Follia di mezzanotte

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!

Well I just discovered IMDb from my twin sister, Carol. Carol and I played the "Fat Identical Twin" in Midnight Madness. We didn't have to prepare much for the fat part, that came with us, and well and the rest was natural. ;) It was our first major film role and we had a blast making it. We were 21 at the time and lived about an hour and half from The Disney Studio in Burbank and the Hollywood, California area. We grew up in front of the TV and probably some of the first generation of latch-key-kids. Twenty years later, we still have lots of fun and are still 'heavy' or what ever is politically correct these days. We don't pursue acting any more but have been know to 'come back' when the right opportunity arrives. Carol is a Chiropractor in our home town of Southern California and I am in the Information Technology field in Georgia.

I maybe bias, but I thought the film was cute, clean and fun. We knew it wasn't a master piece or an Oscar nominee, however, it was and still is a movie the whole family can watch and have fun together. It's nice not to have to worry if your young children can watch a video without having to fast forward certain parts. And no one was more exited when it was released on video as Carol and I were. Carol found it at Kmart for $6.99! Now that's an inexpensive way to capture one's memories and share it with others.

Sincerely, Betsy Lynn and Carol Gwynn; The Thompson Twins

It doesn't quite deserve the disproportionate number of "10" votes it's received on this web site, but "Midnight Madness" is still a lot of fun. The eccentric Leon (Alan Solomon) organizes a cross-city scavenger hunt for five groups of college students ranging from nerds and jocks to babes and good guys. Each team must decipher a series of clues ("Mr. Carson's obese male child" leads to Johnny's Fat Boy Restaurant, and so on) before racing to the next location to do it again, all the while battling some occasional dirty tricks from rivals. The actual laughs few and far between, but you can't deny "Midnight Madness" carries heaps of cheesy '80s appeal. Look for Michael J. Fox (billed without the middle initial) in his film debut.

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.