Top 100: Night Moves (Arthur Penn 1975)
"They really get to you don't they?"
Night Moves is a slow-burning, densely plotted 1970s neo-noir starring Gene Hackman as private detective Harry Moseby. Moseby is a former (American) football player turned detective who's marriage is slowly falling apart. His latest case is to track down a runaway teenager (a young, nubile Melanie Griffith), and his client is a flirty, jaded former actress who crawled into a whiskey bottle years ago and refuses to come out.
What I love about this film is that all the characters are worn out. Way past their best. Human. The film also gains an extra edge with it's sun-drenched Los Angeles / Key West locations. This adds extra heat to the tired, weary characters, and also adds to the general weariness of the film itself. It's like watching a slow burn-out. Alan Sharp's script sizzles slowly in the L.A sunshine, which actually compliments the slow burn of the story itself.
Night Moves is pure 1970s magic that sits alongside Altman's The Long Goodbye & Chinatown beautifully. There's a gritty realism here that's rare to find these days. The played-down, realistic performances really help, though. The top-notch cast chew up the gritty dialogue yet still garner enough energy to spit it back out again. Hackman is brilliant. This is one of his best roles. A true classic that's worth watching many times... Like a decent sour mash it gets better with age.
