8. Into the Night (dir. John Landis, 1985)
Most peoples knowledge of John Landis stops after
Trading Places or the video for Thriller, thanks in part to his implication in the death of Vic Murrow and two illegally hired child actors while filming his section of
The Twilight Zone (it should be stated that Landis was acquitted of manslaughter). But in amongst all the emotional turmoil surrounding the case, Landis made a breezy little comedy called
Into The Night, which was his last truly good film until his recent comeback with
Burke and Hare.
Into The Night stars Jeff Goldblum as Ed Okin, a man so restless and bored with his life that he is quite incapable of sleeping. One night, on a random drive to the local airport, Michelle Pfeiffer lands on his car and they drive off into the night to escape some Iranian gangsters from whom she has stolen rare emeralds. The film is stuffed full of cameos, including David Cronenberg, Jim Henson and Jonathan Demme, and also features David Bowie as a creepy hitman with an earwig moustache. But its worth seeing mostly for the believable and likeable romance between Pfeiffer and Goldblum, the latter of whom is deeply underrated.
Three Men on a Blog review - The Movie Hour podcast: #7