NIGHT GAME (1989) -- SCREEN ARCHIVES ENTERTAINMENT


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Our Price: $19.95

Label:

Name:	OLIVE FILMS
Number:	BR-OF938

NIGHT GAME (1989) (BLU-RAY)

It’s a game of cat and mouse for Roy Scheider (The French Connection, Sorcerer) in Night Game. Cast as Mike Seaver, a Galveston police detective, Scheider’s in hot pursuit of serial killer terrorizing the city. When a string of murders is linked to night baseball games at the Astrodome, it’s Seaver (a former minor league player) pulling together clues and racing against time to prevent yet another murder.

Night Game co-stars Lane Smith (Red Dawn, The Mighty Ducks), Karen Young (9 ½Weeks, The Sopranos) and Richard Bradford (The Untouchables) in a film directed by Peter Masterson (Blood Red, Full Moon in Blue Water) from a screenplay written by Spender Eastman and Anthony Palmer, based on a story by Eastman.

Rated: R
Runtime: 95 minutes
Year Filmed: 1989
Screen: 1.85:1; Color
Languages: English

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Reviews and Comments: (1)

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Posted by Mark Turner on July 28, 2017 2:03 PM

CLUELESS WHO-DUN-IT

I love mystery films. I always have going as far back as the classic gumshoe movies from the 30s and 40s. The concept of presenting a mystery along with clues that help you attempt to decipher who the killer is has been one to delight me for years. So when a murder mystery comes along I’m game to watch it. Unfortunately, as in the case of NIGHT GAME, the results aren’t always as satisfying as they could be.

Roy Scheider stars as Mike Seaver, a detective in Houston who is presented with the case of a serial killer murdering in the area. The deaths are connected with the winning streak of baseball’s Houston Astros but that doesn’t become clear to those involved here until later in the picture, much later than most of us viewers will figure it out. What would normally happen here is that as viewers we’d be presented with clues as to who was committing these murders. Unfortunately the makers of this movie think differently.

Instead we’re flooded with various subplots and slow moving personal battles instead. One of the subplots involves the upcoming marriage of Seaver to Roxy (Karen Young), a girl half his age and whose mother knew Seaver when they were in school together. The question of a May-September romance between the two is discussed but never really resolved except to say that they love one another so the heck with what anyone thinks. Roxy eventually becomes a possible victim in circumstances so contrived as to be unbelievable.

Another subplot involved is a rivalry between Seaver and a fellow officer named Broussard (Paul Gleason). Working for a different law enforcement office he is more intent of slamming Seaver than he is on solving the crime, more interested in arguing over jurisdiction than he is on finding the killer. Each time the two of them come in contact with one another a fist fight is nearly averted and the hatred for one another takes over what’s happening in the story. Arguments involving alleged corruption on the part of Broussard and the incompetence of Seaver that possibly led in his moving to this town from his last fill screen time each moment they’re seen together, none of which has anything to do with the case.

A nice twist in the movie is the weapon of choice, one that isn’t revealed early on but that having seen the advertising any viewer will know about first, a hook in place of a hand. That’s about it for twists. The reveal of the killer comes out of the blue at the last minute with nary a clue leading towards this person. He isn’t even seen until the last 20 minutes of the movie. To make matters even worse Scheider, an actor who has played so many characters and turned in so many great performances, seems to be walking through this one to simply cash a check. His character comes off fairly boring and more interested in talking about anything other than the case which lends itself to thinking maybe he actually is incompetent.

In the end this movie is a rather lame attempt at murder mystery with few clues offered to the recliner detectives at home watching the film. The pacing is here, there and everywhere. The subplots do little to move the film forward and instead muddle things up filling screen time. Had they been more incorporated into the story it might have made a difference. Instead they just sit there. Scheider fans will want to add this to their collection and the average viewer with few options might want to watch but in the end it wasn’t that great a movie.


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