Here Come Two Words For You

Caught part of Midnight Run (1988) on cable recently and it reminded me how much I enjoyed it when it saw it years ago.  It's one of the roughly 700 Hollywood "buddy movies" done in the 1980s.

What makes it stand out from most of those films is the inspired casting of Robert DeNiro and Charles Grodin as the odd buddies.  DeNiro is all about tension and anger; as Grodin says to him in the film "you have two forms of expression, silence and rage".  In contrast, Grodin is one of the best underreacting actors ever.  He does most of his "acting" with his eyes - lots of the time nothing else is moving.

The plot's simple.  DeNiro is a down on his luck ex-cop and bounty hunter who is sent to find the accountant (Grodin) who stole the mob's money and has now jumped bail.

The supporting cast is also excellent: Dennis Farina as the mob boss (a role he's nailed in many films), Yaphet Kotto as the somewhat bemused FBI guy,  John Ashton as a rival bounty hunter (you know him from the Beverly Hills Cop movies) and Joe Pantoliano as the bail bondsman (a role that mostly calls for yelling into the telephone). Lots of funny dialogue throughout the film.

You can find out where the title for this post comes from by watching this short clip all the way to the end.


And here's the trailer for the film:
>