Midnight Madness (1980) Disney/Comedy RT: 112 minutes Rated PG (brief mild language, some crude humor, beer drinking) Director: Michael Nankin and David Wechter Screenplay: Michael Nankin and David Wechter Music: Julius Wechter Cinematography: Frank V. Phillips Release date: February 8, 1980 (US) Cast: David Naughton, Debra Clinger, David Damas, Stephen Furst, Michael J. Fox, Eddie Deezen, Maggie Roswell, Brad Wilkin, Alan Solomon, Debi Richter, Kristen Baker, Patricia Alice Albrecht, Andy Tennant, Brian Frishman, Sal Lopez, Joel P. Kenney, Robyn Petty, Betsy Lynn Thompson, Carol Gwynn Thompson, Marvin Katzoff, Dirk Blocker, Paul Reubens, Irene Tedrow, John Fiedler, Marvin Kaplan, Loretta Clemens Tupper. Box Office: $2.9M (US)
Rating: ****
What you see above is no misprint. I really did give the college comedy Midnight Madness a four-star rating. I hope it doesn’t destroy my credibility (I know, what credibility?), but I really love this junior version of Animal House from Disney. It cracks me up every time I watch it.
The plot is very straightforward. Slightly mad genius Leon (Solomon) summons five students to his apartment where he invites them to participate in his latest creation, a game called “The Great All-Nighter”. It’s essentially a scavenger hunt in which each team is given a complicated clue to solve. Once solved, it will lead them to a location somewhere in Los Angeles. Once there, they must use their intellect and wit to find the next clue which will lead them to the next location and so forth until one team reaches the finish line somewhere in the city. The first team to reach the finish line wins the game.
There are five teams, each one represented by a different color sweatshirt. First, there’s the yellow team, led by student counselor Adam (Naughton, An American Werewolf in London). They’re the good guys. Then there’s the blue team led by snobby fat guy Harold (Furst, Animal House). He really hates Adam. They’re the bad guys. Obviously, it’s going to come down to a race between these two adversaries.
The other teams are the green team which consists of members of the football team. Led by quarterback Lavitas (Wilkin), they call themselves “Meat Machine”. They tend to antagonize the two remaining teams, red and white. The former, led by feminist Donna (Roswell, The Simpsons), are members of an unpopular sorority. She has it out for the jocks after they crash a party at the sorority house. The white team, a group of nerds led by Wesley (Deezen, Grease 1 & 2), want their shot at showing up the rowdy jocks too. They can only take so much guff before fighting back with the sharpest weapons in their arsenal, their minds.
Initially, they all balk at Leon’s challenge, dismissing it as ridiculous. The game master, however, is a crafty sort. He spent a whole year researching and carefully choosing potential players. He knows they’ll all be dying to take part in his citywide scavenger hunt by the time the big night arrives. Sure enough, that’s exactly what happens. The jocks piss off the sorority girls and the nerds. Harold’s father forces his shiftless son to play. Adam decides to participate at the behest of his assistant Laura (Clinger) who has a big crush on him. GAME ON!
Adam’s team also includes his friend Marvin (Damas) who provides their transportation (a yellow jeep) and Flynch (Kenney), shy student he’s been counseling. Later, his troubled younger brother Scott (a pre-Family Ties Fox) joins in the fun. Harold’s team, tooling around in a supervan provided by his rich daddy, is quite a collection. They are Harold’s nagging girlfriend Lucille (Albrecht, the animated series Jem) who puts him on a diet before the game starts, dimwitted friends Barf (Frishman, Savage Streets) and Melio (Tennant, Grease 2) and Blade (Lopez), a switchblade brandishing Mexican-American who never speaks or smiles.
The game begins at sundown on a Friday. While each team races around L.A. trying to solve Leon’s clues, he remains back at his apartment monitoring their progress with short-wave radio equipment and a strategy board. His mean landlady Mrs. Grimhaus (Tedrow, Dennis the Menace) wants to evict him because of all the noise he makes. She says if she receives one more complaint, she’ll throw him out for good. The initially annoyed neighbors become fascinated with the game; some of them even end up helping out.
Meanwhile, there’s all manner of madness afoot in the City of Angels with the teams raising all manner of hell as they look for the finish line. Harold’s team tries to cheat to win by way of a supercomputer in the supervan. Of course, the fat dope destroys it when he tries to hide a bag of marshmallows from the prying eyes of his squealing girlfriend. The rivalry with Adam continues with Harold trying to sabotage him at every opportunity. Donna and co-captain Berle (Petty) have their hands full with giggling obese identical twins Peggy and Lulu (Betsy Lynn and Carol Gwynn Thompson). Let’s just say they’re easily distracted. The white team zips around on matching mopeds, using their intellect to solve the clues. The jocks bulldoze their way through the game, running over anyone that gets in their way.
Directed by Michael Nankin and David Wechter, Midnight Madness is a chaotic comedy in the spirit of It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. It finds time for serious stuff too like Adam’s broken relationship with Scott who only acts out to get his big brother’s attention. There’s also the relationship with Laura. Adam is obviously attracted to her as well, but is unable to express it. It looks like the counselor needs some counseling himself. It’s all pretty routine stuff that will all work out in the end.
Anyway, I like the whole anarchic spirit of Midnight Madness with the different characters running around L.A. creating chaos wherever they go. The actors do very well in their respective roles. Furst makes a great nasty fat guy; you would swear that he and Newman (from Seinfeld) were separated at birth. I like Naughton, also a disco singer who had a Top 5 hit with 1979’s “Makin’ It”, the theme from his short-lived sitcom of the same name.
Here’s an interesting trivia tidbit. In one scene, Naughton is shown drinking a bottle of Dr. Pepper. He starred in commercials for the popular soft drink in the late 70s. He danced his way through the ads singing “I’m a Pepper! Wouldn’t you like to be a Pepper too?” Like that? Here’s another. Debra Clinger, the actress who plays his love interest, might look familiar to those who watched Saturday morning shows circa 1976-78. That’s because she was Superchick from glam-pop group Kaptain Kool and the Kongs who hosted the Krofft Supershow. Remember them?
Midnight Madness is the second PG movie from Disney although their name does not appear in the credits. The studio felt it was too “adult” to release under their banner. It flopped upon release, receiving mostly bad reviews. It developed a small cult following when it started airing on cable circa 1985. That’s when I saw it for the first time. According to IMDb, Disney finally re-associated itself with the movie for its 2004 DVD release.
The truth is Midnight Madness is very funny. It’s often moronic with adult characters who engage in childish antics and idiotic behavior. Barf and Melio do a lot of the latter. They’re hilarious. I still giggle when Barf says “Fagabeefe” while attempting to figure out a clue. The scene outside Johnny’s Fat Boy Burgers is a riot. The cast is likable, even the baddies on the blue team. Keep a look out for familiar faces like Paul Reubens (aka Pee-wee Herman), Marvin Kaplan (Henry from the sitcom Alice), John Fiedler (voice of Piglet in Winnie the Pooh) and Loretta Clemens Tupper (the old lady from the Fruit of the Loom commercials). Leon’s hot assistants Candy and Sunshine are played by Deborah Richter (Hot Moves) and Kirsten Baker (Friday the 13th Part 2).
Midnight Madness is still one of my go-to funny movies. I’ll watch it when I need a good laugh at something completely mindless. I say that in a good way. Sometimes it’s just the right medicine for a really bad day. At least, that’s my theory. It’s interesting to watch it four decades after it was made and realize how much things have changed. I like doing that kind of thing. It’s nice to be transported back to a more innocent time. Take the airport scene, the teams run all over the place without attracting the attention of any security guards. After the events of 9/11, the NSA would be all over these people. Sorry, it’s just a minor insight I wanted to share. Not that Midnight Madness has any deep insights. It’s made to entertain and amuse, nothing more. On that level, it’s a winner!
BONUS TRIVIA TIDBIT: A little sad side note, actor Joel P. Kenney (he plays Flynch) is currently serving a life sentence in an Arizona penitentiary for sexual offenses against children. It’s the only sour note in an otherwise sweet and silly teen comedy.
