Into the Night

Buy This Item Into the Night by Goodtimes Home Video  Available from Amazon  $9.99  on 11-15-2008     While caught up in the scandal resulting from the accident on the set of <I>The Twilight Zone</I> movie that killed actor Vic Morrow and two children, director John Landis (<I>An American Werewolf in London</I>) made this manic nighttime L.A. thriller with rising stars Jeff Goldblum and Michelle Pfeiffer. Goldblum plays an office worker with a dead-end job, an unfaithful wife, and a bad, bad case of insomnia. Unable to sleep, his midnight wanderings take him to the L.A. airport, where beautiful jewel smuggler Pfeiffer literally lands on his car. Fleeing Iranian terrorists (one is played by Landis), the two hit the road, and their adventures lead them to murder, mayhem, one scary hit man (David Bowie in a lurid, terrific cameo), and, of course, romance. Perhaps because of--or in spite of--the turmoil going on in his life, Landis fashioned a film unlike any of his previous (or later) safe Hollywood products; this is inventive, darkly comic, sincerely romantic, and L.A.-style sultry all the way. Landis's greatest success is perhaps in the mood of the film: he manages to convey that weary, dreamlike insomnia feeling of adrenaline bordering on exhaustion. Goldblum is at his deadpan best and, despite a bad haircut and '80s wardrobe, Pfeiffer shows the spark and beauty that would later make her a star. In support of Landis during his time of trouble, numerous directors, including David Cronenberg, Paul Mazursky, Don Siegel, Jonathan Demme, Lawrence Kasdan, and Jim Henson, made cameo appearances. <I>--Mark Englehart</I> Reader Reviews This movie plays like a longer and much more boring episode of "Moonlighting," only without the humor, and with less of the glamour. Jeff Golblum is an insomniac electrical engineer with a boring job. Michelle Pfeiffer plays a mistress/good time girl who has smuggled some precious stones into the country for a friend. She meets up with Goldblum at the airport, as some middle-eastern-looking thugs are trying to kill her, and they are chased around L.A., from the Marina, to Hollywood, to Beverly Hills, to Malibu, etc. by various thugs of unknown identity and motivation. It isn't clear whether the filmmakers were trying to achieve comedy or suspense, but they achieved neither. The pacing is too slow. The plot grows more absurd and untenable with every passing minute. By the time you find out who is trying to kill them and why, you will have long since lost interest. I had started to fast forward. For me, as an Angeleno, comparing the way the city looked 23 years ago, as opposed to now, was interesting, but not nearly interesting enough. The other highlight is some brief nudity from the luminously beautiful, young Michelle Pfeiffer. But these don't make up for what is simply a bad, forgettable movie.

Into the Night Available from Amazon Price: $9.99 Updated on 11-15-2008.

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