Into the Night **** (1985, Jeff Goldblum, Michelle Pfeiffer, Dan Aykroyd, David Bowie, Richard Farnsworth, Irene Papas, Vera Miles, Dan Aykroyd, Clu Gulager, Kathryn Harrold) – Classic Movie Review 7621

Director John Landis’s dark and dangerous 1985 comedy thriller Into the Night stars Jeff Goldblum as wimpish Los Angeles aviation designer Ed Okin, who cannot sleep, so he drives aimlessly around LA and ends up in the parking garage of Los Angeles International Airport, where he rescues drop-dead gorgeous but daffy Diana (Michelle Pfeiffer) from four Iranian killers looking for smuggled diamonds. Diana turns out to be a jewel thief on the run from the Iranians and her relationship with Ed starts when she jumps onto his car hood/ bonnet.

Landis directs an appealing, complex comedy thriller at a splendid pace and packs in cameo appearances for himself (hilarious as an Iranian villain), David Bowie and half the film directors in Hollywood, among them David Cronenberg, Daniel Petrie, Jonathan Lynn, Don Siegel, Paul Bartel, Jack Arnold, Amy Heckerling, Lawrence Kasdan and Richard Franklin. And there are two substantial roles for two more directors, Roger Vadim and Paul Mazursky, as bad guys, with Mazursky as a beach house owner and accused drug dealer. Effects wiz Rick Baker plays a drug dealer.

Into the Night is one of the first and best of the Eighties yuppie-in-peril cycle of movies, which also include After Hours and Desperately Seeking Susan.

Also in the cast are Richard Farnsworth, Irene Papas, Vera Miles, Dan Aykroyd, Clu Gulager and Kathryn Harrold.

It runs 115 minutes, is made and released by Universal Pictures, is written by Ron Koslow, shot by Robert Paynter, produced by George Folsey Jr and Ron Koslow, scored by Ira Newborn and designed by John J Lloyd.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 7621

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