“Midnight Run” (1988) is a classic not-too-serious road actioner featuring tough guys and tough talk. You can watch it without feeling queasy aftereffects, despite its plethora of swearing (Joe Pantoliano’s bond agent Eddie complains that he’s been told to go f*** himself twice in one day) and violence (Charles Grodin’s Jon gets knocked out a dangerous number of times).
Everything about the movie is formulaic and obvious, but that doesn’t work against the fact that this is a touching story of an odd-couple friendship.
Consistent laughs
And it’s consistently hilarious. Written by George Gallo (“Bad Boys”) and directed by Martin Brest (“Beverly Hills Cop”), “Midnight Run” is packed with great dialog without trying too hard with set-ups or set pieces.
The chemistry between Grodin’s white-collar criminal Jonathan “The Duke” Mardukas and Robert De Niro’s ex-cop bounty hunter Jack Walsh never stops being funny. They are both straight men to the unusual nature of their relationship – forced together only for the sake of cross-country transportation as Jack aims to deliver The Duke to Eddie.
Both actors crisply draw their characters. Grodin is good at scrunchy facial expressions as the former mob accountant aims to work through the psychology of Jack’s focus on the payout rather than moral rightness.
De Niro nicely plays off of his partner, something he’d forget how to do with Sean Penn in David Mamet’s “We’re No Angels” (1989), where he almost literally mugs for the camera. Jack is tough but human, not a parody.
We quickly figure out the formula of Jack being annoyed by Jon, and the mildly agoraphobic Jon being alarmed by the next step in their journey (he fears flying, for instance). But that only makes us happily anticipate their next exchange. Indeed, when they’re traveling on a freight train like hobos toward the end of this exhausting cross-country trek, Jon mimics both sides of their now predictable conversation roles, as Jack has decided he’s done talking.
Fun with cop, crime stereotypes
The similarly great, similarly plotted “Planes, Trains and Automobiles” came out the previous year. But there are enough differences that this feels fresh; for one, “Midnight Run” is in the cops-and-crime genre, from where it draws its humorously stereotypical supporting characters.
Big man Yaphet Kotto (“Alien”) is the FBI’s Mosely, whose “one-liners” sometimes consist of staring down underlings who make dumb comments. Dennis Farina positions his a**h*** meter at an 8 out of 10 to play mob boss Serrano, who tells his henchmen the specific ways in which he’ll kill them if they fail.
The aforementioned Joey Pants’ Eddie works the phone from his sloppy bond office. Eddie’s only weapons for urging Jack back to the L.A. office are 1, harsh language (but Jack is his match), and 2, second-rate bounty hunter Dorfler (“Beverly Hills Cop’s” John Ashton).
High points for Gallo, Brest
Gallo’s dialog sings as everyone tries to get their hands on The Duke, who had Robin-Hood-ed money from Serrano. But it’s not all that quotable of a movie, because the conversations flow with Mametian smoothness rather than being capped by zingers. Still, scene-ending smash cuts after a biting line often make things funnier.
Among the writer’s work, “Bad Boys” is more celebrated (in part because it’s a franchise), but its screenplay isn’t as nearly good as “Midnight Run’s.” (Weirdly, the latter is actually a franchise too, but the three 1994 made-for-TV sequels – featuring Jack and other supporting players, but no returning actors — are not well known or regarded.)
It’s also Brest’s shining moment, even though “Beverly Hills Cop” is more popular.
“Midnight Run” falls a tad short of full marks. Its action and fights are not spectacular. When someone delivers a knockout punch, it looks fake. A police car chase through the desert is more absurdly funny than tense, because it’s not necessary for the cops to go all-out like they do. Other travelogue films have more striking senses of place. And the film is a little long for having such a spelled-out plot.
But little flaws don’t matter in “Midnight Run,” where De Niro, Grodin and the ride are so much fun.