Night Moves (1975)

As Good As It Gets

Wow! What a bizarre film! Unfortunately the few funny moments there were were quite overshadowed by it's completely weird and random vibe throughout.

The acting in this movie is really good.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Screenwriter Alan Sharp's 'homage' to 1940s film noir is really just an extension of the hard-boiled detective numbers Paul Newman and Frank Sinatra gave us in the '60s, except "Harper" and "Tony Rome" were a whole lot livelier. Gene Hackman plays Harry Moseby, a modern-day private eye in Los Angeles who is hired by a former-actress to find her runaway 16-year-old daughter. Moseby, a frizzy-haired workaholic who is suddenly distracted by his wife's infidelity, finds the girl living with her stepfather down in the Florida Keys...where he also comes upon a submerged smuggler's plane and a dead body. Hackman is reunited with his "Bonnie and Clyde" director, Arthur Penn, but neither does first-rate work here; Sharp's facetious script (strewn with unfunny 'witty' dialogue, uncomfortable sexual underpinnings and colorless character exposition) doesn't provide us with an involving scenario--and the segues back to Hackman's troubled marriage to Susan Clark seem perfunctory. Penn manages to stage an exciting climax on the water, but he can't iron out the central character's inner-turmoil, and Hackman's work is peculiarly undistinguished. ** from ****

If you're a detective, you should know about the clues, and wrap it up. In "Night Moves", it's not that simple. Gene Haman plays Los Angeles detective Harry Moseby. A P.I. who was once a football player who is assigned to retrieve a runaway (Melanie Griffith)from Florida. A simple job to do, right? Wrong. While in Florida, more mysteries are uncovered which makes the daughter want to go back to her mother. Once that mission was done, he goes on to the next assignment. However, he's not happy about what he has done. After discovering the downed plane in Florida, and meeting the mechanic(James Woods) earlier. After returning Delly (Griffith) to her mom, she is killed in a stunt car accident. Moseby heads back to Florida, only to find the mechanic dead in the water. Paula(Jennifer Warren) who tends the dolphins, explained what is in the plane. She and Tom were dealing with artifacts. One of them is worth a lot of money. Manipulation seems to be the key of this. This movie is like playing a game of chess, which I don't mind playing. Talk about a mystery. A rare gem. Need to watch. A also a keeper. 4.5 out of 5 stars.

Much Admired Neo-Noir from Director Arthur Penn and Starring Gene Hackman and a Very Young and Very Nude Melanie Griffith in Her First Credited Performance. It is a Murky Looking Film with a Murky Plot. Almost All of the Movies from the Early Seventies Look Murky Even when there is No Attempt at Such a Style.But Here it is Murked Up On Purpose with Shots within Shots Behind Curtains and Dirty Glass and Anything Else On Hand that can be Put In Front of the Camera to Symbolize, well, Murkiness. Because in a Noir Things are Never Very Clear and in This One it Never Really Is.Hackman's Private Eye isn't the Most Observant or the Best Private Eye, He is Average at Best and Seems to be Struggling Most of the Time with Character's Motivations and Behavior. He Looks Perpetually Puzzled as the Film Unreels to Reveal the Intricacies of the Plot, and Intricate it is.The Movie is Off Center and Uses its Locations of Hollywood and Florida for Background Contrast where Nasty Stuff is Happening and Nasty People, Who Appear on the Surface to be Friendly, but Are They? Harry Never Seems to Know Who is Who and Which is Which and What is What.There are a Number of Side Characters and Side Plots as this Dense and Deliberately Dower Drama Unfolds. It is a Fascinating Film at Times, Well Written and Acted, the Set Designs are Realistic, Cluttered, and Frumpled. Arthur Penn's Direction is Busy and Ballsy. A Shortcoming May Be the Awful Underscoring. The Ending is Pure Noir.

Night Moves is not a bad film. It's actually quite good. It is also off-beat and a just a little bit odd but not quirky. It is not hard to figure out why a young girl has run away from home when we see her mother, a washed up, alcoholic living in the Hollywood Hills. What is odd is trying to figure out the relationship between her, her stepfather and his girlfriend in the Florida Keys where she has gone to live. It is hinted that the stepfather is not just a stepfather. Even stranger is Jennifer Warren's odd, abrupt, salty behavior in the film and the the strange dialog written for her. At one point, Gene Hackman even tells her he is tired of her "ping-pong talk". Was that written for the benefit of the audience or did he improvise? I felt puzzled by much of her performance.It is also painful, really painful to watch Gene Hackman's wife struggle with their relationship and her learning new things about her husband. Yes, a strange, strange little film. The acting is almost too revealing. I can't quite wrap my brain around the whole thing. I think it will be appreciated by fans of films from the 70's.