Midnight Run *****

After finishing the Untouchables, Robert DeNiro wanted to do a comedy, so he started to talk to Penny Marshall about the lead in a movie that she was about to start shooting called Big. I’ll pause here so you can read that again.

The director and actor were in serious discussions about this until the studio put the kybosh on it and the role went to Tom Hanks instead. DeNiro ended up taking the lead role in another comedy called Midnight Run.

I love these little near train-wrecks that clutter movie history. These stories go back to the times when directors had to carry firearms to defend their cameras from Edison men in the old silent days. For example, some brass at Warner Brothers actually threw out Ronald Reagan’s name for the role of Rick Blaine in Casablanca. That threat wasn’t as serious as the time George Raft was actually offered the Sam Spade role in Maltese Falcon. Raft turned that one down because he didn’t want to work with a rookie director (John Huston), so that role went to Bogart.

You can’t call DeNiro’s professional flirting with Penny Marshall on par with the two above referenced near disasters because I actually preferred Midnight Run even though Big might have been more profitable. I say might have because in all honesty I can’t even picture Big with DeNiro. It may have been the funniest movie of all time. I’m chuckling just thinking about it.

In this case, I’m glad we film gods intervened because in my opinion Midnight Run in one of the best comedies of the past 30 years. The best part about it is that its only positive attribute is that it is a damn entertaining film (god forbid, we have one of those). There’s no big message. There’s no theme. There’s barely even any character development. The two lead characters basically stay the same to the end. The only difference is that they change their opinion about each other.

The movie starts as a quick character study on a Monday morning of the down-and-out bounty hunter, Jack Walsh (DeNiro), who wears shabby clothes and works out of the dingy office. While there, DeNiro takes a call from a local bail bondsman, Eddie Moscone (the always marvelous Joe Pantoliano). Moscone wants Walsh to go find this guy Jonathan Mardukas (Charles Grodin), an accountant that embellezed $15 million from a Las Vegas mob boss, Jimmy Serrano. The payoff is $100,000 if Welsh can get Markdukas to Los Angeles by midnight on Friday. Moscone convinces Walsh that this will be a easy job, a “midnight run.” Of course, it’s not. Not only are the F.B.I., Serrano’s crew and a second bounty hunter that Moscone hired as insurance after Mardukas, but once Welsh catches the accountant in New York, he turns out to be a whiny, pompous, anal pain – perfect for a cross-country trip.

This scenerio provide a nice chance for some good chase sequences, but the crux of the movie is the non-stop banter between DeNiro and Grodin, who is perfect in these obnoxious rich guy roles. There were several phases to the ending which I won’t give away. Let’s just say the ending made sense and it worked.

Everything here just works. Sometimes having a director staying out of the way isn’t a bad thing. There are no frills here, no trick lighting or camera work. It’s just an entertaining movie.

Some critics make reference to DeNiro’s rare turn as a comedic actor, but Robert basically played it like he does all of his tough guy roles and let writer George Gallo’s lines do the work. Grodin does the same thing. The acting isn’t particularly noteworthy here. It’s just perfect casting.

Bogart once said after he won his Oscar that the Best Actor award is just a popularity contest and the only way to really compare acting chops is to have everyone take a turn as Hamlet. Well I’m sure Bogey would be great as the Danish prince, but I’ll take him as Rick Blaine, thank you. I’m also sure DeNiro would have been great dancing out chop sticks on a giant piano in a toy store, but I’ll take him in Midnight Run.

I’ll also take Grodin as the rich jerk. He was about the fourth choice for this role behind Robin Williams and Bruce Willis, who took the John McClain role in Die Hard after being turned down here. Cher was even considered at one point to add sexual tension. Grodin probably provided more sexual tension. Thankfully for you, us film gods stopped that one. We work in funny ways up here.