Film
What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases
Bookmark this pageNight Shift (1982)
Director: Ron Howard
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
All credit to Howard, Winkler and co-writer Lowell Ganz for bucking their Happy Days TV formula to cast Winkler as a shy, sad sack Wall Street wizard who runs away from the pressures into a job as night attendant at the morgue. Very funny he is too, whether cosseting his pet rubber plant, fighting a running duel with a ferociously neighbourly dog, or trying to make love with a girlfriend whose neuroses make coitus interruptus a way of life. Even brighter is his odd couple pairing with Michael Keaton in the Fonz role as a manic ideas man who bounces in, takes one look round at the mortuary drawers - 'What's in here? Stiffs and stuff? Neat!' - and soon has the bewildered Winkler turning his sanctum into a cooperative sanctuary for harassed prostitutes. Thereabouts the script begins to lose momentum, opting for frantic farce rather than pointed satire. Likeable, though.Author: TM
Cast & crew
Director: Ron Howard
Producer: Brian Grazer
Cast: Henry Winkler, Michael Keaton, Shelley Long, Gina Hecht, Pat Corley, Bobby DiCicco, Nita Talbot, Clint Howard, Joe Spinell, Kevin Costner, Shanen Doherty full cast
Genre(s): Comedy
Duration: 106 mins
Most popular on this site
Top Stories
Has David Cronenberg turned tame?
Has director David Cronenberg veered too far from his radical and bloody roots with new film 'A Dangerous Method'?
The 10 worst date movies
Just in time for Valentine's Day, we present ten of the least romantic films ever made
Where to watch this year's Oscar-nominated films
Find out where to watch 2012's Oscar-nominated films in London cinemas
10 unlikely badboy biopics
Featuring Phil Collins, Jeremy Clarkson, Nick Clegg, David Starkey and a host of other unlikely subjects
Interview: Sean Durkin on 'Martha Marcy May Marlene'
The first-time director of the brilliant new thriller discusses religious cults and robot boxing
Pop-up cinema for Valentine's Day
Side-step romantic clichés with some alternative Valentine’s viewing
What do you think?
Post your review now