The Midnight Man (1974 film)
Encyclopedia
The Midnight Man is a 1974
detective film directed by Burt Lancaster
, who also starred with Susan Clark
.
shared directing credit with Roland Kibbee
, and shared writing credit with Kibbee and author David Anthony upon whose novel The Midnight Lady and the Morning Man the movie was based. Featuring a fairly convoluted plot, the movie was not a major success and Lancaster did not consider it to be among his better work.
Co-stars included Susan Clark
and Cameron Mitchell
, as well as the future Daisy Duke
, Catherine Bach
, in her first screen appearance, and character actors Ed Lauter
and Charles Tyner who would both be featured in The Longest Yard (the 1974 original, not the 2005 remake).
It was filmed in Clemson, South Carolina
, and Anderson
and Pickens Counties in 1973, with the first shots begun on February 13, 1973, the opening scenes of the Jim Slade character arriving by Trailways bus at Jordan College. The film was released in the United States on June 10, 1974 in New York City, and nationwide on June 14. It premiered at the Astro III theatre, Clemson
, S.C., on March 14, 1974 with a red carpet ceremony.
and Joan Lorring
, in a small town where he has been offered a job (part of his parole agreement) as a night watchman at the local Jordan College, the campus of which is portrayed by Clemson University
. A coed is murdered (Catherine Bach
) and the local sheriff (Harris Yulin
) tries to pin the crime on a creepy college janitor who spouts Biblical revelation while hiding pornography, played by Charles Tyner, who would be cast a year later as the pyromania
c murderer in The Longest Yard. Slade has other ideas and pursues an unauthorized investigation of his own. "Taking the lid off the hornet's nest involves him in considerable danger as blackmails, beatings, attempted rape and further murders wrestle for screentime before the long and-overcomplicated drama grinds to a close."
The murdered student turns out to be the daughter of Senator Clayborne (Morgan Woodward
), who subsequently receives blackmail letters over his daughter Natalie's confession to her campus psychiatric department counselor about an incestuous relationship with her father. Incriminating cassette tapes of the account have fallen into the hands of the blackmailers. Slade questions various possible suspects including Natalie Clayborne's estranged boyfriend King, (played by Burt Lancaster's son, William
), who declares to Slade that the generation gap
"just got a little wider", Dean Collins, the psych professor, ( played by actual Clemson faculty member Harold N. Cooledge Jr.), a nerdy student whose taped psych rant was also stolen, and Senator Clayborne.
All the while, Slade is being warned off of overstepping his authority as a mere night watchman, no longer a cop, by his parole officer Linda Thorpe, played by Susan Clark
, as well as by his buddy Quartz, played by Mitchell. Lancaster has a brief affair with Clark. A rustic family of thugs overseen by a "Ma Barker
"-ish mother provide misdirection in the plot, as well as turning out to be "muscle" for certain corrupt members of the Sheriff's Department. Their appearance on screen is always accompanied by a hwonking harmonica to emphasize their hillbilly
status. Ed Lauter
portrayed one of the sons.
The story concludes with Jim Slade realizing that both the parole officer and his buddy Quartz are the powers behind the crime, a conclusion that has to be narrated for the audience in a "thought" monologue by Lancaster as he watches his friend hobble around the cinder track of historic Riggs Field
at Clemson, on crutches from a broken leg suffered early in the film. Only Quartz could have known one critical clue in the cover-up of the original murder. Sheriff Casey rolls up and arrests Quartz. Slade confronts Thorpe, who produces the stolen tapes, hidden in her freezer, knowing that the jig is up and she is about to be arrested.
The film concludes with the sheriff offering Slade an apology, and a job. This is one of the major flaws in the film since, as a convicted violent felon, Slade cannot hold a position in law enforcement or carry a firearm. Roll credits.
1974 in film
The year 1974 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*February 7 - Blazing Saddles is released in the USA.*August 7 - Peter Wolf, lead singer of The J...
detective film directed by Burt Lancaster
Burt Lancaster
Burton Stephen "Burt" Lancaster was an American film actor noted for his athletic physique and distinctive smile...
, who also starred with Susan Clark
Susan Clark
Susan Clark is a Canadian actress, possibly best-known for her role as Katherine on the American television sitcom Webster, on which she appeared with her husband, Alex Karras.-Personal life:...
.
General information
Burt LancasterBurt Lancaster
Burton Stephen "Burt" Lancaster was an American film actor noted for his athletic physique and distinctive smile...
shared directing credit with Roland Kibbee
Roland Kibbee
Roland Kibbee was an American screenwriter and producer.- Works :...
, and shared writing credit with Kibbee and author David Anthony upon whose novel The Midnight Lady and the Morning Man the movie was based. Featuring a fairly convoluted plot, the movie was not a major success and Lancaster did not consider it to be among his better work.
Co-stars included Susan Clark
Susan Clark
Susan Clark is a Canadian actress, possibly best-known for her role as Katherine on the American television sitcom Webster, on which she appeared with her husband, Alex Karras.-Personal life:...
and Cameron Mitchell
Cameron Mitchell (actor)
Cameron Mitchell was an American film, television and Broadway actor with close ties to one of Canada's most successful families, and considered, by Lee Strasberg, to be one of the founding members of The Actor's Studio in New York City.-Early life and career:Born Cameron MacDowell Mitzel in...
, as well as the future Daisy Duke
Daisy Duke
Daisy Mae Duke is a fictional character, played by Catherine Bach, from the American television series The Dukes of Hazzard. She was the cousin of Bo and Luke, the main protagonists of the show, who were also cousins, and the three lived on a farm on the outskirts of Hazzard County with their Uncle...
, Catherine Bach
Catherine Bach
Catherine Bach is an American actress. She is known for playing Daisy Duke in the television series The Dukes of Hazzard and Margo Dutton in African Skies.-Career:...
, in her first screen appearance, and character actors Ed Lauter
Ed Lauter
Edward Lauter is an American actor. He has appeared in numerous movies and was a stand up comic before getting into acting.Lauter was born in Long Beach, Long Island, New York...
and Charles Tyner who would both be featured in The Longest Yard (the 1974 original, not the 2005 remake).
It was filmed in Clemson, South Carolina
Clemson, South Carolina
Clemson is a college town located in Pickens County in the U.S. state of South Carolina. The population was 11,939 at the 2000 census and center of an urban cluster with a total population of 42,199...
, and Anderson
Anderson County, South Carolina
-Demographics:As of the census of 2010, there were 187,126 people and 70,597 households residing in the county. The population density was 260.6 people per square mile . There were 84,092 housing units...
and Pickens Counties in 1973, with the first shots begun on February 13, 1973, the opening scenes of the Jim Slade character arriving by Trailways bus at Jordan College. The film was released in the United States on June 10, 1974 in New York City, and nationwide on June 14. It premiered at the Astro III theatre, Clemson
Clemson University
Clemson University is an American public, coeducational, land-grant, sea-grant, research university located in Clemson, South Carolina, United States....
, S.C., on March 14, 1974 with a red carpet ceremony.
Plot
Lancaster plays an ex-Chicago policeman, Jim Slade, who has just been released on parole from prison for shooting his wife's lover in their bed. He goes to live with friends, played by Cameron MitchellCameron Mitchell (actor)
Cameron Mitchell was an American film, television and Broadway actor with close ties to one of Canada's most successful families, and considered, by Lee Strasberg, to be one of the founding members of The Actor's Studio in New York City.-Early life and career:Born Cameron MacDowell Mitzel in...
and Joan Lorring
Joan Lorring
Joan Lorring is a Hong Kong-born American actress.-Early life:Lorring fled with her mother in 1939 following the Japanese invasion...
, in a small town where he has been offered a job (part of his parole agreement) as a night watchman at the local Jordan College, the campus of which is portrayed by Clemson University
Clemson University
Clemson University is an American public, coeducational, land-grant, sea-grant, research university located in Clemson, South Carolina, United States....
. A coed is murdered (Catherine Bach
Catherine Bach
Catherine Bach is an American actress. She is known for playing Daisy Duke in the television series The Dukes of Hazzard and Margo Dutton in African Skies.-Career:...
) and the local sheriff (Harris Yulin
Harris Yulin
Harris Yulin is an American actor who has appeared in dozens of Hollywood and television films.-Life and career:Yulin was born in...
) tries to pin the crime on a creepy college janitor who spouts Biblical revelation while hiding pornography, played by Charles Tyner, who would be cast a year later as the pyromania
Pyromania
Pyromania in more extreme circumstances can be an impulse control disorder to deliberately start fires to relieve tension or for gratification or relief. The term pyromania comes from the Greek word πῦρ . Pyromania and pyromaniacs are distinct from arson, the pursuit of personal, monetary or...
c murderer in The Longest Yard. Slade has other ideas and pursues an unauthorized investigation of his own. "Taking the lid off the hornet's nest involves him in considerable danger as blackmails, beatings, attempted rape and further murders wrestle for screentime before the long and-overcomplicated drama grinds to a close."
The murdered student turns out to be the daughter of Senator Clayborne (Morgan Woodward
Morgan Woodward
Morgan Woodward is an American actor.He is probably best known for his recurring role in Dallas as Marvin "Punk" Anderson...
), who subsequently receives blackmail letters over his daughter Natalie's confession to her campus psychiatric department counselor about an incestuous relationship with her father. Incriminating cassette tapes of the account have fallen into the hands of the blackmailers. Slade questions various possible suspects including Natalie Clayborne's estranged boyfriend King, (played by Burt Lancaster's son, William
Bill Lancaster
William 'Bill' Henry Lancaster was an American screenwriter. He was born in Los Angeles, California, the son of Burt Lancaster and Norma Anderson...
), who declares to Slade that the generation gap
Generation gap
The generational gap is and was a term popularized in Western countries during the 1960s referring to differences between people of a younger generation and their elders, especially between children and parents....
"just got a little wider", Dean Collins, the psych professor, ( played by actual Clemson faculty member Harold N. Cooledge Jr.), a nerdy student whose taped psych rant was also stolen, and Senator Clayborne.
All the while, Slade is being warned off of overstepping his authority as a mere night watchman, no longer a cop, by his parole officer Linda Thorpe, played by Susan Clark
Susan Clark
Susan Clark is a Canadian actress, possibly best-known for her role as Katherine on the American television sitcom Webster, on which she appeared with her husband, Alex Karras.-Personal life:...
, as well as by his buddy Quartz, played by Mitchell. Lancaster has a brief affair with Clark. A rustic family of thugs overseen by a "Ma Barker
Ma Barker
Kate "Ma" Barker was the mother of several criminals who ran the Barker gang from the "public enemy era", when the exploits of gangs of criminals in the U.S. Midwest gripped the American people and press...
"-ish mother provide misdirection in the plot, as well as turning out to be "muscle" for certain corrupt members of the Sheriff's Department. Their appearance on screen is always accompanied by a hwonking harmonica to emphasize their hillbilly
Hillbilly
Hillbilly is a term referring to certain people who dwell in rural, mountainous areas of the United States, primarily Appalachia but also the Ozarks. Owing to its strongly stereotypical connotations, the term is frequently considered derogatory, and so is usually offensive to those Americans of...
status. Ed Lauter
Ed Lauter
Edward Lauter is an American actor. He has appeared in numerous movies and was a stand up comic before getting into acting.Lauter was born in Long Beach, Long Island, New York...
portrayed one of the sons.
The story concludes with Jim Slade realizing that both the parole officer and his buddy Quartz are the powers behind the crime, a conclusion that has to be narrated for the audience in a "thought" monologue by Lancaster as he watches his friend hobble around the cinder track of historic Riggs Field
Riggs Field
Riggs Field is a 6,500-capacity soccer-specific stadium located in Clemson, South Carolina. The stadium is home to the Clemson Tigers men's and women's soccer teams. It has also hosted the NCAA Men's Soccer Championship in 1987. The stadium opened for soccer in 1980, and was renovated in 1987...
at Clemson, on crutches from a broken leg suffered early in the film. Only Quartz could have known one critical clue in the cover-up of the original murder. Sheriff Casey rolls up and arrests Quartz. Slade confronts Thorpe, who produces the stolen tapes, hidden in her freezer, knowing that the jig is up and she is about to be arrested.
The film concludes with the sheriff offering Slade an apology, and a job. This is one of the major flaws in the film since, as a convicted violent felon, Slade cannot hold a position in law enforcement or carry a firearm. Roll credits.