Night Shift
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Movie Reviews of Night Shift
Movie Review: Funny Flick
Summary: 4 Stars
I didn't know about this movie before meeting my husband, but I really enjoyed it the first time I saw it. It was very entertaining and quirky. Not your typical comedy.Movie Review: DON'T WATCH THIS ALONE!
Summary: 4 Stars
Super-scary fright fest based on the popular anthology tome by horror master Stephen King. Guaranteed to have u checking under the bed and sleeping with the lights on!Movie Review: "Love Brokers!!"
Summary: 4 Stars
Micheal Keaton hits an absolute home run on this one.Manic comic genius!Henry Winkler makes a great straight man,and Shelly looks marvelous.An overlooked classic!Movie Review: I wash my hands and my feet of you
Summary: 3 Stars
'Night Shift' was the first major release for film director Ron Howard. A child actor, best known for playing Opie Taylor on 210 episodes of "The Andy Griffith Show" from 1960 to 1968 and Richard 'Richie' Cunningham on 171 episodes of "Happy Days" from 1974 to 1984; he wisely chose to work behind the camera, thus avoiding the "Different Strokes Syndrome" of child actors who aren't so cute as adults. It stars his fellow actor from "Happy Days," Henry Winkler, who must have been trying to break out of his typecasting by playing the polar opposite of his well known character Arthur 'Fonzie' Fonzarelli. Where Da Fonz is supremely confident, Chuck Lumley (Henry Winkler) is a doormat who works at the morgue, but was once a stock broker and financial advisor. When his boss hires his incompetent nephew to take his place and moves him to the night shift he is too much of a wimp to complain.
His new partner, Bill Blazejowski (Michael Keaton) is an idea man. Though most of his schemes are hare brained, he thinks they are golden and preserves his rambling inspirations on a tape recorder.
Bill Blazejowski: I'm an idea man Chuck, I get ideas, sometimes I get so many ideas that I can't even fight them off!
One scheme he cooks up that actually works (for a while at least) is to use the quiet city morgue as a base for a call girl operation. He also rents out the hearse as a limo. He is full of ideas, and even though he is a maniac, I was inspired by his example, and also aspire to be an idea man (note to self: get a digital recorder so I can have it with my at all times if the odd million dollar idea should strike).
Besides Keaton, Shelley Long as Belinda Keaton is the other reason I enjoyed this film. The film was released the same year as "Cheers" debuted, and is a great chance to see Dianne in her Chambers. There is just one scene that is really good where she makes scrambled eggs for Chuck since they both get home from work in the early morning hours.
For a movie that combines call girls and the city morgue, "Night Shift" is surprisingly mild. But what would you expect from Opie, anyway? Still, this is a good start for a director, and Ron Howard has certainly improved immensely since this early effort. I am hearing a lot of good buzz for his latest film, "Frost/Nixon."
HENRY WINKLER
Berkeley (2005) .... Sy
P.U.N.K.S. (1999) .... Edward Crow
The Waterboy (1998) .... Coach Klein
The Lords of Flatbush (1974) .... Butchey Weinstein
MICHAEL KEATON
Multiplicity (1996) .... Doug Kinney
Speechless (1994) .... Kevin Vallick
Batman Returns (1992) .... Batman / Bruce Wayne
Pacific Heights (1990) .... Carter Hayes
Batman (1989) .... Batman / Bruce Wayne
Clean and Sober (1988) .... Daryl Poynter
Beetlejuice (1988) .... Beetlejuice
SHELLEY LONG
Dr T and the Women (2000) .... Carolyn
A Very Brady Sequel (1996) .... Carol Brady
The Brady Bunch Movie (1995) .... Carol Brady
Troop Beverly Hills (1989) .... Phyllis Nefler
The Money Pit (1986) .... Anna Crowley Beissart / Anna Fielding
Losin' It (1983) .... Kathy
Caveman (1981) .... Tala
DIRECTED BY RON HOWARD
Frost/Nixon (2008)
The Da Vinci Code (Widescreen Two-Disc Special Edition) (2006)
Cinderella Man (2005)
A Beautiful Mind (2001)
How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000)
Edtv (1999)
Ransom (1996)
Apollo 13 (Widescreen 2-Disc Anniversary Edition) (1995)
The Paper (1994)
Far and Away (1992)
Backdraft (1991)
Parenthood (1989)
Willow (1988)
Gung Ho (1986)
Cocoon (1985)
Splash (1984)
Night Shift (1982)
Grand Theft Auto (1977)
Cards, Cads, Guns, Gore and Death (1969)
Deed of Daring-Do (1969)
Old Paint (1969)
Bill Blazejowski: I wash my hands and my feet of you!
Classic 80s Comedy
Summary: 3 Stars Night Shift is the cinematic rise to fame of Michael Keaton. After a lot of tv work, this was his first big film role, and he tackles it with all out manic excitement. As Bill Blazejowski (aka Billy Blaze) Keaton is the new guy on the night shift at the morgue with Henry Winkler (playing Chuck Lumley, a superb straight man).
When Lumley's neighbor Belinda (Shelley Long as a kind-hearted prostitute) loses her pimp - I mean, he gets killed, she and the rest of the prostitutes under his umbrella are without protection in a dangerous profession. She asks Lumley for help, and together with Blazejowski, they come up with the idea to use the morgue as their home base for a prostitution ring.
Thus the stage is set for Ron Howard's Night Shift, a slapstick comedy with a few touching moments that keep the characters toeing the reality line, while remaining slight caricatures and driving a bigger-than-life story of friendship, love, and, of course, pimping.
The casting is superb. Look out for a young Kevin Costner as Frat Boy #1 in a party scene at the morgue and an even younger Shannen Doherty as a girl scout.
Night Shift is definitely an entertaining ride, but it does have a strong 80's feel to it, and although it's super fun to watch, I can't give it more than three stars in 2007. Plus, the DVD is one of those early releases that just features a menu with Play DVD, Jump to a Scene, and audio setup. Without special features, some DVDs just aren't complete these days.