Cinemateca has devoted much of its programming to US cinema this year. Here is another minor Hollywood classic. A film which is entirely constructed around character sees De Niro give one of his finest performances as a disenchanted bounty hunter, and Grodin almost upstage him as the crooked accountant De Niro has to take from NY to LA in order to collect his reward. Grodin’s performance is a thing of quiet beauty. Whereas in most buddy movies, there’s a testosterone rivalry, Grodin exudes a world-weary anti-masculinity. He is, we are told, a good guy, who stole from the mob to give to charity. This marks him out as a maverick, but his performance goes further than this, as though his character is almost actively working against the genre he’s found himself in. He thinks before he speaks. He’s quiet spoken, insistent, even whiny. He has a confidence which has nothing to do with his physical strength. He could be a character out of a Wenders’ movie. The contrast with De Niro’s typical wisecracking boludo is beautiful, and as a result the movie is far more than the sum of its action and comedic parts. There’s a sensitivity which helps it to transcend the genre, to speak about the problems of masculinity and what friendship really means.
As an aside, Brest’s career is an anomaly. He only directed seven features, including this one and the hits Beverly Hills Cop, Meet Joe Black and Scent of a Woman. Those films were made over the course of over twenty years, meaning he was far from prolific. His career appears to have died with Gigli, a Lopez-Affleck flop. Watching Midnight Run it seems surprising he only made three more movies, but perhaps this also speaks to the qualities of Gallo’s ingenious script.
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