Anything with Hackman and Penn must be a joyous thing to behold, but she still cuts the film away to it’s bare minimum, making it more of a joy to watch than perhaps imaginable. Of course, she had the best tools to play with. Her work here is as every bit as sublime as her cutting on The Hustler or Bonnie and Clyde. What is it about Dede Allen’s editing? With one cut she can be as psychologically, structurally and intellectually evaluative than any other Hollywood editor in the history of the motion picture. His unwillingness and relentlessness to understand a situation fuels an addicting and contemporary film exercise in character development and the film would certainly be a lot worse if Gene Hackman’s cool expressiveness was miscast. It is Harry’s gradual off-screen realisation that it is okay to be unique that makes him such an engaging character to watch. That’s what makes it more painful when he realises that he isn’t the PI he dreams of, because they don’t exist. He models his persona after hard boiled film-noir characters and even models his relationships after them. Harry Moseby is perhaps the quint-essential Sam Spade wannabe. It is a shame Night Moves isn’t as fondly remembered as Dog Day Afternoon or The Godfather, as for my money it’s every bit as effective.
The character driven piece oozes atmosphere from every fibre of it’s celluloid being and the entire film is structured for a mesmerizing finale on par with the greats of it’s generation.
The film plays like an old blues song, with flourishes and grooves of melancholy weaved in for good measure. As is the case with Arthur Penn, the morality of violence, relationships and infidelity is questioned under the back-lot of post-watergate american scepticism. As this missing persons case continues, Harry gets brought into a world of Hollywood stuntmen, aeroplane pilots, cheating wives, Eric Rohmer films and false identities. Directed by Arthur Penn, it stars Gene Hackman as a former pro-footballer turned private eye Harry Moseby, who is hired by a Hollywood actress to find her missing daughter.
Night Moves was released in 1975 and is a surprisingly deep, complex and influential neo-noir film.
0 kommentar(er)
