Midnight Run

Midnight Run
Theatrical poster
Directed by	Martin Brest
Produced by	Martin Brest
Written by	George Gallo
Starring	Robert De Niro Charles Grodin
Music by	Danny Elfman
Cinematography	Donald E. Thorin
Editing by	Chris Lebenzon Michael Tronick Billy Weber
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date(s)	July 20, 1988
Running time	126 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$30 million
Box office	$81.6 million

Midnight Run is a 1988 American action comedy film starring Robert De Niro (in his Golden Globe-nominated performance) as a bounty hunter and Charles Grodin as his prisoner. Yaphet Kotto, John Ashton, Dennis Farina, and Joe Pantoliano play supporting roles.

The film was followed by three made-for-TV movies produced in 1994, which did not feature any of the principal actors, although a few characters are carried over from the first film.

Plot

Jack Walsh (DeNiro), a bounty hunter, is given an assignment by bail bondsman Eddie Moscone (Pantoliano), who posted $450,000 bail for Jonathan “The Duke” Mardukas (Grodin), an accountant who embezzled $15 million from Chicago mobster Jimmy Serrano (Farina). Eddie asks Jack to bring The Duke back to L.A. within the next 5 days, or Eddie defaults and loses his business. Although Eddie thinks of this as a "midnight run," Jack demands $100,000 for the job. As Jack investigates The Duke's whereabouts, he is approached by FBI Special Agent Alonzo Mosely (Kotto), who wants The Duke to be a witness against Serrano and warns Jack not to interfere, but Jack takes no notice and instead discreetly pinches Mosely's ID. Later, in New York, Serrano’s henchmen Tony (Foronjy) and Joey (Miranda) offer Jack $1 million to turn The Duke over to them, but he turns them down.

Jack takes custody of The Duke and calls Eddie from the airport, not knowing that Eddie’s line is tapped by the FBI and Jerry (Kehoe), Eddie’s assistant, is secretly working for Serrano. When The Duke has a panic attack on the plane, Jack is forced to travel via train. When Jack and The Duke don’t show up, Eddie calls rival bounty hunter Marvin Dorfler (Ashton) to find them, conveniently offering him $25,000 and claiming to have offered Jack the same. Marvin uses Jack’s credit card number to find out where they are and then has the card canceled. Jack is able to get the drop on Marvin and leaves the train, but without funds, he is forced to rely on other means to get across the country, including stealing cars, borrowing his ex-wife’s (Phillips) car in Chicago, and hitchhiking.

The Duke tries to get to know Jack, suspecting he is a decent person. Jack reveals that he intends to retire with the $100,000 bounty to open his own coffee shop. He eventually reveals that in the past he had been an undercover officer trying to get close to Serrano. However, Serrano’s men in the Chicago police force outed him by planting heroin in his house; rather than taking money from Serrano to keep his mouth shut like other corrupt officers, Jack was forced to leave in disgrace and his personal life in shambles.

In Arizona, Marvin catches up with them and takes The Duke away from Jack, who is found by Mosely. When Jack calls Eddie and finds out that Marvin is not intending to turn The Duke over to him, he realizes that Marvin intends to turn The Duke over to Serrano in retribution for Eddie trying to cheat him. Jack calls Tony and bluffs that he has some computer disks that The Duke created with enough information to put Serrano away. In exchange for the disks, Jack will re-gain custody of The Duke. Marvin tries to get $2 million from Tony and Joey for The Duke, proving that he has him by showing them a photo he took of The Duke in a hotel bathroom. Seeing the name of the hotel in the photo, Tony, knocks Marvin out, and takes custody of The Duke himself. At McCarran Airport, Jack meets up with Serrano while wearing a wire and being watched by the FBI. Marvin, having come to the airport to fly home, spots The Duke and interrupts the exchange. Marvin punches Jack and unknowingly disables the wire. At the last minute, Jack yells that Serrano has the disks; the FBI closes in, arresting Serrano, his henchmen and Marvin. Jack takes custody of The Duke.

In L.A., Jack calls Eddie to tell him that he has The Duke, but that he is letting him go. Before parting, The Duke hands Jack his money belt with approximately $300,000. They part ways with the line “See you in the next life”, before The Duke disappears once again. Jack flags down a taxi; however, when he asks if the driver has change for $1,000, he is rebuffed, and opts to walk home.

Cast

• Robert De Niro as Jack Walsh
• Charles Grodin as Jonathan "The Duke" Mardukas
• Yaphet Kotto as Alonzo Mosely
• John Ashton as Marvin Dorfler
• Dennis Farina as Jimmy Serrano
• Joe Pantoliano as Eddie Moscone
• Richard Foronjy as Tony
• Robert Miranda as Joey
• Jack Kehoe as Jerry Geisler
• Wendy Phillips as Gail
• Danielle DuClos as Denise Walsh
• Philip Baker Hall as Sidney
• Tom McCleister as Bill "Red" Wood

Production

After completing The Untouchables, De Niro wanted to try something different and decided on appearing in a comedy.^[1] He pursued the lead role in Penny Marshall's film, Big.^[1] Marshall was interested but the studio was not and the role went to Tom Hanks. Martin Brest, who directed Beverly Hills Cop, had developed a script with George Gallo that blended elements of comedy and action.^[1] Paramount Pictures was originally interested in backing Midnight Run, but they wanted a big name star opposite De Niro in order to improve the film's chances at the box office.^[1] Their production executives suggested that the Mardukas character be changed to a woman and wanted Cher for the role in the hope she would provide some "sexual overtones".^[1] When Brest rejected the idea, Paramount suggested teaming De Niro up with Robin Williams, who became eager to get the role and offered to audition for Brest.^[1] However, Brest was impressed by Charles Grodin's audition with De Niro. The director felt that there was a real chemistry between the two actors. As a result, Paramount backed out and their UIP partner Universal Studios became interested in the project.^[1] Paramount president Ned Tanen claimed that the budget became too high and he decided that "it wasn't worth it".^[2]

To research for his role, De Niro worked with real-life bounty hunters and police officers.^[3] As Jack uncuffs the Duke on the train, the Duke says, "Thanks, 'cause they're starting to cut into my wrists.'" In fact, Grodin has permanent scars resulting from the handcuffs he had to wear for most of the film.^[4] In the scene where Grodin fell off a cliff, it was shot on location in the Verde River in Clarkdale, Arizona and the conclusion, taking place in rapids, was shot in New Zealand because the water was too cold in Arizona.^[5]

Universal invested $15 million in a print and television advertising campaign.^[2]

Soundtrack

The film's score was composed by Danny Elfman, with the album released by MCA Records.

1. Walsh Gets The Duke (1:47)
2. Main Titles (2:21)
3. Stairway Chase (:54)
4. J.W. Gets a Plan (1:41)
5. Gears Spin I (:54)
6. Dorfler's Theme (1:24)
7. F.B.I. (1:16)
8. Package Deal (1:07)
9. Mobocopter (2:42)
10. Freight Train Hop (1:18)
11. Drive To Red's (1:04)
12. In The Next Life (1:06)
13. The River (1:19)
14. The Wild Ride (1:31)
15. Amarillo Dawn (:26)
16. Potato Walk (1:09)
17. Desert Run (1:09)
18. Diner Blues (1:19)
19. Dorfler's Problem (1:01)
20. Gear's Spin II (1:30)
21. The Confrontation (2:30)
22. The Longest Walk (1:32)
23. Walsh Frees The Duke (2:44)
24. End Credits: "Try to Believe" - Mosley & The B-Men (4:16)

Note: The end credits track as heard in the film is instrumental.

Reaction

Box office

Midnight Run was released on July 20, 1988 in 1,158 theaters grossing USD $5.5 million in its opening weekend. It went on to make $38.4 million in North America and $43.2 million in the rest of the world for a worldwide total of $81.6 million.^[6]

Reviews

Film critic Roger Ebert gave the film 3.5 out of 4 stars and wrote, "What Midnight Run does with these two characters is astonishing, because it's accomplished within the structure of a comic thriller ... It's rare for a thriller to end with a scene of genuinely moving intimacy, but this one does, and it earns it."^[7] In his review for the Globe and Mail, Jay Scott praised the performances: "De Niro has the time of his acting life lightening up and sending up all those raging bulls that won him all those Oscars ... Charles Grodin, master of the double-take and maestro of the slow burn, the best light character comic since Jack Benny stopped playing himself".^[8] Vincent Canby, in his review for the New York Times, wrote, "Mr. De Niro and Mr. Grodin are lunatic delights, which is somewhat more than can be said for the movie, whose mechanics keep getting in the way of the performances".^[9] In his review for the Washington Post, Hal Hinson criticized director Martin Brest for, "carrying the dead weight of George Gallo's script, Brest isn't up to the strenuous task of transforming his uninspired genre material in something deeper, and so the attempts to mix pathos with comedy strike us merely as wild and disorienting vacillations in tone".^[10] David Ansen, in his review for Newsweek, wrote, "The outline of George Gallo's script -- odd-couple antagonists become buddies under perilous circumstances -- was stale five years ago, and the outcome offers no surprises. Too bad: a lot of good work has been wasted on an unworthy cause".^[11] Midnight Run has a 96% rating at Rotten Tomatoes.^[12]

Sequels

TV

• Another Midnight Run
• Midnight Runaround
• Midnight Run for Your Life

Proposed second film

Universal Pictures has hired Tim Dowling to write a sequel with Robert De Niro reprising his role as Jack Walsh. In addition to starring, the actor will also be producing the film with Jane Rosenthal. Charles Grodin may be reprising his role.^[13]

See also

• List of American films of 1988

References

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Midnight Run

• Midnight Run at the Internet Movie Database
• Midnight Run at AllRovi
• Midnight Run at Rotten Tomatoes
• Midnight Run at Box Office Mojo
• Midnight Run at Metacritic