Directed by Arthur Penn. Written by Alan Sharp.
Night Moves, Arthur Penn’s detective story starring Gene Hackman, isn’t rated R because of its nudity (of which there’s plenty) or its violence (of which there is some). It’s rated R because its themes of adultery, parent-child trauma, relationships, and self-acceptance require some life experience to understand their messy significance, and how difficult they are to resolve.
This is some real adult shit: buried resentment, the cruelty it can produce; the self-doubt and desperate search for validation; the hurt of betrayal when it’s by those you trust most; the despair of seeing history repeat itself right in front of you and despite your best efforts.
It’s all here in a private detective’s tale where Hackman’s Harry Moseby is hired by a Hollywood has-been (who wasn’t ever someone) to track down her 16-year old daughter who’s gone AWOL. A young Melanie Griffith stars as the girl, Delly, a real wild child who throws her affection and body at lovers she shouldn’t. A runaway child proves part of something bigger, however, and as Harry tries to unravel the threads, he gets pulled into that something bigger.
That’s only half of Night Moves. The other half is about Harry’s own home life and childhood trauma. A man whose job mostly concerns itself with catching adulterers suddenly finds himself an unwitting victim and his marriage in disarray. In Delly’s strife with the (missing) parental figures in her life, Harry sees himself, a boy whose absent parents still haunt him. Professional detachment seems impossible.
There’s almost a mythological aspect to Gene Hackman’s performance as Harry Moseby. The performance itself is inspiring, with Hackman somehow emitting both dad and daddy vibes in addition to hardboiled detective, but what lingers is the sense of how a star like Hackman is a thing of the past.
He’s no pretty boy and has no silver tongue. What charm we get from Moseby is a boyish caddishness at first, but as he reels from his domestic upheaval, that nonsense falls away. Hackman suddenly firms up with a honed integrity when called upon as he tracks down Delly, and it brings to light a hidden vulnerability that seemed impossible at the start of the movie.
My point is: is there a Gene Hackman of today? Someone who can be dangerous, unaccountable, honest, virtuous and vulnerable? Someone you can trust with a conflicted and complex character in an unsavory story who won’t look like a pretender? Russell Crowe comes close, but Hollywood doesn’t seem to know what to do with him anymore.
Sharp’s script isn’t just to Harry’s benefit though, with supporting characters fleshed out with complete outlooks, backgrounds, and motivations. Susan Clark stars as Ellen, Harry’s wife, and while their scenes from a marriage must cede the spotlight to Harry’s investigation, Clark and Hackman’s work in bringing this confrontation to life is sensational. The blistering confrontation borne out of built-up frustration is made devastating by the mutual love the frustration is rooted in.
Jennifer Warren is excellent as Paula, a step-step mother of sorts to Delly as the partner of Delly’s ex-step-father (complicated arrangements, I know). A woman with her own baggage, Sharp and Penn let her be much more than a foil to Ellen and a plot traffic cone for Harry to weave around. If it was just Harry leading the charge and giving us someone to relate to, it’d be enough, but with all significant characters pulling their weight, we have an actual drama on our hands.
It’s suddenly no longer a two-dimensional hero’s journey, and when everyone has skin in the game, it changes the tenor of proceedings. It makes Night Moves sweaty and frustrated, lit from within by an intensity your typical detective story lacks. What sets fire to the whole thing is the fraught emotions hotwiring everyone, and they channel it with sex. Unfortunately, the sex is anything but a manifestation of two people’s love for one another.
Sex, childhood trauma, relationship rift, action, brawling: it’s all here, and wrapped up in a sleek detective story package – incredible. A classic in its deft portrayal of the starting comedown from the Summer of Love and the 70s creeping defeatism, and a lasting tribute and proof of Hackman’s uncanny and curious ability as a leading man.
Mikkel Frederiksen 