Into the Night (1985)

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

INTO THE NIGHT is a surprise disappointment, given John Landis' impressive '80s track record. It just sorta lumbers along from one scene to the next, even with shootouts and bloody corpses contained within. Landis hss a non-speaking role as one of the Iranian bad guys and he milks the role for a few laughs. The fun part is spotting the various director cameos (Don Siegel, Jonathan Demme, Lawrence Kasdan, hey there's Jim Henson on the phone!). But as soon as the shooting stops, we're sitting down with Goldblum and Pfeiffer for ice cream (although it's cool to see the long-gone Ship's coffee shop alive on screen). Goldblum is awesome and I do like the premise; but it's hard not to compare this to AFTER HOURS, which is a much better movie.5/10

Released the same year as Martin Scorseses' "After Hours", John Landis's "Into the Night" similarly takes an ordinary man, in this case Ed Okin (Jeff Goldblum), and plunges him into a never ending series of incidents and adventures through the wee hours of the morning. Ed isn't too happy with his lot in life: he has a boring job as an aerospace engineer, he can't sleep at nights, and his wife is cheating on him. One night, he drives to the airport where his presence is fortuitous: he's able to save the life of Diana (Michelle Pfeiffer), a young beauty being pursued by bumbling Iranian baddies.In a refreshing change of pace, Diana is no innocent, but rather bought trouble for herself by agreeing to be part of a scheme. Still, she's appealing - and beautiful - enough that Ed feels compelled to continue helping her, even as he realizes that he's in way over his head.Both Goldblum and Pfeiffer are very engaging in the leads, and they're well supported by the wonderful Richard Farnsworth, Irene Papas, and Kathryn Harrold. However, as is Landis's habit, a large part of the appeal is seeing him cast *many* of his directing peers in quick cameos. The list includes David Cronenberg, Richard Franklin, Colin Higgins, Daniel Petrie, Paul Mazursky, Don Siegel, Jonathan Lynn, Paul Bartel, Jack Arnold, Lawrence Kasdan, Jonathan Demme, Amy Heckerling, and Carl Gottlieb. But the cameos don't end there, as you'll also spot people like Vera Miles, Clu Gulager, Dan Aykroyd, Carl Perkins, David Bowie, Bruce McGill, Michelles' younger sister Dedee, Jake Steinfeld, and Rick Baker. Roger Vadim is particularly fun as a smooth French villain."Into the Night" isn't necessarily a funny movie, per se, but as was said, it's somewhat amusing in a rather dark way. There's one death scene that's pretty sobering. It would seem to be a rather unwieldy movie at one hour and 55 minutes, but it manages to be entertaining from scene to scene, and thankfully, Ron Koslows' script refrains from being too predictable. Ira Newborn composed the music score, with a strong assist from blues master B.B. King.This seems to be a somewhat overlooked item on Landis's resume, so it's worthy of another look for buffs. Certainly those cameos alone rate this as a must see.Eight out of 10.

It has been over a decade since I have seen this film. I remember just a few bits of the details. But I do remember it as a very entertaining movie. A bit of escapism.The cast was tremendous. All through the movie you'll recognize people. Hey isn't that...? I recognize her. Wow, that is the guy from... At the time that I first watched it I didn't realize that so many directors had parts in the movie.I liken this movie to "After Hours" with Griffin Dunne (of American Werewolf fame) and Teri Garr. These would be a fun double feature together.It has been years since i have lived in So. Cal, but this movie brings back memories. The atmosphere, the weather at night in LA was very well represented. The various locations were familiar. And who could forget Cal Worthington and his dog Spot?!Time to go look this one up on Netflix.

Upon discovering that his wife is having an affair, depressed insomniac Ed Okin (Jeff Goldblum) drives to the airport where he is surprised by a beautiful jewel smuggler, Diana (Michelle Pfeiffer), who lands on his car and begs him to drive her away from four Iranian secret police agents who are chasing her. She persuades him to drive her to various locations, and he becomes embroiled in her predicament. After becoming increasingly exasperated with her demands, he discovers that Diana has smuggled priceless emeralds from the Shah of Iran's treasury into the country, and is being pursued by various assorted assailants, including the aforementioned SAVAK agents and a British hit-man (David Bowie).The couple's caper gets increasingly out of hand, until Diana is eventually taken hostage by the SAVAK thugs at the airport; here, Ed finally comes into his own, saving the day and curing his insomnia and acute boredom in the process.