Into the Night

John Landis's 1985 romantic thriller was not a hit initially, but it is one of the best “neon noir” urban crime movies of its era. Jeff Goldblum (in his first starring role) downplays his often eccentric personality to portray suburban husband Ed Okin, a corporate engineer who sleepwalks through his days and can't sleep at night. Taking a midnight drive to shake it off, he's suddenly drafted as a getaway driver for a former model and jilted mistress named Diana (Michelle Pfeiffer), who is on the run from Persian gangsters willing to kill to retrieve an object that she smuggled in Los Angeles. It's a classic film noir situation—middle-class innocent jolted out of his protected but dull existence and plunged into a nightmarish odyssey through the urban underworld—with a charge of romance. Landis weaves in elements of black comedy and offbeat humor, some delivered by the director himself through his slapstick antics as a mute gangster, but he never ridicules the dangerous situation of the protagonists, and Goldblum is both likable and compelling as the Everyman who discovers his inner hero over the course of a long night. Set to an ‘80s synthesizer score with guitar lines from blues legend B.B. King, Into the Night also features David Bowie (in a memorable supporting role as a grinning hitman), Richard Farnsworth, Vera Miles, Irene Papas, and Dan Aykroyd, as well as numerous filmmakers in cameos and small roles. Extras include new interviews with Landis and Goldblum, and a 1985 TV special on B.B. King. Recommended. (S. Axmaker)