Night Moves (1975) Rating: 2.5 stars out of 5.0 stars
Cast: Gene Hackman, Susan Clark, Jennifer Warren, Harris Yulin, Kenneth Mars, James Woods, Melanie Griffith, Dennis Dugan Written by: Alan Sharp Directed by: Arthur Penn Running Time: 75 minutes
Harry Moseby (Gene Hackman) is an ex-football star turned private detective. After taking a case to find the daughter of a former actress, he learns that his wife (Susan Clark) is having an affair, and the film then tries (slightly unsuccessfully) to juggle both storylines. Unfortunately, the film derails midway through and has a difficult time getting back on track. Things do come together well at the end, but becomes taxing getting to that point.
The title seems to be a reference to chess, as Harry discusses several "knight moves" while reenacting a famous chess match from years past. However, since this film is called "Night Moves" and not "Knight Moves" then the title seems to denote some sort of double meaning. Much of the movie does take place at night however, so maybe that's what it's referring to. Aside from all that, the film is most notable for the debut of Melanie Griffith, who plays the subject of Hackman's investigation.
I'd like to include some information directly from the film's original VHS release box because I doubt it'll ever be seen again. It's one of those very old Warner clamshell boxes that has a lot of text on the back of it pertaining to the film (two or three times that of one of today's releases would have). There's a quote from an interview with Gene Hackman that states "Arthur Penn is a great director because he sees the special human moment in a scene, outside the dialogue, outside the scenery; he sees the human animal, he sees the life of the scene. He's especially good with people who have never made a picture before. Both Melanie Griffith and Jennifer Warren are making their first film with him and he is really turning them on to the way film works." The box later states that "Harry isn't stupid - he's just a little slow". That's a odd statement to make, since it's not as if all this information is presented to Harry and he just doesn't catch on. He catches on whenever any information is given to him. [R]
Chuck Dowling - chuckd21@fdn.com The Jacksonville Film Journal - http://www.jaxfilmjournal.com/
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