Midnight Run

4

There was a time way back when where you could throw two middle-aged white dudes in a movie, put them on the road and call it a day. As long as they smoke a lot of cigarettes and crash a ton of cop cars. Seriously, I think De Niro blasts like 400 darts in this film, and the movie’s stunt coordinator must have gotten a bulk deal on those police cruisers. In re-watching it in 2026, I can’t say it gave me the same thrill, nor did I find it as funny as I did back when I was in high school, but I can see why the genre was popular. And why I liked it. I was less sophisticated back then. Less critical. Less jaded. I liked things because they were fun or funny and just kind of chucked logic or good filmmaking or scripting. Because there was definitely some jankiness here. I mean, it’s still a classic, but at almost 40 years old, it’s kind of showing its age.

The odd couple road movie has been a thing almost as long as talkies have been a thing. In black and white, men and women, men and men. And even sometimes women and women. In color. And while there is certainly no romance between De Niro and Charles Grodin in Midnight Run, there is something in that relationship that changes and reveals a deep, dark something about both characters. Jack Walsh (De Niro) is a bounty hunter. Jonathan “The Duke” Mardukas is an accountant for the Chicago mob. The Duke steals $15 million from mob boss, Jimmy Serrano (Dennis Farina), and donates it to charity. This all makes sense. What doesn’t make sense — at least to me — is why The Duke is arrested, out on bail, and due to be on trial for… embezzlement? As if Serrano caught him embezzling from his ill gotten gains — assuming the mob is not on the up-and-up — and had him arrested? I don’t think that’s how that would go. And generally you don’t get arrested for embezzlement unless your employer turns you over to the cops. So, why is he in prison to begin with? Him being in prison being the entire catalyst for him being out on bail, skipping bail and his bail bondsman, Eddie Moscone (Joe Pantoliano), sending Jack after him to get his bail money back. All of this leading to what Moscone calls an easy coast-to-coast “midnight run.” To start this whole thing with a giant, questionable plot hole is exactly the kind of thing that weighs on me now the way it didn’t back in the 80s.

Wonky machinations aside, this sets up a whole cascading Planes, Trains and Automobiles situation with Jack trying to get The Duke from NYC to LA. No, literally. Although, rather than the mundane group of weirdos Steve Martin and John Candy face on their journey, Jack and The Duke are constantly dodging a determined FBI agent dupe, Alonzo Mosely (Yaphet Kotto), and Serrano’s bumbling mobsters. Along with a fellow bounty hunter, Marvin Dorfler (John Ashton), with whom Jack jack competes for jobs and is technically in competition with to bring The Duke back and claim the prize from the bail bondsman, Eddie. Point is, there are a lot of things thrown in their 3,000 mile path. Including The Duke constantly scheming to free himself and not be brought back for trial. Knowing, of course, that the mob will probably murder him before he ever has the opportunity to testify. Which, again, brings up the question as to what exactly The Duke was in prison for. Because it seems the FBI is just interested in him for their case against the Chicago syndicate. I dunno, it’s all a bit mushy. But, yeah, plot isn’t really the driver here anyway. It’s pairing the tough-as-nails, chain-smoking Jack with the nebbishy, intellectual wily math guy, The Duke. De Niro all twitchy and stammering and gruffly huffing. And Grodin with his bone-dry sarcasm and quiet scheming. Charles Grodin was a thing back then. His Letterman appearances legendary. You hire him to play this role. This sly, winking touchy foil to De Niro’s macho grouch stereotype.

And so the two men work their way across the country. They use every mode of transport. The get ensnared in both FBI and mob setups, but they generally slip out due to either Jack’s agressiveness or The Duke’s smarts. All while Jack yells at The Duke and The Duke plots to get away from Jack. Included in here is a very 80s shootout where quite a few people die and the mob snipers meant to take out Jack and The Duke have aim that make stormtroopers seem accurate. And, of course, the aforementioned Smokey and the Bandit cop car chase where our duo cause dozens of police cruisers to wreck. Not to mention a pretty terribly fake helicopter crash where Jack basically murders a few dudes. But I guess that’s okay (and never mentioned post murder) because the dead guys are… bad? The two of them also bilk a small business owned by a couple rubes out of their hard-earned cash later in the movie, which honestly felt like the screenwriters punching down on blue collar yokels, and pretty jerky by our “good guys” in the film. There are also at least five times in the movie where people knock out other people with one punch. So many concussions. Oh, also Philip Baker Hall’s character is named Sidney in this film, the same name (spelled Sydney) of his character in Hard Eight. Not germane to this conversation, just interesting.

Through all this, we see some of Jack’s personal life on screen, as he visits his estranged family and tries to reconcile his past in Chicago. Even though De Niro is clearly a New Yorker and not a Chicagoan. I can let that one go, I guess. Anyway, I do appreciate the banter between De Niro and Grodin. There are some fun scenes, and the movie itself is still entertaining. They do a decent job of getting you emotionally involved in the relationship between the two men, as they gradually unfurl the motivations for each of them to complete the midnight run. Or not complete it. I think this is what gave this movie a slight edge over others in its genre back when it was released. There is a sweetness (despite the whole murdering thing) to it that is played out on the two mens’ faces. And, sure, it’s pretty formulaic. And it certainly feels a bit dated forty years on. But it also feels like a solid type of R-rated movie that was made for a general adult audience that they just don’t make anymore.