Night Moves ***½ (1975, Gene Hackman, Susan Clark, Edward Binns, Jennifer Warren, James Woods, Melanie Griffith ) – Classic Movie Review 6,020

Arthur Penn’s dark-toned, complex 1975 neo-noir thriller film Night Moves stars Gene Hackman as Los Angeles private detective Harry Moseby, who searches for the missing teenage daughter of a former movie actress.

Director Arthur Penn’s dark-toned and unusually complex 1975 neo-noir psychological thriller film Night Moves stars Gene Hackman as Los Angeles private detective Harry Moseby, who tracks a former Hollywood actress’s runaway teenage daughter (played by a very young Melanie Griffith in her film debut) and tries to uncover a baffling mystery.

Director Penn does not keep a tight enough grip on his material and lets the film ramble and the tension slacken at times. But the classy, on-form actors, Alan Sharp’s taut screenplay with its suspenseful climax, and Bruce Surtees’s Technicolor cinematography combine to produce a fascinating piece of murky Seventies modern LA film noir.

Also in the cast are Susan Clark, Jennifer Warren, Edward Binns, Harris Yulin, Kenneth Mars, Janet Ward, James Woods, John Crawford, and Dennis Dugan.

It was shot in autumn 1973 and released by Warner Bros on 11 June 1975, a delay caused because Melanie Griffith was only 16 when her underwater nude scenes were filmed.

Hackman previously also starred in Penn’s Bonnie and Clyde.

The cast

The cast are Gene Hackman as Harry Moseby, Susan Clark as Ellen Moseby, Jennifer Warren as Paula, Edward Binns as Joey Ziegler, Harris Yulin as Marty Heller, Kenneth Mars as Nick, Janet Ward as Arlene Iverson, Melanie Griffith as Delly Grastner, James Woods as Quentin, Anthony Costello as Marv Ellman, John Crawford as Tom Iverson, Ben Archibek as Charles, Dennis Dugan as boy, C J Hincks as girl, and Maxwell Gail Jr as Stud.

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 6,020

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