Die Nacht hat viele Augen

For a film which reached number 1 at the US box office and earned enough movie for the studio to green-light a sequel, Stakeout has strangely enough become a forgotten 80s gem.

The story is simple, officers Lecce (Richard Dreyfuss) and and Reimers (Emilio Estevez) are assigned to a stakeout of the house of waitress Maguire (Madeleine Stowe), hoping that her fugitive ex-boyfriend (Aidan Quinn) will return to her house. Things soon take a bizarre twist, as Lecce, posing as a telephone repairman, and Maguire start to fall in love.

Although the film offers no originality and is riddled with clichés, it is very entertaining. Although it runs for nearly two hours, it thankfully doesn't feel that long and the story keeps you interested all the way. Richard Dreyfus and Emilio Estevez are quality comedians, somewhat surprisingly in my opinion. Their jokes and banter make the comedy part of this film work well.

The thriller elements are good too, Aidan Quinn does a good job making his character look like a real bad-ass, and the film's action sequences are really solid pre-cgi-stuff. I was especially impressed by the car chase, which looks really good.

Overall, this is pure solid 80s entertainment and I think this film deserves to be remembered and watched. I think it is equally good as many other 80s action classics like "48 hours" for example. Recommended!