Night Moves

Take a swing at me Harry the way Sam Spade would.

Night Moves is directed by Arthur Penn and written by Alan Sharp. It stars Gene Hackman, Jennifer Warren, Susan Clark, James Woods, Melanie Griffith, Edward Binns, Harris Yulin, Kenneth Mars and Janet Ward. Music is by Michael Small and cinematography by Bruce Surtees.

Former footballer turned private detective in Los Angeles Harry Moseby (Hackman), gets hired by an ageing actress to track down her trust-funded daughter Delly Grastner (Griffith), who is known to be in Florida. With his own personal life shaken by his wife's infidelity, Harry dives into the Grasten case with determination. Unfortunately nothing is as it first seems and it's not long before Harry is mired in murky goings...

67/100

A P.I. is hired to find a missing girl but there's more going on than just that. This was a thoroughly solid drama with excellent acting and writing all around. What was really nice was the P.I. Moseby character. Rather than play the stereotypical hard drinking, morally questionable guy ready for conflict, Gene Hackman gave us a genuinely nice guy full of empathy and a need to do the right thing, regardless of where it goes. Even his discovery of his wife's infidelity is treated with maturity and constraint. Really a unique character and overall, a great character study. -- DrNostromo.com