Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Senteur As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

Married Baby Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?

Skyler Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

zardoz-13 Character actor Cameron Mitchell gave the performance of his career for co-directors Roland Kibbee and Burt Lancaster in their complicated but intriguing murder mystery "The Midnight Man," co-starring Susan Clark, Morgan Woodward, Harris Yulin, Lawrence Dobkin, Robert Quarry, Ed Lauter, and Catherine Bach. For the record, Kibbee and Lancaster had collaborated before, principally with Kibbee penning screenplays for Lancaster epics, such as "Ten Tall Men" (1951), "The Crimson Pirate" (1952), "Vera Cruz" (1954), "The Devil's Disciple" (1959), and "Valdez Is Coming" (1971). Together, Kibbee and Lancaster adapted David Anthony's novel "The Midnight Lady and the Mourning Man." Considering the abundance of talent involved in this melodrama, "The Midnight Man" should have been a superior whodunit. Indeed, everything about this solidly scripted but formulaic murder mystery is done with efficiency. Kibbee received an Emmy not only for a "Columbo" episode, but he also won one for a "Barney Miller" episode. Kibbee's output ranks as above-average. The chief problem with "The Midnight Man" is the lackluster quality of their action. The events take place at a remote college in South Carolina so nothing that happens can affect the fate of West Civilization. Although the characters are as sturdy as the gifted cast that incarnates them, Kibbee and Lancaster's movie seems mundane despite its narrative strengths.The characters in "The Midnight Man" comprise an interesting group. Burt Lancaster plays Jim Slade; he is a former Chicago cop who served three years in prison because he shot the man that he caught in bed with his wife. This makes him a flawed character searching for redemption. Slade's old friend Quartz (Cameron Mitchell of "Garden of Evil") is a former policeman who heads up the security of a small college, and he gives Slade a job as a night watchman. Susan Clark is cast as Slade's parole officer Linda Thorpe. Ms. Thorpe constantly clashes with County Sheriff Casey (Harris Yulin of "Scarface") over his treatment of her parolees. Casey wears a white cowboy hat, and at times "The Midnight Man" resembles an episode of "In the Heat of the Night." The action unfolds when Slade learns that somebody broke into his office of Psychology Professor Swanson (Quinn K. Redeker of "Ordinary People") and stole three audio cassettes. These cassettes contain monologues from troubled students who recorded them for Swanson so he could listen to them at a later date and counsel them. Slade interviews the three students. One of the three students, Natalie (Catherine Bach of "Thunderbolt & Lightfoot"), dies under mysterious circumstances, and Slade sets out to expose the murderer. Sheriff Casey arrests the most obvious candidate, Ewing (Charles Tyner of "The Longest Yard"), a fire-and-brimstone religious fanatic who has evidence that implicates him in the slaying. Naturally, our hero doesn't believe that the unsavory Ewing could have committed the crime. While Casey is constantly at his throat, Quartz and Slade's parole officer do their best to shield him from the county sheriff.Unraveling the narrative threads of "The Midnight Man" to disclose the identities of the villains would constitute a crime. Slade encounters a number of likely suspects as he searches for the villain that killed Natalie. Meantime, he collides with three grimy, redneck dastards that do their best to kill him. The scene in the barn is terrific, especially when Slade commandeers a tractor to smash through walls and run over his adversaries. The revelations that our hero uncovers distinguishes this movie and virtually everybody is implicated in one way or another. Slade's chief opponent Sheriff Casey winds up being his strongest ally, and Harris Yulin gives a good account of himself. Lancaster was on his last legs as a leading man when he made "The Midnight Man," but he gives another of his ultra-efficient performances, and this movie is a polished affair despite its largely ordinary setting and revelations.

Kieran Green Burt Lancaster plays a down on his luck security guard recently released for the murder of his wife, he becomes employed in a local South Carolina College,he becomes embroiled in a strange murder mystery, where nothing is what it seems until all is typically revealed at the climax. 'The Midnight Man' Co-stars Susan Clark and the future Daisy Duke, Catherine Bach, in her first screen appearance, and character actor Ed Lauter. 'The Midnight Man' is unfortunately obscure to most classic film buffs, it is available on imported DVD which it's transfer is an oddity but watchable. In this age of HD/Widescreen, it's hard to believe that Universal have let this one go! the transfer is 'open matte' which reveals microphones, lights and camera tracks!

sol ****SPOILERS**** Burt Lancaster,Jim Slade, both stared and directed this crime drama set in a southern college about an ex-cop who did time for killing his wife's lover who he found in bed with her. Having his friend and fellow retired cop, Quartz, Cameron Mitchell, get him a job at the college as a night watchman as part of Jim's parole obligation Jim uses his skills as a big city homicide investigator to crack a murder case that the local police thought they already solved. Besides Burt Lancaster the movie "The Midnight Man" has a fine cast from old pros like Cameron Mitchall to up and coming stars like the stunningly beautiful Catherine Bach, Natalie Clayborne, and even has Burt's handsome 27 year-old son William in a major role in the movie as Natalie's boyfriend and fellow student Arthur King. On his first night on the job as night watchman Jim finds that there was a break in at Dr. Prichette, Robert Quarry, office were a number of audio tapes were stolen of students who recorded them for him to help them in their personal problems. One of the tape that were stolen was that of Natalie Clayborne. The next day when Jim asks Natalie about the stolen tape she at first doesn't seem too worried about it. Later that night he sees her outside in the street very despondent as well as both drunk and high on pot where Jim drives Natalie back to her dorm-room at the college. The next day Natalie is found murdered and the college janitor Ewin, Charles Tyner, who turned out to be a combination religious fanatic and sexual pervert, is arrested and charged with her murder. Police Chief Casey, Harris Yulin, feels that the case has been solved but Jim thinks otherwise. All at once Jim becomes a marked man by those really responsible for Natalie's murder. It turns out that the stolen tape is being used to blackmail State Senator Clayborne,Morgan Woodworth, who's Natalie's father and who's also in line to be the next state governor. Clayborne molested Natalie when she was a teenager and that's what was recorded on the stolen tape by Natalie but there was more to her death then that. Natalie wrote an unfinished poem to who she was having an affair with who's clues were the Greek mythological personalities Janus & Mylilene that if closely examined identified who was behind her murder."The Midnight Man" is a suspense filled murder drama with Burt Lancaster giving one of the best and most underrated performances of his long film career. Complicated but never confusing the movie really comes together in the very last fifteen minutes with all the pieces of the puzzle coming into place. It was then when Jim realized that he was being used by people very close to him that he trusted to get the very incriminating audio tape and then, when he served their aims, make him disappear for good. There are at least three attempts on Jim's life in the movie culminating with an exciting kidnapping breakout and escape from his captors that ended in a slam-bang barn smashing finish.The ending of "The Midnight Man" is very unconventional for a crime movie but thats what makes the film both unique and at the same time very real and believable where nothing in real life, just like in the movie, is absolute.

humpty After seeing Burt Lancaster in films like THE SWIMMER and SORRY WRONG NUMBER, he is certainly a let down in THE MIDNIGHT MAN. So is the movie. It's two and a half hours long and is a who-dun-it that leaves this viewer thinking, "I don't care who- dun-it. Burt looks tired, as though he'd rather be doing anything but working on this picture. At no point does he manage even a spark of that old vibrant Lancaster attitude. The plot is confusing at best. Burt is a security guard on a college campus where a series of murders take place. He also manages to get a woman 30 years his junior to fall for him. The kissing scenes would make Woody Allen cringe. And the fight scene where Burt beats up two young guys is laughable. Later in his career Burt is cast in some parts that fit the dignity of an older man. He makes a poor imitation of Harry Callahan in this one.This film's only value is as a time capsule for 1974. It has the flavor and atmosphere of a 2 1/2 hour episode of Hawaii Five-O, except not as exiting. Avoid this one my friends. Humpty