Midnight Run

John Chard

@John Chard

Midnight Run 1988, the benchmark for the buddy buddy road movie.

The unsung DeNiro classic. The missing 80s masterpiece as regards everything coming together, and simply the best buddy buddy movie that, to me at least, has ever hit the screen.

De Niro & Grodin, there is no other duo in the genre that bounces off each other with the 100% joyful results we get here. They define the term dynamic duo. Director Martin Brest lets his actors do their thing, it is the sort of film where the cast are just happy to be working and use their talent to the max. Be it improv or visually acting in the back ground, both men are at one and in some chemistry zone.

The score from Danny Elfman is like some hybrid Western wacky races fusion, but hell it works well. One of Elfman's best ever scores in fact. The dialogue is electric, some of the script is so sharp it should be put away in a sharps box and labelled up as to be opened whilst wearing gloves. The rest of the cast are uniformly brilliant, be it the wonderful John Ashton as rival bounty hunter Marvin, the menacing yet cheekily attired Dennis Farina as mob boss Jimmy Serrano, or Yaphet Kotto as the constantly irritated FBI agent Alonso Mosely, it's pretty much a flawless cast in optimum gear.

The rating on the big movie sites, though high enough, is still a disgrace, I can only think that DeNiro fans really didn't want to see him doing a comedy? Well I say they are wrong! Because this film shows that the great man once had much to give the comedy/action splinter of film. Perhaps he just needed the perfect foil of Charles Grodin alongside him? Either way this film is smart, funny, even tender at times (I defy all to not be touched deeply during a daughter/father reunion).

It has no peers for an 80s action/comedy, with bags of action (Brest shows some great skills at action construction) to keep the pulses raised. A group of characters beautifully brought to life by a top draw cast, and a finale that gladdens the heart because it closes exactly the way it should, Midnight Run, my bias not withstanding, is a benchmark movie for its ilk.

Fistophobia for those that don't agree! 10/10

"Midnight Run" has a generous measure of wonderfully executed action sequences and comedy that is genuinely funny, although there is an extremely high reliance upon swearing and this will undoubtedly offend and alienate the more sensitive souls sitting out there in the audience. This is also a hugely entertaining film which contains a number of memorable Robert De Niro moments - he is fascinating to watch during the scene where he visits his ex-wife Gail to borrow some money (this, in turn, leads to a spectacularly awkward encounter with his daughter which eventually ends in embarrassing silence) and again when he finally comes face to face with Jimmy Serrano, an unwelcome face from his past - and the many locations look absolutely gorgeous.