Night Shift (1982)

User Rating:

6.3/10   

Director:

Ron Howard

Writers:

Lowell Ganz (written by) and
Babaloo Mandel (written by)

Release Date:

30 July 1982 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Tagline:

Ever since two enterprising young men turned the City Morgue into a swinging business, people have been dying to get in.

Plot:

A nebbish of a morgue attendant gets shunted back to the night shift where he is shackled with an obnoxious...

Plot Keywords:

Morgue | Pimp | Prostitute | Morgue Attendant | Female Nudity

Awards:

Nominated for Golden Globe. Another 1 win

Cast

Henry Winkler	...	Chuck Lumley
Michael Keaton	...	Bill Blazejowski
Shelley Long	...	Belinda Keaton
Gina Hecht	...	Charlotte Koogle
Pat Corley	...	Edward Koogle
Bobby Di Cicco	...	Leonard (as Bobby DiCicco)
Nita Talbot	...	Vivian
Basil Hoffman	...	Drollhauser
Tim Rossovich	...	Luke
Clint Howard	...	Jefferey
Joe Spinell	...	Manetti
Cheryl Carter	...	Tanya
Becky Gonzalez	...	Lupe
Corki Corman	...	Sylvia
Jaid Barrymore	...	Joyce (as Ildiko Jaid)

Runtime:

106 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Canada:AA (Ontario) (original rating) | Canada:G (Quebec) | Canada:PA (Manitoba) | Canada:PG (Ontario) (re-rating) (1999) | Canada:R (Nova Scotia) | Iceland:12 | Sweden:15 | New Zealand:R16 | Finland:K-16 | Norway:16 | UK:15 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Ladd Company, The

Trivia:

Henry Winkler's character can't say "I love you" at the end of the movie, a nod to the character "Fonzie" from "Happy Days" who couldn't say it either (Director Ron Howard had starred with Winkler on the series).

Goofs:

Continuity: In the beginning of the movie, the pimp's arms are tied to the chair along with his body. As the body begins to fall, his arms are tied. As he progresses in the fall, his arms are up in the air (untied). When the pimp and the chair crash through the basketball hoop, his arms are tied to the chair again.

Quotes:

Chuck Lumley: [reads the forms that Lenoard, the day shift guy left] Name of the disceased... something polish?

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Psych: There Might Be Blood (#3.6)" (2008)

Soundtrack:

That's What Friends Are For

Too many good quotes to pick just one!

Chuck Lumley (Henry Winkler) is a harried, put-upon nerd who gave up a prominent career on Wall Street because it was making him a nervous wreck. Now he works a peaceful, low stress job at the city morgue - but things change when he's forced into working the night shift.

He's partnered with Bill Blazejowski (Michael Keaton, in an instant attention-getting debut film performance), a wild and offbeat "idea man" who likes to carry around a tape recorder so he can record his crackpot ideas - example, feeding mayonnaise to tuna-fish.

He also makes the acquaintance of Belinda Keaton (Shelley Long), a "nice girl" prostitute who's just moved into his building. She reveals to him that she and her friends are in need of a pimp since their last one was murdered.

Well, Bill gets the bright idea that he and Chuck should be pimps for Belinda and her friends and that they should operate out of the morgue (Bill's already enough of an entrepreneur to rent out the hearse as a limo for horny college kids).

What follows next is truly one of the brightest and funniest - and actually endearing - comedies to emerge from the 1980's.

This is no mean trick. I mean, making an upbeat, easygoing (yet still R-rated) comedy about prostitution would seem like a crazy thing to do. Yet, screenwriters Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel (that is the craziest stage name I've ever heard!) mine all situations for their humor and heart.

Most of the mileage comes out of Keaton's comic energy - and whenever this picture starts to drag, he can be counted on to bring back some life into the thing.

Chuck is a sweet, simple guy who I actually like - the complete antithesis of The Fonz - and it turns out to have been one of Winkler's best performances ever, guided well by his old 'Happy Days' cohort Ron Howard (who has a cameo as the annoying saxophone player).

Even Shelley Long is really, really sweet, delivering one of her more notable feature film performances.

LOTS of familiar faces in the supporting cast, and these include Gina Hecht, Pat Corley, Vincent Schiavelli, Charles Fleischer, Richard Belzer, Joe Spinell, Howard's cult icon brother Clint, and others. Be on the lookout for Kevin Costner (I sure had a hard time spotting him!) as a frat boy, Shannen Doherty as a Bluebell, and Drew Barrymore's mom Jaid as one of the prostitutes.

Film introduces the song 'That's What Friends Are For', sung and produced by Rod Stewart. A few years later, it would be a hit for Dionne Warwick and Friends.

"Night Shift" is entertaining and likable and that's pretty much all that matters.

Just a couple of good lines to pique your interest:

"Oh, that Barney Rubble...what an actor!"

"Hello, this is Chuck to remind Bill to SHUT UP!"

"LOOOOOOOOVE BROKERS!"

"Note to self...call Starkist."

7/10