I first saw Night Moves in a fancy theatre in downtown London during an extended visit to the UK in 1975. I reveled in the irony of watching a movie set in Southern California, New Mexico, and Florida in woody old England. I still do.
Night Moves is perhaps the best neo-noir ever made. It was definitely one of the best films of 1975 but it’s always been underrated. Snooty film critics tend to downgrade pictures about private eyes nosing about Los Angeles. Such movies, of course, are my jam, so Night Moves remains a favorite.
Night Moves tells the story of shamus and former NFL player Harry Moseby played by Gene Hackman. He’s having an extended mid-life crisis: His antiques dealer wife played by Susan Clark is cheating on him and he’s not sure he digs being a detective even though he’s good at it. Self-doubt is mandatory for private eyes and characters in New Hollywood films.
Hackman is hired by a woman to find her teenage daughter. The teenybopper is played by Melanie Griffith in her first major screen role. It was a helluva way to start her film career.
Hackman bounces around Los Angeles and the New Mexico desert in his Melanie quest. He meets a series of sleazy characters who might know the whereabouts of the missing girl including a creepy mechanic played by creepy Trumper James Woods:
Hackman gets a lead from a friend who’s a movie stunt pilot played by the fine character actor Edward Binns.
Hackman’s Melanie quest takes him to Florida and back then back again. That’s where he finds the submerged plane shown at the top of the post as well as extreme danger. What’s a neo-noir shamus film without extreme danger?
Being a New Hollywood movie, Night Moves does not have a happy ending although there’s some improvement in Hackman’s marriage after he confronts Clark, Harris Yulin, and his cat:
That’s all the plot I’m willing to share. This feature is called pulp fiction, not pulp spoilers, after all. Suffice it to say that Night Moves tells a diabolically clever story that’s well-worth 100 minutes of your time.
The acting is uniformly excellent. Hackman gives a typically great performance as the world weary Harry. He’s ably supported by Griffith, Clark, Binns, Yulin, and Jennifer Warren.
Arthur Penn directs Night Moves with panache and verve ably assisted by cinematographer Bruce Surtees and screenwriter Alan Sharp. One could even call it a sharp movie, it’s surely sharper than that pun.
Grading Time: I give Night Moves 4 stars and an Adrastos grade of A. It’s a stone cold classic. As you’ll see at the end of the post Night Moves landed at number one on my Gene Hackman Dozen.
A quick note about the title and pop culture. American Graffiti inspired Bob Seger’s 1976 hit song Night Moves, not the Hackman classic. Oh well, what the hell.
We move from rock song and plane crash chatter to posters and such.
Here’s a side-by-side snapshot of the American and German long sheets:
As usual, I prefer the quad posters to the long sheets. The ones online are often from the UK, which is where my mind goes when contemplating this Hackman-Penn flick.
I’m feeling a bit seasick after the scenes in the Florida keys. Let’s all go to the lobby to see if they have any antacids.
I guess the Mylanta moved to Atlanta. I can’t even take care of bismuth with some pink stuff. All we can do is ponder and peruse the lobby cards.
Susan Clark’s character had a type. Slap a mustache on Harris Yulin’s face and he resembles Hackman. He’s a helluva actor as well.
Hackman spends much of the movie wet and dirty:
Hackman gets out of this alive albeit wet and dirty. His default look in the movie.
Let’s clean up and check out the trailer:
The penultimate word goes to frenemies and TCM hosts Eddie Muller and Ben Mankiewicz:
The last word goes to my Gene Hackman Dozen posted after his death last year.
- Night Moves
- The Royal Tenenbaums
- The Conversation
- Bonnie and Clyde
- The French Connection
- Unforgiven
- Get Shorty
- Hoosiers
- Mississippi Burning
- No Way Out
- Absolute Power
- Superman
That is all.