Rent Night Moves (1975)

Solid neo-noir - Night Moves review by griggs

Night Moves is a solid neo-noir, but it never quite hits the heights it’s reaching for. Gene Hackman, though, is absolutely on fire—his performance as a washed-up PI is so good he pretty much carries the whole thing. The mystery is nicely tangled, full of dodgy characters and dead ends, but the payoff doesn’t hit as hard as it should. That said, the 1970s cynicism is laid on thick, and there’s a great, uneasy atmosphere throughout. It’s a good watch, but it's not quite the classic it feels like it’s building up to.

Stern and Sharp - Night Moves review by CH

When did womem cease walking across the room in nothing but a long, neatly-pressed shirt which perhaps belongs to the man also upon the premises?

This is but one - twice over - of the Seventies tropes which find a place in Night Moves. This also finds room for a small boat with the name POINT OF VIEW stencilled across its rear. This is perhaps an in-joke for a film, directed by Arthur Penn and written by former novelist, Scotsman Alan Sharp which echoes other works. The main point of view is that of private investigator Gene Hackman whose latest case is as tangled as the one behind The Big Sleep (including his own fraught marriage)..

In Los Angeles he is hired by a one-time actress to seek out her teenage daughter (Melanie Griffoth) who is no blushing violet. On the contrary, she turns out - in Florida - to be distinctly pink-bottomed and living with her stepfather.. These are but a few elements of a plot which also finds room for smuggling and stuntmen. It is as if almost anything could surface in a narrative whose body count accelerates through these hundred minutes. This is not time wasted, there is always something to keep the attention, and it is all more engaging than the bizarre work to which Penn next turned: The Missouri Breaks.