‘Midnight Run’ absorbing, fun
By Charles Lieuraace
Senior Editor
Martin Brest's "Midnight Run"
takes over where his “Beverly Hills
Cop” left off in pumping tired cop
films so full of adrenaline that even
the crucial genre cliches seem inven
tive.
“Midnight Run” is an exhilarating,
intelligent and very funny buddy/ac
tion film, that has all the makings of a
big overblown, sweaty summer dog
that dies in its tracks from hyperbole.
But Brest loads the film with saving
nuances and its two lead stars, Robert
DeNiro and Charles Grodin, can’t
lose.
The plot of “Midnight Run” in
volves bounty hunter Jack Walsh
(DeNiro) chasing down a whiny mob
accountant (Grodin) who embezzled
$15 million from the mafia coffers
and gave it to charily. The capture is
simple, but the delivery of Grodin to
the Los Angeles bondsman who
employed DeNiro is treacherous.
Grodin is being pursued by the mob,
the FBI and yet another bountv
hunter,played with primitive aplomb
by “Beverly Hills Cop” ‘s John Ash
ton.
Like “Planes, Trains and Automo
biles,” “Midnight Run” is a male
bonding film and its concerns are
predominantly male. But where the
former film began to drip and moan
from its sentimentality by the final
frames, “Midnight Run” stays tough
and unflinching throughout. It has grit
to spare.
When sentiment does wheel
around in the film, DcNiro and
Grodin handle it with minimal virtu
osity. One scene, in which DcNiro
faces his young daughter after a five
year absence is a completely genuine
moment of pain and loss. The devel
oping camaraderie between Grodin
and DeNiro is paced believably, so
that when they come to terms with the
fact they like one another it doesn’t
feel contrived. •
The balance of comedy and sus
pense in “Midnight Run”keeps things
at Brest’s usual breathless pace, giv
ing the viewer very little time to
question often gigantic leaps in the
film’s internal logic. Brest is an ex
pert at making the viewer feel inside
the action instead of like a voyeur, so
often the steady, tense pacing ob
scures less believable elements of
“ Midnight Run.’’Many close calls are
just too close and many chases arc just
too colossal. Still, while watching the
movie one gets so caught up in the
intricacies and nuances of each
moment that it becomes difficult to
sort things out in a logical manner.
It helps that DcNiro is such a for
midable talent and that Grodin is
probably one of the most sturdy and
dependable second bananas a buddy
picture ever had. Watching DeNiro
relax into a role where you know he's
not about to smack innocent women
and children with a baseball bat is
sheer pleasure. I he storm that always
brews just under the surface of a
DeNiro character is channeled heroi
cally for a change. And Grodin’s
natural whininess is comical here
instead of annoying (a charge made
against him often).
The rest of the characters who
populate the violent cross country
gauntlet being run by DeNiro and
Gredin provide ample room to
breathe for the two main characters.
Dennis Farina, the cop turned actor
who starred in oneof the best and most
unfairly ignored television series’ in
recent memory, “Crime Story,” plays
the mob lord out to kill Gredin. His
calm, remorseless evil is, in some
scenes, riveting.
As mafioso portrayals go, this
ranks perhaps a few notches under
DeNiro or Brando and several million
See MIDNIGHT on 11
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____136 No. 14th
‘Stocking’plot fits admirably
Courtesy of Simon and Schuster
By William Rudolph
Staff Reviewer
Elizabeth Gage “A Glimpse of
Stocking” Simon and Schuster
I thought Elizabeth Gage’s “A
Glimpse of Stocking’’ would be
pure trash. After all, it had all the
requirements: it was about the dark
secrets shared by Annie Havilland,
Holly wood’s newest young screen
goddess, and Christine, New
York’s top-rated dominatrix. The
back cover copy teased that
“There’s nothing so sexy as A
Glimpse of Stocking.” And it was
edited by Michael Korda, Jackie
Collins’ mentor and author of the
very sleek novel “Quccnie” that
spawned a glittering miniseries.
With all this in mind, I began
reading, expecting nothing more
than an enjoyable wallow.
I was wrong. “A Glimpse of
Stocking,” which lakes its name
from a refrain of Cole Porter’s
“Anything Goes” (“Used to be a
glimpse of stocking/was consid
ered something shocking”), is
anything but predictable. Instead,
it’s a tightly plotted, almost un
bearably suspenseful novel
that, yes, has quite a lot of kinky
sex, not to mention three very
compelling women at its center in
addition to a host of other complex
supporting characters.
“Slocking” tells the story of
Annie, the impossibly beautiful
young innocent who comes to
Hollywood to make her fortune,
only to cross paths with the evil
presence of International Pictures
C.E.O. Hannon Kurih. And it also
concerns Christine, the highly in
telligent and coolly relentless call
girl searching for her destiny in the
dark secrets of the past... a past
overshadowed by the malevolent
presence of her mother Alclhca,
the completely amoral woman
who taugh t her the tricks of the
trade and seems intent to destroy
any happiness she encounters.
But little do any of them realize
that Alethea’s web also includes
Annie ... and dial the buried past
can explode into the present with
devastating consequences on all
their lives.
Gage is an obviously intelligent
writer up on her Proust and confi
dent about her novel’s subject
matter of the Hollywood movie
scene and the netherworld lurking
beneath it. Under her skilled direc
tion, “A Glimpse of Stocking”
races along at a mesmerizing pace,
even while a chilling story within
the story unfolds with disturbing
fascination.
Ever-present throughout
“Stocking” is the grim reminder
that the past is always there and no
matter how hard one tries to es
cape, it will eventually become the
future.
What sets this novel apart from
the rest of the competition is the
amount of care Gage has put into
her characters and story. The
women arc presented to us head
on, with both good and bad quali
ties revealed. More importantly,
every detail of the story has its
place and fits together at the end.
Clever and authoritative, and ex
tremely hard to put down, “Slock
ing” builds to an almost unbeara
bly suspenseful climax as the des
tinies of Annie, Christine and
Alcthca converge with devastat
ing repercussions. It truly is
“something shocking.” And worth
reading.
I ATTENTION!’ j
AUGUST
GRADUATES
The DEADLINE for the return of your yellow
Commencement Attendance form is
August 11,1988
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