{"id":9414,"date":"2024-11-30T11:55:06","date_gmt":"2024-11-30T16:55:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=9414"},"modified":"2024-11-30T11:55:06","modified_gmt":"2024-11-30T16:55:06","slug":"midnight-run-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2024\/11\/30\/midnight-run-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Midnight Run"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Midnight Run<\/strong> (1988)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Universal\/Action-Comedy\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 126 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (language, violence, drug references)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Martin Brest\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: George Gallo\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Danny Elfman\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Donald E. Thorn\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: July 20, 1988 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Robert De Niro, Charles Grodin, Yaphet Kotto, John Ashton, Dennis Farina, Joe Pantoliano, Richard Foronjy, Robert Miranda, Jack Kehoe, Wendy Phillips, Danielle DuClos, Philip Baker Hall, Tom McCleister, Mary Gillis.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Box Office: $38.4M (US)\/$81.6M (World)<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: ****<\/p>\n

\u00a0After the mega-success of Beverly Hills Cop, director Martin Brest went on to make Midnight Run<\/strong>, a funny and exciting action-comedy starring Robert De Niro (The Untouchables) and Charles Grodin (Seems Like Old Times) as an odd couple trying to survive a cross-country trip. Although it sounds like just another road trip flick, I assure you it\u2019s NOT. It\u2019s actually great fun. Brest manages the tricky feat of sticking to formula without making it formulaic. The brilliant pairing of De Niro and Grodin plays a huge role in the movie\u2019s success.<\/p>\n

\u00a0De Niro plays Jack Walsh, an ex-cop turned bounty hunter tasked with bringing mob accountant Jonathan \u201cThe Duke\u201d Mardukas (Grodin) back to L.A. from New York where he fled after jumping bail. He has only five days to complete the job, described as a \u201cMidnight Run\u201d (an easy job), or else the bondsman Eddie (Pantoliano, Risky Business) forfeits the bail money.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Finding Duke is no problem; it\u2019s getting him back to L.A. that\u2019s a challenge. He\u2019s wanted by several other parties as well. An FBI team, led by Special Agent Alonzo Mosley (Kotto, Alien), wants him to rat out his criminal associates including mob boss Jimmy Serrano (Farina, Manhunter). Serrano is after Duke for embezzling $15 million of his money. Of course, he sends two incompetent goons who keep screwing up. Also, rival bounty hunter Marvin Dorfler (Ashton, Beverly Hills Cop) keeps trying to snatch the Duke from Jack.<\/p>\n

\u00a0So it is that Jack and Duke make their way from sea to shining sea by plane, train, bus and automobile. They run into trouble at every turn with feds, hoods, cops and other disasters like cancelled credit cards and an unscheduled swim in a river. As per formula, the two men can\u2019t stand each other at first. Duke continually gets on Jack\u2019s nerves with his fussy ways, unsolicited advice and personal questions. Jack always seems to be on the verge of belting his prisoner. Along the way, they discover they have more in common than they think. Namely, they both see themselves as more ethical than the system that failed them. They eventually come to respect and like each other although that doesn\u2019t stop Duke from trying to give Jack the slip.<\/p>\n

\u00a0It can\u2019t be just me that thinks a majority of today\u2019s movies are the equivalent of iceberg lettuce, empty calories. When they\u2019re over, I\u2019m left with a hollow feeling. Even the good ones have this effect. I know I didn\u2019t feel this way back in the day. As I watched Midnight Run<\/strong> the other night, I remembered how much I enjoyed it when I took a lady friend to see it on a Saturday night back in summer \u201888. I enjoyed it just as much when I saw it a second time with a different girl a couple of weeks later. 36 years later, I still LOVE it! Its laughs come from a real place NOT some dumb manufactured situation. Take the running gag about Jack impersonating an FBI agent with Moseley\u2019s stolen ID. It never once feels contrived or overused. If anything, it\u2019s consistently funny. The action is legitimately exciting with the chases, shoot-outs and one scene involving a helicopter. There\u2019s even a bit of drama with a scene of Jack paying a visit to his estranged family- ex-wife (Phillips, Airplane II: The Sequel) and 14YO daughter (DuClos, Signs of Life)- in Chicago.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The screenplay by George Gallo (29th<\/sup> Street) is extremely well written. Midnight Run <\/strong>could have been another tired mismatched partner\/road trip movie, but Gallo deftly avoids that pitfall by making his two main characters specific individuals rather than mere types- e.g. angry cop and annoying fussbudget. What a pair they are! The chemistry shared by De Niro and Grodin is best described as brilliant. De Niro, in one of his best comic performances, goofs on his mad, raging bull image while Grodin brings his trademark slow-burn style to the game. One\u2019s a volcano ready to erupt; the other is a sea of calm. Their banter is always spot-on. The rest of the cast is great too, especially Farina as the vengeful mob boss. It\u2019s a role the late actor played many times. Ashton is hilarious as Jack\u2019s chief rival, a man with cement for brains.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Modern filmmakers should look to Midnight Run<\/strong> as an example of how to do a summer movie right. It\u2019s perfect for a night out at the cinema when it\u2019s too hot to stay home and watch TV. It\u2019s solid entertainment on every level.\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Midnight Run (1988)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Universal\/Action-Comedy\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 126 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (language, violence, drug references)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Martin Brest\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: George Gallo\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Danny Elfman\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Donald E. Thorn\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: July 20, 1988 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Robert De Niro, Charles Grodin, Yaphet Kotto, John Ashton, Dennis Farina, Joe Pantoliano, Richard Foronjy, Robert Miranda, Jack Kehoe, Wendy Phillips, Danielle […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9575,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9414","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-action-adventure","category-thats-some-funny-stuff"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Midnight-Run-PIC.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9414","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9414"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9414\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9577,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9414\/revisions\/9577"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9575"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9414"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9414"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9414"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}