Midnight Run

"This could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship."

1988 2h 6m EN

👍

7.2

SOLID

🔥

95%

CERTIFIED FRESH

👌

METACRITIC

⭐

7.5

IMDB

★7.2TMDB · 1,353🍅95%Rotten Tomatoes●78Metacritic★7.5IMDB · 103,077

ComedyCrimeThriller

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

A bounty hunter pursues a former Mafia accountant who is also being chased by a rival bounty hunter, the F.B.I., and his old mob boss after jumping bail.

“This could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.”

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Where to watch · US

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Cast

Robert De Niro
John Wesley “Jack” Walsh
Charles Grodin
Jonathan Mardukas aka “The Duke”
Yaphet Kotto
Alonzo Mosely, Special Agent, F.B.I.
John Ashton
Marvin Dorfler, Headhunter
Dennis Farina
Jimmy Serrano, Chicago mobster
Joe Pantoliano
Eddie Moscone, Bail Bonder
Richard Foronjy
Tony Darvo, Serrano's henchman
Robert Miranda
Joey, Serrano's henchman

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Martin Brest
Writers: George Gallo, Brick Mason
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

ERA

Did you know

38 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

CINEMA

Did you know

Part of the "Midnight Run Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

CAST

Did you know

215+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Martin Brest, shot by Donald E. Thorin. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Danny Elfman. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Chris Lebenzon shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Robert De Niro and Charles Grodin and Yaphet Kotto carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "This could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Martin Brest directs. Donald E. Thorin behind the camera. Danny Elfman scores. Chris Lebenzon cuts. Profitable at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

138 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
2Part of the "Midnight Run Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
3215+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.
4Directed by Martin Brest, shot by Donald E. Thorin. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Original score by Danny Elfman. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
6Editor Chris Lebenzon shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7Robert De Niro and Charles Grodin and Yaphet Kotto carry the top of the cast.
8Marketing tagline: "This could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.".
9IMDB entry: tt0095631 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
10Classified under 11 themes, including "crooked lawyer", "road trip", "buddy", "buddy comedy".

The technical file

Cinematography: Donald E. Thorin
Original score: Danny Elfman
Editing: Chris Lebenzon
Production design: Angelo P. Graham
Costume design: Gloria Gresham
Makeup / hair: Daniel C. Striepeke
Sound: Rick Alexander
Stunt coordinator: Glenn Randall Jr.
Runtime: 126 min · 2h 6m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $30,000,000
Box office: $38,413,606
Return: 128% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: Midnight Run (1988)
Rotten Tomatoes: 95% 🍅 Fresh
Metacritic: 78/100
IMDB rating: 7.5/10 · 103,077 votes
MPAA: R

Awards

2 wins & 5 nominations total

National Board of Review: Top Ten Films

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Part of

Midnight Run Collection

The adventures of bounty hunter Jack Walsh

Also by

Martin Brest

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

John Chard2019-01-20
★ 10/10
Midnight Run 1988, the benchmark for the buddy buddy road movie. The unsung DeNiro classic. The missing 80s masterpiece as regards everything coming together, and simply the best buddy buddy movie that, to me at least, has ever hit the screen. De Niro & Grodin, there is no other duo in the genre that bounces off each other with the 100% joyful results we get here. They define the term dynamic duo. Director Martin Brest lets his actors do their thing, it is the sort of film where the cast are just happy to be working and use their talent to the max. Be it improv or visually acting in the back ground, both men are at one and in some chemistry zone. The score from Danny Elfman is like some hybrid Western wacky races fusion, but hell it works well. One of Elfman's best ever scores in fact. The dialogue is electric, some of the script is so sharp it should be put away in a sharps box and labelled up as to be opened whilst wearing gloves. The rest of the cast are uniformly brilliant, be it the wonderful John Ashton as rival bounty hunter Marvin, the menacing yet cheekily attired Dennis Farina as mob boss Jimmy Serrano, or Yaphet Kotto as the constantly irritated FBI agent Alonso Mosely, it's pretty much a flawless cast in optimum gear. The rating on the big movie sites, though high enough, is still a disgrace, I can only think that DeNiro fans really didn't want to see him doing a comedy? Well I say they are wrong! Because this film shows that the great man once had much to give the comedy/action splinter of film. Perhaps he just needed the perfect foil of Charles Grodin alongside him? Either way this film is smart, funny, even tender at times (I defy all to not be touched deeply during a daughter/father reunion). It has no peers for an 80s action/comedy, with bags of action (Brest shows some great skills at action construction) to keep the pulses raised. A group of characters beautifully brought to life by a top draw cast, and a finale that gladdens the heart because it closes exactly the way it should, Midnight Run, my bias not withstanding, is a benchmark movie for its ilk. Fistophobia for those that don't agree! 10/10
kevin20192024-01-25
★ 10/10
"Midnight Run" has a generous measure of wonderfully executed action sequences and comedy that is genuinely funny, although there is an extremely high reliance upon swearing and this will undoubtedly offend and alienate the more sensitive souls sitting out there in the audience. This is also a hugely entertaining film which contains a number of memorable Robert De Niro moments - he is fascinating to watch during the scene where he visits his ex-wife Gail to borrow some money (this, in turn, leads to a spectacularly awkward encounter with his daughter which eventually ends in embarrassing silence) and again when he finally comes face to face with Jimmy Serrano, an unwelcome face from his past - and the many locations look absolutely gorgeous.