Competencia alocada

Somewhere in the dark recesses of my brain cells a song plays in my head. I can't forget it no matter how hard I try. It's MIDNIGHT MADNESS and it's gonna get to you! Wish i could find a copy of this on a 45rpm record. Five disparate teams head out one night in L.A. for a scavenger hunt for clues instead of physical objects. An unkempt game-master with two gorgeous assistants is the mastermind of all this insanity that's about to be unleashed on L.A. All the teams are stereotypes (this movie being from 1980, before political correctness screwed everything up): the "good guys", the "nerds" led by Eddie Deezen, the dumb beer-loving "jocks", the "we-don't-need-a-man-type ladies", especially the redhead. The giggling twins are a scream, too. And finally, the "bad guys" with Stephen Furst as the leader. Furst is hilarious as the overweight slob Harold, whose attempt to use a computer to decipher the various clues leads to a gooey mess. Movies like this aren't made anymore. These days, movies have to have an "edginess" to them with some dark characters and other nonsense. Go back to the days when the "good guys" led by David Naughton were still good and not hopelessly conflicted. So dump all serious pretensions and go back to 1980. It's MIDNIGHT MADNESS . . .

I saw this movie a few days ago for the third time. Boy that movie is such a riot! Leon sure knew how to make a great game with his two girls Candy and Sunshine. I loved it when his apartment kept filling up with nosey tenates who keep complaing about the noise and they wind up joining the fun listening to the results of the game. The teams were pretty cool even though they were stereo types. I now use that new word all the time that Barf made up "faga beefe" to aggravate my brothers. This movie has no sex or terrible violence Very few swear words are heard. Plus they great gags that were new in the 80's thats still funny today. I have a lot of comments to say about this film. I just love the two twins Peggy and Lulu,when they were dancing, eating a man out of business, stealing a man's tow truck and giggling all through out the movie made me laugh and cry. The white team Aka the Nerds were very histarical when they got into a food fight and dressed as bellhops. The Green Team aka the Meat Machine were funny too when they destroyed the arcade and had a run in with the Paps Beery. The Blue team was the best in the movie since they were the crooked team. The yellow team turned out to be the most boring team and also caused most of the cheesy scenes to happen. I'm not going to tell you who wins though, thats the secret of the movie which is sort of expecting. Still over all if you want to make milk come out of your nose buy this film before its too late. I give it nine out of ten stars because of the cheesy parts and the end was too expecting.

Graduate student Leon (Alan Solomon) sends out invitations to five other students to participate in a night long scavenger hunt called The Great All Nighter. At first the five scoff at the idea and refuse, but through either gestating rivalries, bravado, or pressure all change their minds and embark on a energized and chaotic rush through Los Angeles.

Midnight Madness was the 2nd movie from Walt Disney Pictures to carry the PG rating (the first being the previous years The Black Hole). Midnight Madness unfortunately was not a success during it's initial release either commercially or critically, and even was branded a "Dog of the Week" on Siskel & Ebert's Sneak Previews. But despite this the movie has attained a small but devoted cult following thanks in no small part to airings on cable television, and I'm pleased to say the following is well deserved.

The movies strength is in its simplicity. The movie follows five teams who are all varying degrees of broad stereotypes which helps to set the tone from the onset. The teams include the nice guy Yellow Team led by David Naughton, the Blue Team consisting of jerks and snobs led by Steven Furst, the Red Team of a unpopular sorority lead by future Simpsons voice actress Maggie Roswell, the White Team of nerds lead by Eddie Deezen, and the Green Team consisting of a group of muscle headed jocks who call themselves "Meat Machine". Once the movie gets going with the Great All Nighter, it throws everything but the kitchen sink at the teams and puts them in shenanigans of varying degrees of outlandishness and uses Los Angeles city setting quit,e effectively. The Griffith Observatory, Pabst Brewing Company, LAX, and Hollywood Walk of Fame are used for some memorable scenes and are a lot fun. Even Leon, whose sole purpose is to oversee the game, gets some great moments as he buts heads with his landlady while his neighbors who are initially annoyed eventually become enthralled in watching the game (much to his landlady's ire).

Midnight Madness isn't a great comedy, but it is a good comedy. Playing like a softer edged version of Up the Creek or Animal House, the movie has the same level of zany energy as other Animal House inspired movies but doesn't have the raunch. For what the movie is, I recommend it.

Probably the only Disney film to feature extensive Pabst Blue Ribbon product placement and an actress credited at the end as playing "Busty Waitress", Midnight Madness came out in the late 70s/early 80s period of madcap raunchy youth comedies like Animal House and The Hollywood Knights, and its intent was apparently to capitalize on that market while retaining a shiny Disney veneer of innocent fun.

Essentially a more youthful, more superficial It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World, but with college kids and the object of their competition being an inexplicably appealing trophy instead of cash, Midnight Madness is similarly silly, fast-paced, and irresistible if you don't take your movie viewing habits too seriously. Adding to its charm is its loose 70s feel, with a cute disco theme song sung by Donna Fein setting the tone for the proceedings.

Among the cast of dweeby dozens you get Animal House's Stephen Furst, a young Michael J. Fox, Dr. Pepper commercial star David Naughton, legendary supernerd Eddie Deezen, and, in a small part, the future Pee Wee Herman himself, Paul Reubens. Catch Midnight Madness tonight and thrill as delinquent arcade dork Michael J. sweats teenage angst and asks in complete earnestness, "What do I look like, a nerd or something?"

I had completely forgotten about "Midnight Madness" until just now when I found it while surfing the IMDB. Now, it's all coming back to me....

It was one of Naughton's first movies (as well as Fox's) and sharp-eyed connoisseurs will also pick out Kaplan (Henry from TV's "Alice"), Fiedler (he does the voice of Piglet in the "Winnie the Pooh" cartoons) and Blocker (son of Dan "Hoss" Blocker from TV's "Bonanza").

But the two that stand out in my mind are Furst (from "Animal House") and the superdude himself - Eddie Deezen. Furst plays a baddie this time out and has one of the best scenes when he asks his dad, "Why can't you just accept me for who I am?" His dad looks over his obese, slovenly frame and gives a simple, one-word response - "Yuck!"

And Deezen... well, he's a show in himself. As a latter-day Jerry Lewis he stumbles around, wades through mini-golf ponds, puts melon halves on his ears and ends up having Maggie Roswell fall for him. My hero.

As for the film, it's typical early-'80s stupidity with college kids staying up after curfew and going on a city-wide scavenger hunt to prove which division of students is the best on campus: the jocks, the nerds, the rich kids, the feminists or the group made up of a little of each.

Who wins? Who cares, you'll have a lot of fun watching Disney Pictures' first foray into PG territory before creating Touchstone Pictures.

Seven stars. Catch "Midnight Madness" any way you can!

Long live Leon!