X
- 1982
- R
- The Ladd Company
- 1 h 46 m
- 1982
- R
- The Ladd Company
- 1 h 46 m
Summary A morgue attendant (Henry Winkler) is talked into running a brothel at his workplace after a deceased pimp is sent there. However, the pimp's killers don't look too kindly on this new 'business', nor does the morgue's owner.
Directed By: Ron Howard
Written By: Lowell Ganz, Babaloo Mandel
- 1982
- R
- The Ladd Company
- 1 h 46 m
- 1982
- R
- The Ladd Company
- 1 h 46 m
Night Shift
62
7.5
Where to Watch
Summary A morgue attendant (Henry Winkler) is talked into running a brothel at his workplace after a deceased pimp is sent there. However, the pimp's killers don't look too kindly on this new 'business', nor does the morgue's owner.
Directed By: Ron Howard
Written By: Lowell Ganz, Babaloo Mandel
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 11 Critic Reviews
62
55% Positive
6 Reviews
6 Reviews
45% Mixed
5 Reviews
5 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 11 Critic Reviews
62
55% Positive
6 Reviews
6 Reviews
45% Mixed
5 Reviews
5 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 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 to people still associating him with the roles of little Opie on "The Andy Griffith Show" and clean-cut Richie on "Happy Days".
Though the plotline hardly sounds like a family film, this is probably the most sanitized treatment of pimps and prostitution audiences will ever see. None of this much matters, because director Ron Howard and screenwriters Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel, all TV veterans, are only bent on giving the audience a good time.
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.
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.
A mish-mash that is further hindered by Howard's trite ideas of directing. Plot and camera moves are entirely predictable, with Howard so out of his depth that he often resorts to blackouts, or rather greenouts, when he doesn't know how to curtail a scene.
Winkler isn't half-bad in a role that requires quiet reaction rather than the facile caricature we see in "The Fonz." Keaton is aggressively funny for awhile, though the lasting impression is of a cut-rate Bill Murray. [30 July 1982, p.D2]
Actually it's relatively clean, downright affirmative (the girls get insurance plans and 90 percent of the take) and resoundingly unfunny. [2 Aug 1982, p.63]
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 10 User Ratings
7.5
60% Positive
6 Ratings
6 Ratings
40% Mixed
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
0% Negative
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 10 User Ratings
7.5
60% Positive
6 Ratings
6 Ratings
40% Mixed
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
0% Negative
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
There are no user reviews yet. Be the first to add a review.
Production Company
Major Studio Partners,
The Ladd Company
Release Date Jul 30, 1982
Duration 1 h 46 m
Rating R
Genres
Tagline Meet the Mousy Nobody Who Became a Spunky Somebody
Awards
Golden Globes, USA
• 1 Nomination
Kansas City Film Critics Circle Awards
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
