Themes: Bounty Hunters, Cons and Scams, Class Differences
Main Cast: Robert De Niro, Charles Grodin, Yaphet Kotto, John Ashton, Dennis Farina
Release Year: 1988
Country: US
Run Time: 125 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
Director Martin Brest, of Going in Style and Beverly Hills Cop fame, was in charge of Midnight Run. Robert De Niro stars as Jack Walsh, a hard-bitten bounty hunter offered $100,000 to bring in embezzler Jonathan Mardukas (Charles Grodin). Handcuffed to the wimpy Mardukas, Walsh assumes that the extradition trip from New York to Los Angeles will be an uneventful one. But the prisoner hasn't told Walsh the whole story: the embezzler owes $15 million to a mobster (Dennis Farina), and he's been targeted for assassination. It's a toss-up as to what is the most entertaining aspect of Midnight Run: the slam-bang action and chase sequences or the verbal byplay between DeNiro and Grodin. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
A delightful fusion of a 1980s buddy picture and a wacky Odd Couple-style comedy, Midnight Run's mixture of action and comedy probably most resembles Arthur Hiller's 1979 road comedy The In-Laws. The success of both films depends on the interplay and chemistry between the two bickering leads, in this instance, Robert De Niro and Charles Grodin. Grodin had long been a comic actor of some acclaim (Heaven Can Wait), but this was De Niro's first mainstream comedy, and he acquitted himself admirably as the irascible bounty hunter sent to pick up Grodin's white-collar embezzler. Working from a clever script by George Gallo, director Martin Brest captures the precise levels of comedy and action that made his prior film, Beverly Hills Cop, such a hit. In Midnight Run, however, Brest allows complex characters to emerge from the set-up, and the film is all the better for the results. De Niro would continue to explore his comic side, to generally positive results, in films such as We're No Angels, Mad Dog and Glory, Wag the Dog, and Analyze This. ~ Brendon Hanley, All Movie Guide
Joe Pantoliano - Eddie Moscone; Richard Foronjy - Tony Darvo; Robert Miranda - Joey; Jack Kehoe - Jerry Geisler; John Toles-Bey - Monroe Bouchet; Fran Brill - Dana Mardukas; Danielle Du Clos - Denise; Lou Felder - Airline Pilot; Mary Gillis - Bus Ticket Clerk; Thomas J. Hageboeck - Sgt. Gooch; Philip Baker Hall - Sidney; John Hammil - FBI Surveillance Agent; Tom Irwin - FBI Agent Perry; Bob Maroff - L.A. Taxi Driver; Tom McCleister - Red Wood; Cameron Milzer - Stewardess; Frank Pesce - Carmine; Wendy Phillips - Gail; Lois Smith - Mrs. Nelson; Robert Vento - Serrano Bodyguard; Tracey Walter - Diner Counter Man; Jimmie Ray Weeks - FBI Agent Tuttle; Stanley White - Stanley; Dale Beard, Jr. - Native American; Rowdy Burdick - Las Vegas FBI Agent; Andy Charnoki - Flagstaff Sheriff; Bill Fritz - Bar Customer; Michael D. Gainsborough - FBI Surveillance Agent; Richard Gonzalez - Bar Cashier; Matt Jennings - Jason; Pete Jensen - Flagstaff Police Captain; Varnoy Lee - Airport Porter; Linda Margules - Car Rental Clerk; Scott McAfee - Boy on Plane; Paul Joseph McKenna - Ohio Policeman; Armando Muniz - Serrano Bodyguard; Rosemarie Murphy - Coffee Shop Waitress; Wilfred Netsosie - Native American; Thomas Nez - Native American; Jim Portese - Serrano Bodyguard; Sonia M. Roberts - Stewardess; Sam Sanders - Train Porter; Dan York - Las Vegas FBI Agent; Jack N. Young - Amarillo Desk Sergeant; Joe "Tippy" Zeoli - Serrano Bodyguard; Robert Coleman - Native American; William Robbins - Native American
Credit
James Murakami - Art Director, Dan York - Associate Producer, Michael Chinich - Casting, Gloria Gresham - Costume Designer, Jerry Ziesmer - First Assistant Director, Bill Elvin - First Assistant Director, Martin Brest - Director, Glenn H. Randall, Jr. - Second Unit Director, Chris Lebenzon - Editor, Michael Tronick - Editor, Billy Weber - Editor, William S. Gilmore - Executive Producer, Danny Elfman - Composer (Music Score), Dan Striepeke - Makeup, Frank Griffin - Makeup, Angelo P. Graham - Production Designer, Astral Bellevue Pathe Color - Cinematographer, Donald Thorin - Cinematographer, Martin Brest - Producer, Peter Kelly - Set Designer, George R. Nelson - Set Designer, Roy Arbogast - Special Effects, James R. Alexander - Sound/Sound Designer, Glenn H. Randall, Jr. - Stunts, Mario Roberts - Stunts, Pete Antico - Stunts, Glenn H. Randall, Jr. - Stunts Coordinator, George Gallo - Screenwriter, John M. Stephens - Second Unit Director Of Photography
