Midnight Run (1988)
Directed by Martin Brest

Film Review

Robert De Niro's most successful attempt at a comedy to date, Midnight Run effortlessly blends together several popular genres - road movie, buddy movie, action film, gangster thriller - and the result is easily one of the most satisfying action comedies of the 1980s.  De Niro is on cracking form as he delivers a subtle but astute parody of his former tough guy roles, and the chemistry between him and his co-star Charles Grodin is so perfect that you wish you could bottle it.  Martin Brest, whose other hits include Beverly Hills Cop (1984) and Scent of a Woman (1992), directs the film with unflagging energy and flair, and there isn't a single dull moment in the film's generous two hour runtime.

The plot may be a tad formulaic, most of the secondary characters may be no more than two-dimensional caricatures, but this hardly matters, such is the gusto and panache with which Brest drives the film along, the meat and soul of the film existing primarily in the developing rapport between the two central protagonists.  There is a genuine warmth to De Niro and Charles Grodin's portrayals and, despite the chalk and cheese nature of their characters, you genuinely believe in the friendship that grows in the course of their wild escapade as they cross America by practically every form of transport available to them.  After its frantic roller-coaster peregrinations, the film's touching ending takes you by surprise and leaves you longing for a sequel.  A quarter of century on, it looks as if that sequel may become a reality, with De Niro apparently signed up to reprise his role under the direction of Brett Ratner.

Film Synopsis

One-time cop Jack Walsh has turned bounty hunter after a run-in with Los Angeles mobster Jimmy Serrano, which robbed him of his career and his family.  Now he works for bail bondsman Eddie Moscone, who offers him 100,000 dollars to bring in Jonathan Mardukas, a whiz accountant who embezzled several million dollars whilst working for Serrano.  The FBI also want to get their hands on Mardukas, so that he can testify against his former employer.  Understandably, Serrano has no desire to spend the rest of his days in prison, so he sends his trigger-happy henchmen out to kill Mardukas.  Finding Mardukas is the easy part of the operation.  Getting him from New York to Los Angeles is more difficult.  When Mardukas says he has a phobia of flying, Walsh has no option but to continue their journey by train and by road.  This change of plan prompts Moscone to send another bounty hunter after them both.  Pursued by the FBI, Serrano's hired thugs and a rival bounty hunter who has absolutely no scruples, Walsh has his work cut out for him...