Happy 25th birthday, Midnight Run!
Actually, it’s Happy Belated Birthday.
But I still have to write (again) about one of my favorite movies of all time, “Midnight Run”, in honor of its 25th birthday, which occurred a few months ago.
On paper, there’s nothing about the movie I should like. It’s a buddy/action movie, a genre that’s not my style at all. It stars Robert De Niro in a comic role, and although I think he’s a great actor I don’t think comedy tends to be his best genre. His sidekick is the obnoxious Charles Grodin. And every other word is the f-word, and I mean almost literally every other word.
But it’s wildly entertaining, side-splittingly funny, surprisingly suspenseful, and genuinely moving. Not only are both De Niro and Grodin superb (as is the late Dennis Farina as a villain who manages to be both funny and chillingly frightening in equal measure), but so is every other actor and actress in the film, no matter how small the part. I’d say the script is great, too, except I’ve just learned that many of the best bits were improvised.
Here’s a medley of short clips:
I don’t know how much sense that made if you weren’t already familiar with the whole movie. But if you haven’t seen it, you should. And even if you have, it just might be a good time to watch it again.
Yup. Great movie. I’ve said it before when you talked about it and I’m saying it again.
Actually, shouldn’t it be “Belated Happy Birthday”?
It’s my understanding that Grodin stayed ‘in character’ all of the way through the shoot!
So much so that De Niro was irritated at every turn.
The director stood behind Grodin — as it was quickly obvious that De Niro was benefiting from such an act.
A similar stunt was behind Beau Geste. Ray Milland actually attacked Brian Donlevy at the end of the shoot — with the Hollywood sword! Being dulled, Donlevy only received a minor wound — but still needed medical attention.
Donlevy apologized for riding Milland so hard during the shoot. And then informed Milland that it was a gambit pushed by the director, Wellman; who was widely known to be a bastard director. His films are classics, but for the actors he was hell on the set.
The sword attack is actually in the film. Look for it at the end. Donlevy takes it in the armpit. It’s his death scene.
Damn. If I’d known about the anniversary, I’d ordered up some chorizo and eggs at the local cafe.
Great cast from top to bottom. Farina was great, Yaphet Kotto was great, Ashton, Pantoliano, right down the list.
I can’t remember another film where, in the middle of the mad-cap pace, rapid-fire jokes and carpet f-bombing, one can suddenly be tearing up over a father’s awkward reunion with the teenage daughter he hasn’t seen in years. That they took that risk, smack-dab in the middle of the movie, and pulled it off so well, still amazes me.
Older and Wheezier:
That scene with the daughter is one of my favorites in the whole movie. Incredible acting, incredibly moving, and it’s such a relatively short scene.
Saw it then. Once was enough.
I used to watch this over and over again myself. Has it really been 25 years?
I’ve watched that movie more times than any other movie. Last time I saw it was last Christmas—my daughter gave it to me as a present and we watched it together. I think I’ll go watch it again—after I give my daughter a call.
One of the all-time greats, along with “Raising Arizona” (One of the Coen brothers’ earliest, all of which are very fine).