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Night Shift

5.4

638

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Original title

Night Shift

Year

1982

Running time

105 min.

Country

United States

Director

Ron Howard

Screenwriter

Lowell Ganz, Babaloo Mandel

Cast

Music

Burt Bacharach

Cinematography

James Crabe

Producer

Warner Bros., Ladd Company

Genre

Comedy | Prostitution

Synopsis

A nebbish of a morgue attendant gets shunted back to the night shift where he is shackled with an obnoxious neophyte partner who dreams of the "one great idea" for success. His life takes a bizarre turn when a prostitute neighbour complains about the loss of her pimp. His partner, upon hearing the situation, suggests that they fill that opening themselves using the morgue at night as their brothel. Against his better judgement, he gets talked into the idea, only to find that it's more than his boss that has objections to this bit of entrepreneurship.

Awards: 1982: Golden Globes: Nominated for Best Actor - Comedy/Musical (Henry Winkler)

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Critics' reviews

"The largest shares of credit for this pleasant surprise evidently belong to director Ron Howard--whose assurance behind the camera may come as a revelation"

Gary Arnold: The Washington Post
"This is a halfway funny movie, one that's got loads of good gags in its first half and nothing but trouble in its second."

Janet Maslin: The New York Times
"Though the plotline hardly sounds like a family film, this is probably the most sanitized treatment of pimps and prostitution audiences will ever see."

Variety Staff: Variety
"Ron Howard's direction is carefully balanced, and he treats his characters with humanity and respect. Winkler turns in the best performance of his career, and Keaton is wonderful."

Rita Kempley: The Washington Post
"This isn't as snappily directed or as caustically conceived as the subsequent Risky Business, which has a similar theme, but it's arguably just as sexy and almost as funny."

Jonathan Rosenbaum: Chicago Reader
"A mish-mash that is further hindered by Howard's trite ideas of directing. Plot and camera moves are entirely predictable"

The Globe and Mail

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User history

Night Shift

1982

Ron Howard

5.4

(638)