Friday, October 23, 2015

Night Game (1989)

Former pro baseball player Mike Seaver is a detective in Galveston.  He wears the largest sunglasses known to man, and is engaged to a girl who is half his age, and whose mother he used to date in high school (yuck!) Even though Mike and Roxy aren't married yet, she's already irritated at the hours he keeps and all the emergency calls that keep interrupting their nights.

When a series of young blondes are killed late at night near the boardwalk, Mike is called to work the case.  When he arrives at the scene, he bangs heads with Broussard, his nemesis in the FBI.  Broussard is not pleased that Mike is poking around since he believes the case should be handled by the FBI. But Chief of Police Nelson runs interference and arranges for Mike to be the lead, and asks that both provide each other updates. As expected, Mike keeps Broussard out of the loop.

Mike figures out that a killing occurs every night there is a game in the Astrodome, and that the killer is using some kind of hook to kill his victims.  He's got to stop the killer before he kills again.  And since Mike's wife is a young blonde and she works on the boardwalk, he may want to be more careful about picking her up late at night, rather than forgetting to do so because he's on the case.

While this isn't ever going to be someone's favorite movie, and it's on the slow side, I still liked it.  It's got a good cast and I tend to be partial to amusement parks, which don't feature prominently, but there are still some nice shots of the boardwalk, beach, and amusement area.  Roy Scheider is Mike, the chief is played by Richard Bradford, and Paul Gleason (better known as the teacher in the Breakfast Club) plays Broussard.  Mike's girlfriend is played by Karen Young, and even after looking at her long list of roles, I'm still not sure why I recognize her.

Red Mitchell, who was the lead in low budget horror flick Forever Evil and resembles a cross between Jack Black and William Shatner, has a bit part as a guy who wants to use the phone booth.  The credits list his character as Fat Boy, which is pretty embarrassing especially since you wouldn't see him and immediately go, wow that guy is fat.
Red Mitchell really wants to use the phone
She died as she lived - with poofy 80s hair
Always love a good crane shot
Character actors Paul Gleason and Richard Bradford
check out the placement of umbrellas and chairs
Mikes sunglasses threaten to consume the rest of his face
Usually when an older gentleman asks a young woman in a crop
top to come over to his car, it's not because she's his fiancé
Why yes, I'm a young blonde alone last at night near
the boardwalk. Why do you ask?
the boardwalk and a killer on the loose


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