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by Steve Dollar



Time has not worn dull the oddball charms, nor solved the existential riddles of Mickey One. Arthur Penn"s much-neglected 1965 film is long overdue for wide reappreciation, which will be a lot easier now that it"s out on DVD, presented in a digitized version of a fabulous restored print, one that lends seductive depth and richness to its black-and-white palette. The visual scheme is slyly well-suited to the surreal tilts and spontaneous freak-outs that punctuate the story, paced by saxophonist Stan Getz"s improvisations on an imaginative jazz score.

The film remains as curious as ever. Its opening scene establishes a phantasmagorical tone that it rarely departs for long, as a nightclub comic (played by budding heartthrob Warren Beatty, fresh from Lilith and acting his 28-year-old ass off) lights up a cigar in a sauna, sitting fully clothed in foppish finery as a laughing chorus of fat, old guys cackles at him. Must be the 1960s.