Great Movie: ''Midnight Run''

It can be said that the worst thing that happened to Robert De Niro was finding out he was good at comedy. Suddenly, master thespian, serious actor, became a broad parody of his greatness at drama. It was if the comic De Niro pulled a fast one on the serious De Niro, wiping out all of his hallmark moments in cinema. A sad shadow of himself, Bob has become. But, it wasn't always like this, for he started his comic roles with a brilliant bang. And, that bang was ''Midnight Run''....... The movie came out in 1988. After an extraordinary decade of high drama, Robert De Niro decided to go for the belly laugh. He picked a great first project. The story of ''Midnight Run'' is simple and not new. De Niro plays a bounty hunter, Jack Walsh,  alone in the field, hunting one scumbag after another who has skipped bail. When the bail bondsman needs to have his wayward prey captured, then the bounty hunter comes in. It turns out the guy De Niro is after is a somewhat famous money launderer for a Chicago mobster, Jimmy Serrano. The accountant has stolen millions from Serrano. De Niro makes a deal with his bail bondman--- played wonderfully by the great Joe Pantoliano---- for a big score if he captures the elusive accountant, Jonathan ''The Duke'' Mardukas. De Niro is tired of chasing the bad guys. He is getting too old to have his life threatened. As a retired Chicago policeman, he has spent his whole adult life seeing the badness in the world. He is world weary and fed-up. De Niro's Jack character, we learn, carries a heavy heart. He still loves his ex-wife [ who has since remarried ] and hasn't seen his teenage daughter in ages. In total, Jack Walsh just wants a simple life. He will capture ''The Duke'' and with his earnings, open a coffee shop. That is Jack's dream. A simple life after living a much harder one....... But, he is not alone in wanting to capture the dreaded ''Duke''. Soon, after taking the job, he is accosted on the street by the FBI. They hustle him into a car and thru their always tinted shades, they inform De Niro that they have been after ''The Duke'' for a long time. It seems the accountant knows a lot about the mobster Serrano's organization, enough to bring it crashing down, and the Feds are creaming to catch ''The Duke''. The head agent is Alonzo Moseley, played by Yaphet Kotto, with all of the warmth that we expect from a G-Man. After telling Jack Walsh to mind his own business, they throw him out of the car. But, Jack Walsh has a little parting gift in his pocket. He palmed Moseley's FBI badge and ID. It might come in handy, perhaps....... De Niro's Jack travels from LA to New York, where he has surprisingly tracked down ''The Duke''. De Niro finds the house that ''The Duke'' is hiding, busts in, has to deal with an attack dog, and finally, arrests ''The Duke''. Jack has five days to bring ''The Duke'' back to LA. He naps him the first night. All he has to do is get him back to California and collect his money........ Jonathan ''The Duke'' Mardukas is played by Charles Grodin. De Niro takes him from the home and drives him to the airport to catch the red-eye smoking West. It is in this car that the first interplay between the actors and characters happens. It is obvious that they are gonna be an odd couple, very much on each others nerves and wanting desperately to get away from each other. But, ''The Duke'' can't. He has some new jewelry in the form of the handcuffs that Jack has slapped on him. ''The Duke'' immediately tests the patience of his captor by attempting to bribe him. Jack Walsh doesn't take bribes, that is why he is no longer a Chicago cop. In a brilliantly written and acted scene, both De Niro and Grodin establish that there is gonna be much tension between the two of them. And, much comedy....... Jack Walsh calls the bail bondsman from the airport. He has ''The Duke!'' Eddie, the bondsman, is ecstatic. So is his partner, who immediately offers to go out and get some doughnuts to celebrate. The partner, instead, calls his contact in the Serrano mob and says that ''The Duke'' is coming to LA. You see, they want the accountant just as bad, or, maybe even more, than the FBI. Jimmy Serrano hears this and immediately calls for the plane to be met at the airport. Now, we have a couple of interested parties wanting''The Duke''. And, as the movie progresses, more people join the fun, including a dim-witted fellow bounty hunter, Marvin, played with terrific comic flair by John Ashton. ''The Duke'' is a very wanted man......... I will stop there. I have set up the premise and that is all. The movie has many surprises, some comic, some quite poignant, and they must be enjoyed with fresh eyes to the new viewer. To the watcher that has seen the movie before, then the plotlines I have spoken of will bring a smile of expectation to them. Part of the charm of this movie is the new spin on the old cliches. Yes, there is the odd couple who do not like each other. But, we know that their relationship will thaw and some genuine caring and warmth will shine through. And, we know there will be a serious of mix-ups and near hits that will keep the action going. It is nothing new what this film has to offer. Except, the performances...... Here, the movie soars. Robert De Niro shows wonderful comic chops here. Like the best of comedy acting, the procedure is to play a situation completely straight and then let the comedy come from the absurd twists the story gives you. Comedy is reality seen through a warped eye. A hat can be funny but it what the character does with the funny hat that makes it funnier. De Niro wisely never pushes his comic portrayal. He never telegraphs that he is acting to be funny [ unlike so many other roles he would play in the future ]. He lets it happen in the confines of his character. And, in a few scenes towards the end, he shows the audience how vulnerable his Jack Walsh is. Jack, behind his bellicose manner, is deeply wounded. He wants peace amid the turmoil his life is. It is one of Robert De Niro's best performance........ Opposite him, going toe to toe, is Charles Grodin. It is a genius performance by Grodin. After years of playing sniveling, sarcastic whiners, Grodin kicks out the jams in this movie. There is the sarcasm and self-pity in some of his scenes but they add texture to his portrayal of ''The Duke''. Grodin is ingratiating, first with the audience and then with De Niro. Through his cunningness, we, the audience, spot the good man, who we discover, has a damn good reason why he stole the money from Serrano. By turns charming and deadly serious, Charles Grodin gives a deeply compelling and winning performance....... The supporting cast also deserves to take deep bows. The late Dennis Farina is perfect casting for Jimmy Serrano. He has played mobsters before this but never with the humor exhibited here. All of his comic lines walk hand in hand with deep threats. And, in a key scene towards the end in a limo, Farina does away with the humor and goes for the frightening jugular. To hear his words coming out make your skin crawl. Farina walks that fine tightrope of foolishness and danger with great aplomb. After seeing him in this again I am reminded that I miss him........ Joe Pantoliano is equally strong as the bail bondman, Eddie. By turns smug and frazzled, ''Joey Pants'', you can see now, was warming up for his legendary portrayal of ''Ralphie'' in ''The Sopranos'' But, Eddie is a comic fool, not a killer. And, Pantoliano takes him out on wonderfully fun spin of the character wheel. His best moment is a telephone call with a far away De Niro. His screaming of curse words, along with his frustration, make this scene one of the highlights of the movie........ The best scene, I believe, is a quiet one. It is deep in the movie and it involves De Niro and Grodin in a railroad car. Much has happened to them both. At this moment in the film, De Niro is very angry with Grodin. His silence speaks volumes. And, Grodin's ''The Duke'', tries to break through. The scene starts off funny but quickly turns to sad and reflective. That it is late at night adds to the mood, for late night talks always bring forth confessions and affairs of the heart. What makes this scene my favorite is not so much what is being said as what is not being said. The silence is intriguing because Robert De Niro and Charles Grodin have set up the characters so well in the audiences mind that we know what they are thinking. They like each other and we want them to tell each other that. And, they do, in a surprising touching way........ This movie has action. This movie has comedy. This movie has pathos. It is all handled in a superior way by the actors, the director, Martin Brest, and, almost forgotten, by the writer, George Gallo. These men all converged in 1988 to tell an old story in a new way. This movie was a hit with the public and was very popular on video and cable but it seems to have fallen through the cracks as the years have gone on. But, I hear the lines out there in the public vernacular. When I come across someone who says, ''I've got two words for you: SHUT THE FUCK UP!'', I know that this is someone who is special...... Enjoy the movie, everyone.......

Small Groups

The little girl was shaking uncontrollably. It wasn't cold by any means, it was a humid day. The chills wracked her body as the soldier approached. He was sweaty and grimy, as befitting a soldier who just finished a battle. He got closer to the young girl--- who had to be about three or four--- and gingerly held out a cup for her to drink from. The girl just looked back at him, terrified. The shaking increased. Finally, she calmed down a little and took a sip. Whatever was in the cup, most likely water, seemed to do the trick. The shaking decreased. But, the look of outright terror still remained, firmly fixed on what should have been a doll's face. As the camera pulled back, the viewer saw the rest of the horror. Carnage beyond anyone's dark dreams. There were fires all around her, almost like Dante himself came up from the pits to inflame Earth. There was rubble, far as one could see, the remnants of what was once life blooming. The girl looked around wide-eyed, perhaps, she was searching for her mother or father or someone she loved. But, there was no one for her. The soldier, with permission from his commander, scooped the girl up. She would be sent somewhere where orphans always gathered after a battle. Wherever she would land, the scars of war would never go away........ He always loved to dance. Men dancing well can be a rarity, so, when he would get out on the dance floor and shake, shake, shake his booty, the women would gather around. Or, they would grab him, spinning him around. He went most willingly. After all, when you have the draw of being a good dancer, you, then, have the inside track to pursue something further and, possibly, get something going with the fairer sex. But, his love was the dance floor. Dancing takes you into the world of self-expression, a release of both the freedom of letting your guard down, and, a little bit of a show-off. He loved that. He knew that when he went into the Army, his dancing days would be limited. Not much shaking your tailfeather when bombs are blowing off all around you and people are pleading for their lives. Soon, out of nowhere, he would be one of these people. The explosive came out of the ground, a treacherous landmine waiting for the unfortunate to step on. He was the unfortunate one. It blew up and the next thing he knew he was waking up in a hospital--- really, a makeshift horror show--- with the screaming and pleading prayers to God coming from all around him. Through the haze of pain, the doctor informed him that his legs could not be saved. Despite his pleas that he did not want to live if he lost his legs, soon, he would be waking up half the man physically he once was. The rest of his life would be artificial limbs and wheelchairs. And, no more dance floors....... The old man lived a full life after seeing his battle. He came home from the war physically well, but, mentally the scars would never heal. He had seen too much, lost too much. Friends would die all around him---- one in his arms--- and they would be denied the continuation of life that he would get. The old guy took this with him every day. He fathered several children and ran a good business. By all accounts, he was a good man who lived a good life. And, he was. He developed a love of gardens and flowers in his later years. He always told people that he had seen so much of life destroyed when he was younger that he wanted to see life bloom. But, there were the nights, those late nights, when sad thoughts and bad dreams run together, that he went back in time. And, that time saw his friends in the war that missed out on life. He heard their voices, alarmingly clear at times, whispering in his mind, that he did not deserve to live while they were dead. The ghosts of the past ate at him. The mind plays tricks with us all. We believe the good in ourselves but the bad parts sometimes speak the loudest, playing to our fears and insecurities. This is what happened to the old man. Despite what he had done in life---- and, it was considerable--- he never lost the voices coming to him nightly, wondering why he was there when he shouldn't be. One night, the voices took control of him fully and he slashed his wrists in the bathtub......... These are the faces of true war. It isn't John Wayne on a battlefield, it isn't CNN and other outlets spinning the coverage so that it looks like a fast paced TV show. No, war is the nameless. It is the orphans, and the men and women with dreams, and the old man who lives a good life but cannot shake the past. It has been extraordinary to me that throughout history, a small group of people dictate how and where we fight for them. This small group manipulates the larger group. And, we, the larger group, go along with it. From the dawn of mankind until now, think about it, this small group recruits us to fight their battles so they can keep their power and riches. How is this? Yes, some wars are necessary to fight. But, this small group has allowed that particular problem to escalate to where war is the only option. Hitler needed to be brought down but why was Hitler allowed to flower for many years until he became uncontrollable and needed to be fought? The same for our current problems with the Middle East and terrorism. The people in that region were never a problem to us until the late 20th Century. How is it that thousands of years of not really having any real need to deal with each other is now the ultimate danger of this new 21st Century? The answer is the small groups of men, on both sides, who now manipulate the public and suddenly have their side of millions of people against our side of millions of people. Throw in the always handy religious angle [ God wants America to win. Allah blesses the Muslims] and now the powder keg is ignited. But, it is only the small group that made that powder keg. The majority did not. When I was growing up I had no knowledge that they were bad people. My parents never called the Middle East the Satan part of the world [ Oh, I forgot. America is the Great Satan]. A child does not grow up to be hater. He or she is taught that. But, as an adult, I am being told that these people in the Middle East, who never did anything to me or anyone I know, are to be feared and eliminated [Hitler did this with the Jews]. And, they are being told the same thing on their side about us. Why do we continue to have our destinies bastardized by these small groups of powerful men and women? We repeat the same pattern generation after generation. The smart thing, the elephant in the room, is for the majority to band together and refuse to follow the whims and desires of this small group of madmen. But, this utopian dream will never happen, of course. It is very unrealistic to think this would ever happen, I know this. But, I am pretty sick and tired to be told to hate when all I want to do is live my life peacefully........