The Midnight Man

I saw the Midnight Man one very late night when I couldn't sleep. Burt is very compelling and this is a terrific murder mystery type story. To this day, I cannot understand why it hasn't gotten more play. The cast was brilliant, in particular Susan Clark. Lancaster plays a sort of down on his luck security guard who finds himself wrapped up in a murder. At one time he was a prominent officer who fell on hard times and is relegated to a security guard at a local college. Of course, this means they don't pay as much attention to him as they should and he is forced to go solo on his hunches as he goes thru this story. It is a good human story as well. I would love to see it again but it just doesn't come on TV anymore for some reason. If you ever see it listed on your local channel wherever you live, Circle this one and watch it!!

Burt Lancaster plays a down on his luck security guard recently released for the murder of his wife, he becomes employed in a local South Carolina College,he becomes embroiled in a strange murder mystery, where nothing is what it seems until all is typically revealed at the climax. 'The Midnight Man' Co-stars Susan Clark and the future Daisy Duke, Catherine Bach, in her first screen appearance, and character actor Ed Lauter. 'The Midnight Man' is unfortunately obscure to most classic film buffs, it is available on imported DVD which it's transfer is an oddity but watchable. In this age of HD/Widescreen, it's hard to believe that Universal have let this one go! the transfer is 'open matte' which reveals microphones, lights and camera tracks!

Towards the end of his life and film career, Burt Lancaster, created some of the best and most enduring characters in the movies. His 'Twilight Last Gleeming and 'Lawman' are a couple of the more notable ones. This film, "The Mid-Night Man" has got to join that long list as one of the very best. The film is straight forward, the murder of a beautiful and seductive college coed, the long suspicious list of suspects and the unsavory secrets which accompany them. Also the county sheriff, needs to known the reason, why a campus security guard, a man on parole, and former homicide detective doesn't think, the pervert janitor didn't do it. Were it not for the serious cast which include some of the best character actors in the business, this movie would have been just so so. Fortunately, the cast includes Susan Clark as Linda Thorpe, Cameron Mitchell as Quartz, Morgan Woodward as Senator Clayborne and Harris Yulin as Sheriff Casey. Nick Cravat and Lancaster' own son completes the memorable list. With Ed Lauter rounding out the cast, this film cannot go anywhere except to the top of Lancaster Classics. Highly recommended. ****

Along with Roland Kibbee (writer of such things as "The Crimson Pirate" and "Valdez is Coming"), veteran star Burt Lancaster directed this somewhat forgotten thriller, and adapted it from a novel by David Anthony. Burt stars as Jim Slade, a former police detective who'd done time for shooting his wife's lover. Now out of prison and on parole, he gets a job as midnight to eight AM night watchman at Jordon College. His cop instincts kicking in, he's determined to solve the murder of a very troubled coed, Natalie Clayborne (Catherine "Daisy Duke" Bach, in her film debut).

Slade will find that this is one VERY complex case with no shortage of suspects or morally compromised individuals. Some viewers may well find holes in the story if they examine it closely, but if it's viewed from a pure entertainment perspective, it's quite absorbing. What makes it work so well is the commanding and typically engaging performance by Burt; commendably, he is portrayed as a flawed, not squeaky-clean kind of guy, but still a basically good lawman with a talent for deduction. And although the local sheriff (Harris Yulin, "Night Moves") thinks that the creepy janitor (Charles Tyner, "Harold and Maude") makes the perfect culprit, Slade becomes quickly convinced that this dude is simply too obvious. And our protagonist is faced with danger along the way, especially from a trio of rednecks (among them, Ed Lauter of "The Longest Yard" and Mills Watson of "Cujo"), and manages to keep his cool.

The cast is phenomenal in this thing, and full of familiar faces. In addition to those mentioned, we get Susan Clark ("Porky's") as Slades' parole officer, Cameron Mitchell ("Blood and Black Lace") as his good friend, Morgan Woodward ("Cool Hand Luke") as a senator, Robert "Count Yorga" Quarry as a psychiatrist, Joan Lorring ("Three Strangers"), in her final feature film, Lawrence Dobkin ("The Ten Commandments") as a professor, and Quinn K. Redeker ("Spider Baby"). Burt's son Bill (future screenwriter of "The Bad News Bears" and "The Thing") has a supporting role as a hippie student. And Burt's longtime friend and co-star Nick Cravat ("The Flame and the Arrow") plays a gardener.

Excellent location shooting in South Carolina and a flavourful score by Dave Grusin ("The Goodbye Girl", "The Firm") further assist in making this pretty enjoyable to watch, if not all that memorable in the end.

Seven out of 10.

When The Midnight Man was first released it received a very patchy distribution. Catching up with it on TV I was surprised how effective it is, although it is definitely over-long. It's not the greatest mystery ever, but it is long on atmosphere, and has an interesting cast (Cameron Mitchell, Robert Quarry etc). If this comes your way, give it a shot. It may not be to everyone's tastes, but then nor's peanut butter.