parasite<\/em>). Robert Pattinson<\/a> stars as Mickey Barnes, an average guy on the run from a loan shark who takes a job helping to colonize a distant ice planet. Classified as an “expendable” and sent on potentially fatal missions, Barnes repeatedly dies and gets cloned, until the 17th incarnation–hence the title–manages to survive his latest assignment. Returning to base and encountering his already-activated replacement, the dual Mickeys question the nature of their shared identity as they fear elimination by the powerful boss behind the operation.<\/p>\n

Playing in theaters 50 years ago was Mickey One<\/em><\/a>, a darkly funny noir<\/em> drama from Oscar-nominated filmmaker Arthur Penn<\/a> (The Miracle Worker<\/em>, Bonnie and Clyde<\/em>). Warren Beatty<\/a> stars as a stand-up comic on the run from the Mafia who assumes the identity of “Mickey One” and takes a series of menial jobs. Thinking he’s safe, “Mickey” is hired to perform at a sleazy caf\u00e9. But when his act catches the eye of an enigmatic nightclub owner, he fears any success will help the mobsters locate and eliminate him.<\/p>\n

Now, Mickey One<\/em> and Mickey 17<\/em>, despite their names, are not the debut and latest installments of a long-running, heretofore unknown Hollywood franchise. And yet the pair have more than just similar titles linking them. As my slightly slanted synopses suggest, both films feature everyday antiheroes running afoul of enigmatic adversaries and getting caught up in dangerous situations that make each wonder about their sense of self. Our focus today, however, will be on Penn’s 1965 attempt to blend American film noir<\/em> filmmaking with European cinematic sensibilities. Mickey One<\/em> is an intriguing effort that caused rifts between the director and his star and perplexed the bosses at Columbia Pictures. Ignored by moviegoers at the time, in recent years it’s managed to achieve a cult status.<\/p>\n