Flick of The Day: Midnight Run

It may sound strange now but there was a time way back when, right about when Richard Nixon was "resigning the Presidency effective at noon tomorrow", when the buddy picture was not a cliche. Think back if you will before Die Hard with a Vengeance, before the Lethal Weapon canon, before Stir Crazy, before The Odd Couple even if you can think back that far, when the idea of putting two mismatched personality types together for the purposes of a two hour film was an original idea likely to have your average studio exec admitting "I Like it". The ultimate odd couple is of course the original and best, Laurel & Hardy. Throughout their long pairing across more then a few true classics such as Sons of The Desert and Flying Deuces, the chemistry and fundamentals remained unaltered. The larger then life Ollie who always end up in a "fine mess" or the child like Stan who always comes out alright in the end. Audiences loved the characters and the comedy came from the fact that they were this odd couple.

Now, as time wore on, Hollywood has had come up with numerous different "odd couples" to sustain the genre and produce laughs, sometimes with success and sometimes without (Rush Hour??). So we come to the picture which is the focus of today's blog, Midnight Run. Featuring as it does one of the finest screen actors of his era, Robert De Niro, in a rare comic role or should that be rare successful comic role as the tough guy bounty hunter, Jack Walsh.  A role in which he was effectively acting as the comic foil to the superb Charles Grodin as the runaway accountant, Jonathan "The Duke" Mardukas. This is a fine addition to the genre.

As with all such pictures, the success of failure rests on the back and forth between the two main protagonists. This delivers in spades with a fine script by George Gallo, the basic premise being part buddy comedy part road trip as Jack Walsh is offerred $100,000 to transport imbezzeler Mardukas from New York to Los Angeles in 5 days. Of course this is easier said then done and much hilarity ensues but to find out you have to watch the movie.
Apart from the two main leads, there is some very fine supporting work from Yapphet Kotto, Dennis Farina and particularly John Ashton, as a rival bounty hunter, perhaps best known for his role as Taggart in Beverly Hills Cop.
All in all, a fine film which I urge you to watch if you get the chance.