De Niro Taking Another MIDNIGHT RUN?

One of the great forgotten films of the eighties is Midnight Run starring Robert De Niro and Charles Grodin. De Niro starred as Jack Walsh, a bounty hunter who ends up tracking an accountant (Grodin) who has stolen $15 million dollars from a Las Vegas gangster named Jimmy Serrano (Dennis Farina). In addition to a terrific plot and script, the film features some brilliant performances. DeNiro was beginning to stretch some of his comedic muscles with this film, and his blend of toughness and humor is wondrous. Grodin is perfectly cast as the intelligent and sardonic prisoner (in a nice twist to the usual cop movie dynamic). The movie also contains one of the best villains ever in Jimmy Serrano. Farina steals the show, armed with lines that spit out of his mouth like hilarious arrows. Fortunately, screenwriter George Gallo prevents the character from becoming too humorous, and Farina manages to project a palpable sense of threat despite some brilliant comedic moments. Here is a little video of some of Farina's best moments:

Now it's being reported that De Niro has been signed to star in a sequel to the 1988 film. Grodin, who retired from acting years ago, will not return, which is wise. Although I'd say that De Niro's character wasn't so very compelling that we'd need to see him again, I think the bounty hunter storyline would be worth revisiting. De Niro needs a project to toughen his image a bit after several years of playing off that image for comedy.

They need to make sure they get a decent villain for this thing, though. The Serrano character went a long way to cementing the success of the first film.
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All you need to know is that I love movies and baseball. I write about both on a temporary medium known as the Internet. Twitter: @rayderousse or @unfilteredlens1 Go St. Louis Cardinals! www.stlcardinalbaseball.com