Le flic se rebiffe

Burt Lancaster's last attempt at directing was in this sadly neglected film, The Midnight Man. I was lucky enough to catch it theaters back in the day and a few times on television. Why it was panned by so many critics is as big a mystery as the one Burt Lancaster has to solve.

In The Midnight Man Lancaster plays a former police detective who did a stretch for homicide himself, he killed his wife's lover. Now released from prison and on parole, he gets a job courtesy of an old police buddy Cameron Mitchell as a campus security guard at a small southern college. No sooner does he arrive there than the murder of a pretty and popular coed occur and an incriminating diary she kept goes missing.

Of course this is the job of the local sheriff Harris Yulin, but Lancaster's instincts just take over and before long three other murders occur. Of course they all arise out of the initial incident.

The Midnight Man is a good and complex tale of murder and blackmail and was shot on Clemson College campus on location for a good ring of authenticity. Lancaster and co-director/writer Roland Kibbee put together a very good cast. Note the following roles besides those I've already mentioned: Morgan Woodward as a southern senator and father of the first victim, Susan Clark as a faculty member who takes a romantic interest in Lancaster, and Ed Lauter and Mills Watson as a pair of Deliverance type inbreds who are working for someone who really wants Burt out of the way. Burt's son Bill Lancaster is in the cast as another college student who also winds up a murder victim.

Some of the results will surprise you and what I like about the film is that Lancaster probably could have covered for a couple of the perpetrators, but his own sense of integrity wouldn't let him do that. Best scene in the film for action fans is his escape from those Deliverance types who capture him and are awaiting instructions. At least we know they're no good. Who else winds up on the wrong side of the law will surprise you and you will keep guessing until the end.

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.

"The Midnight Man" refers to Burt Lancaster's new job as a college security guard, working the midnight to 8:00am shift. The murder of a pretty coed immediately draws Lancaster into the investigation by way of his ex cop instincts. He buts heads with the police chief over an obvious suspect, and then the picture begins to spiral out of control. A multitude of suspects, each with a rather obscure motive begins to cloud the water. Although the cast is very good, character development is sacrificed in favor of rapidly moving from one person of interest to the next. By the conclusion, the viewer is unable to keep up with the story line. In fact, Lancaster in the end gives a long summary of who did what to whom, too little effect, since the names he throws out really don't help. The movie is very watchable, but second, or even third viewings might be required to bring clarity. - MERK

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!

Former cop Lancaster is just out of jail on parole after catching his wife in bed with her lover, and killing him. He is now a college nightwatchman and no sooner he arrives on the scene than the daughter of a senator is murdered. That is not all, either: he actually gave the girl a lift home so he was one of the last persons to see her alive.

Thankfully, he has a good friend in Cameron Mitchell, who receives him in his house despite having broken a leg; and an even more wonderful parole officer in the stunningly beautiful Susan Clark. And so begins a rollercoaster of events and all is definitely not what it seems in this flick.

Joint direction by Kibbee and Lancaster is effective; script is credible, peeling away each layer of the mystery at a leisurely pace; photography is competent, standard 1970s fare; and acting by Lancaster and Clark is exceptionally good. Mitchell, Yulin, Splawn and Lauter prove more than adequate in the supporting roles.

I ended up enjoying MIDNIGHT MAN a darned sight more than I had expected. 8/10