Sept. 9, 2026

Night Moves (1975): Gene Hackman Can’t See the Whole Board in Arthur Penn’s Neo-Noir

Show Notes
Transcript

Gene Hackman stars as private investigator Harry Moseby in Arthur Penn’s Night Moves (1975), one of the most fascinating neo-noir detective films of the New Hollywood era. What begins as a routine missing-person case gradually becomes something far more complicated, as Harry discovers that following the clues doesn’t necessarily mean understanding what’s really going on.

Chuck and Matt revisit this overlooked 1970s movie and explore how Arthur Penn takes the classic film noir private detective and drops him into the uncertainty and disillusionment of 1970s America. They discuss Gene Hackman’s complex performance as Harry Moseby, Jennifer Warren’s mysterious Paula, a teenage Melanie Griffith in one of her earliest film roles, the striking cinematography, and the chess metaphor that runs throughout Night Moves.

They also look at the film’s unfortunate 1975 release timing alongside Steven Spielberg’s Jaws, Penn’s description of the characters as “mourners of the Kennedy generation,” and how Night Moves developed a reputation as one of the standout neo-noir films of the 1970s.

Does Arthur Penn’s dark and deliberately elusive detective story still groove through the decades, or has it lost its beat?

Hop into the Wayback Machine with Chuck and Matt and the Cinematic Flashback Podcast as we revisit Gene Hackman in Arthur Penn’s Night Moves (1975) and continue our journey through the unforgettable movies of 1970s cinema.

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WEBVTT

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You beating yourself?

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That's a position from a game played in 1922. Can

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you play?

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I know the moves.

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Black had a mate. He didn't see it. Queen sacrifice.

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And three little knight moves. Check. Check. Check.

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Oh, that's nice.

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But he didn't see it.

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He played something else and he lost. Must have regretted

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it every day of his life. I know I would have.

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Matter of fact, I do regret it. I wasn't even

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born yet.

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Welcome to the Cinematic Flashback Podcast. Get ready to hop

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into the Wayback Machine as we journey through the wild, bold,

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and unforgettable films of the 1970s. Each episode, we break

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down a classic movie or forgotten gem, seeing how it

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performed then and now, and wrapping things up by asking,

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did it groove through the decades or did it lose

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its beat? I am your host, Chuck Bryan, and today...

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We are reviewing Arthur Penn's 1975 film Night Moves, starring

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Gene Hackman, Jennifer Warner, and Melanie Griffith. Joining me as

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always is my pal and co-conspirator, Matt Sargent. Matt, how

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are you doing?

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Chuck, I am well. Just getting done with a very

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large party at our house for my daughter's birthday. I

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cooked some pork barbecue and a couple of briskets.

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Yeah.

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Where was my invite?

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You should have been. It seemed like everybody came. We

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had about 60 people in the backyard.

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Oh, wow.

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Rented a tent. I mean, it was a big day.

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Nice.

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Nice.

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It all came out pretty good, the food. I cooked

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the proteins, but we bought our sides and stuff from

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a place near us called Pungo Boys Barbecue.

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Oh, Pungo Boys is amazing. excellent. Yeah, they're very good.

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If you are in the Hampton Roads area, you need

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to go to Pungo Boys.

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Yeah, if you're staying in Sandbridge or something like that,

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definitely go out and grab some stuff from Pungo Boys.

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I can't say enough. They're only open Wednesday through Sunday.

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So be aware if it's Monday or Tuesday, you're out

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of luck. We got some really excellent coleslaws. And then

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we also got this mac and cheese, which was amazing.

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So anyway, we had a lot of fun with that.

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Everybody had a really good time. It was It was hot,

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but not too hot.

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Yeah.

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So it was fun. So I also want to report

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that I have been invited to a book club.

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Uh-oh.

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Have they heard this show yet? I was like, OK,

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I'll be in the book club. But they invited me

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to the book club. It's from the party. It actually

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happened at the party. They decided they're going to do this.

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And I was going to say it's my first book club.

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It's really not. My wife and I belong to like

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a couple's book club before.

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OK.

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We got out of that because these people in this

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book club really started to focus on self-help books.

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Oh, OK.

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Yeah.

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And I'm not saying I don't need self-help, but I'm

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not really a fan of detailing how the book impacted

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me to a group of strangers. To me, it was

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too much like some sort of Kmart brand group therapy.

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So we were out.

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Dude, I would be there with popcorn to hear you

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give some of your opinions on those books.

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But the one we're reading now is Lonesome Dove, and

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that's quite a book. That's a thick book.

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That is a thick book. Anyway. Well, hey, look. This month,

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we're talking about two neo-noir films. These are just a

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classic detective stories that have been given a distinctly 70s twist.

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We talked about neo-noir in season one with Chinatown. Right.

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I have to admit that Chinatown was one of my

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two favorite movies that we covered. The other one being

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McCabe and Mrs. Miller by Robert Altman, who is famous

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for taking a genre that is traditional and reimagining it

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for the 70s. So if you remember in McCabe and Mrs. Miller,

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he moved the Western from the dusty Southwest to the

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rainy Pacific Northwest. Yeah. What the two films that we're

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going to look at this month is going to ask is,

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what happens when you take someone like a Sam Spade

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or Philip Marlowe and drop them into the 1970s? In

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most of these types of film noir, they always have

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a detective who has been hired to solve a case,

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but really there's always a bigger question, which is, What's

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really going on here? And if you remember in Chinatown,

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Jake was originally hired to find a missing man, but

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it turned out to be about power and corruption.

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Right.

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One of the hallmarks of new Hollywood cinema, especially in

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the early 70s, sometimes these movies would not give you answers.

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They wouldn't resolve it, say, like a film from the

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50s or the 40s. They would just tell you, forget it, Jake,

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it's Chinatown, and then roll the credits and pull out.

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Forget it, Jake, it's Chinatown.

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This month, we are exploring Harry Mosby in Night Moves,

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and then we're going to get Robert Altman's take on

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on Philip Marlowe himself, played by Elliot Gould, in The

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Long Goodbye. I was excited for these films because, believe

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it or not, I had never seen either one of them.

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I guess I was right there along with the other

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people who missed Night Moves, and I'm not sure what

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happened to me about The Long Goodbye, why I missed it.

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After watching Night Moves, obviously, you know, Gene Hackman, just

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off the hook. We're going to get into him real fast.

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This is the Gene Hackman fan club. Every other movie

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is a Gene Hackman film. Well, I mean, when you

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talk about the 70s, you can't leave him out of

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the conversation. I only knew Gene Hackman really from Superman

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as Lex Luthor.

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When I was six years old, my father said to me,

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Get out. Before that. He said, son, stocks may rise

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and fall. Utilities and transportation systems may collapse. People are

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no damn good. But they will always need land, and

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they'll pay through the nose to get it.

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Remember, my father said, land.

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Wow.

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I'm really surprised that he was Lex Luthor. I think

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there's a little bit of pay in the bills on

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a couple of those, although bring somebody into that kind

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of film, whether they mean to or not, they're going

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to make it different. I think the issue with Gene

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Hackman is he can't stop being Gene Hackman, and he's

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going to bring that depth and that gravitas, I guess

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is a great word. But I really have gained a

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new respect for him in seeing these films.

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Sure.

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Matt, who is talking to us this week?

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We have a comment that was left on our Facebook

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page by James Buckley. He was responding to our White

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Line Fever episode, and I quote, I don't think I

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have ever intentionally seen this one. That said, I do

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remember the CB my dad had in his Jeep and

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how he and my uncle would use it to coordinate

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family trips. The next year, however, I do remember going

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to the drive-in with my parents to see the horror

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film Shadow of the Hawk. which starred Jan Michael Vincent

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and creeped out six-year-old me to a high degree. Another

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fun episode, guys. I love the Dick Miller shout-out. His

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quirky shop owner roles will always be favorite scenes from

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The Howling and The Terminator. Well, that was really nice, James.

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And just for you, I'm going to give you a

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flashback thank you. Are you ready? Breaker19Breaker19, you got your

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00:07:43.000 --> 00:07:46.180
ears on Jim James? Come on back for the flashback.

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I got a message for you. We hear you five

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by five and five miles wide. Good luck, good buddy,

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and thanks for giving us a holler. Flashback signing off.

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Matt, I never know what you're going to say. I

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think I underestimated the nostalgia factor that listeners had with

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CB culture. So I'm glad we had a whole month

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to explore that. Yeah, I agree.

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There must be a deep seated need for humans to communicate.

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I agree with that.

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We're trying to scratch that itch with the cinematic flashback podcast.

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All right, Chuck, you've been doing the homework. What did

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you find out? How did night moves happen?

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So, Matt, it all starts with Scottish writer Alan Sharp.

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Instead of adapting one of the great literary detectives, Harry

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Mosby was completely Alan Sharp's creation.

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Where were you when Kennedy got shot?

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Which Kennedy?

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Annie Kennedy.

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Why do you ask?

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It's one of those questions everybody always knows the answer to.

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Penn described the characters of Night Moves as the mourners

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of the Kennedy generation. This is an America that is

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dealing with the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, his brother Bobby,

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and MLK. And I think that's what he saw in

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Sharp's screenplay. It wasn't simply another detective story. It was

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an opportunity to tell about the people living in 1970s America.

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Warner Brothers paired Penn with Gene Hackman. Hackman had already

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established himself through films like The French Connection, Scarecrow, and

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The Conversation. Bruce Surtees handled the cinematography, Dee Dee Allen

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edited the film, and Michael Small composed the score. Production

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took place in California and the Florida Keys, giving Night

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Moves a visual identity that distinguished it from the detective

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films audiences had grown up watching. When Night Moves was

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released in the summer of 1975, critics generally admired it,

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although audiences were slower to embrace it. its reputation grew

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steadily over the years, and today it's widely considered one

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of the greatest neo-noirs of the 1970s. And Matt, that

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is how... Night Moves happened. It was a remarkable screenplay,

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a visionary director, a phenomenal cast and crew, and most importantly,

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the right moment in American history for a film like

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this to be made.

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Yeah, when you watch it, you certainly see that convergence

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of that amazing talent. And it's cool to hear about

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the behind-the-camera people, which I find very interesting.

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Yeah.

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Let's take a quick break. We'll be right back.

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It's a cinematic flashback. Let the show begin. It's a

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cinematic flashback. Let the show begin.

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I think Harry would like me to leave.

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I don't think that's necessary.

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I think Harry thinks it is.

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Harry thinks if you call him Harry one more time,

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he's going to make you eat that cat. Gene Hackman

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is Harry Mosby.

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Hello, Harry.

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In Night Moves.

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Oh, come on, take a swing at me, Harry, the

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way Sam Spade would.

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He's a private investigator.

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My daughter, Deli. Would you believe Delilah? Well, she's gone.

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How long gone? Two weeks. Go find her. Making a living. Well,

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let's say 125 a day in legitimate expenses. From other

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people's lives.

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You can get cheaper.

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Can I get better?

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You're hired.

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Making a mess of his own. God, you're really prime, Ellen,

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you know that?

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I catch you screwing another guy and you attack my lifestyle!

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Your lifestyle has nothing to do with it!

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Night moves. It's a mystery. I'm looking for Deli Grasner.

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Deli isn't around here anymore.

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Where the suspects are also the victims. I want to

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know what I walked into.

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Ask your wife. Well, are we going to talk about it?

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Well, it's your ball.

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Run with it.

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Where the questions. All right, what's it all about, Mosby?

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Is there still much smuggling going on around here?

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The dogs have fleas.

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Where were you when Kennedy got shot?

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Have too many answers. Where every clue is a lie.

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I've been listening to your ping pong talk long enough.

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What was in Marv Ellman's plane? Drugs?

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Was it drugs?

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Night Moves.

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Check. Check.

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Ah, it's a beauty.

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It's a game where every player is a pawn.

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Harry moves me, isn't it?

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Every move is a wrong one. And the winner loses everything.

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I want to know what it's all about.

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I told you what it's all about.

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You, what the hell are you all about?

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You're asking the wrong question.

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Gene Hackman in Night Moves.

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And welcome back. Night Moves.com. It opened up on June 11,

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1975 in New York and was followed July 2, 1975

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in Los Angeles. Right between those dates, something happened. On

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June 20, 1975, another movie opened on 464 screens across

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North America. Within weeks, even that had expanded dramatically. And

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that movie changed the business. It became the highest grossing

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film of all times. A record it held until Star

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Wars came along. Matt, you know what we're talking about. Jaws,

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of course. And I have to give my younger self

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a pass on missing night moves.

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Yeah.

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Because clearly I was watching Jaws. What's in the theater

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next door watching Jaws?

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We had almost the same story with William Friedkin's movie Sorcerer,

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which opened up like a couple of weeks right after

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Star Wars. And nobody went to see Sorcerer. Everybody went

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to see Star Wars. Yeah, yeah. Two really good films

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by two incredible directors. Both overshadowed by the new directors

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in the mid-70s. That guy named George Lucas and, oh,

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what's his name? Steven Spielberg.

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Yeah.

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Well, I think the other part about it is, I

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think this is indicative of that transition between old film

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system and new Hollywood. No one realized how huge.

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Yeah.

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Otherwise, they would have strategically released their films not today.

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At those times.

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Oh, yeah.

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The strategic releasing dates of films was a huge deal.

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And it happened after this. Two great films were 100%

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overshadowed by these blockbusters. One last production note. Night Moves

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was shot in 1973, but wasn't released until 1975. We

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might give our hypothesis for that later in segment three.

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We've already talked about Arthur Penn and Alan Sharp. Night

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Moves was produced by Robert M.

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Sherman. Cinematography was by Bruce Sertes. We saw his work

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in Dirty Harry. He was a frequent collaborator with both

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Clint Eastwood and Don Siegel, so if you watch Any

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movies by either of those two directors in the 70s?

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It is probably being shot by Bruce Sirtis. Editor was

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Dee Dee Allen. She was a frequent collaborator with Arthur Penn.

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An interesting later credit, she edited The Breakfast Club.

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Does Barry Manilow know that you raid his wardrobe?

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Don't mess with the bull, young man.

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You'll get the horns.

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Now, that's amazing.

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Yeah. Music was by Michael Small. To my ears, he

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sounds a lot like Lalo Schifrin, and it sounded to

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me a lot like the soundtrack from Dirty Harry. I

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made that same mistake when we reviewed Clute, and the

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music from Clute was also written by Michael Small, and

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we're going to get to hear him one more time

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this year when we review The Parallax View in November.

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Production Companies is Leighton Productions. They only made two films

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in the 1970s. One was, of course, Night Moves, and

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the other was a little film, I'm not sure if

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it did very well, called Rocky. Have you heard of

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that one? Yeah, just a little bit. Nightmoves was distributed

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by Warner Brothers, and sharp-eyed viewers may notice that this

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isn't the traditional WB Shield logo. It is their stylized

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Warner Brothers logo that was used during this era. This

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was designed by Saul Bass. Now, he was famous for

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his title sequences like Vertigo and Psycho, but his bread

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and butter was made in designing corporate logos. And if

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you can remember the Geffen Records logo from the 80s

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with the orb and the cut in G.

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Yeah.

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Saul Bass did a lot of logos for a lot

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of your favorite brands. Matt, who is.

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Starring in this film? Well, of course, the 10-mile-tall Gene

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Hackman playing Harry Mosby.

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What's it about?

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Just wanted to ask him a couple questions.

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You sound like you might be the police.

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My name is Harry Mosby. I'm a private investigator. Tom's stepdaughter, Deli,

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is missing. Ran away from home. I'm looking for her.

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Critics rank Harry Mosby alongside Popeye Doyle, Harry Call and

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Little Bill Daggett. One of my very favorite films. He

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played such a great, terrible character. I distinctly remember coming

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back from seeing that film and going into the office

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I worked in and somebody else went to see the

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movie the same. And I said, oh, they're going to

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win the Oscar for that film. She's like, I walked out.

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It was terrible. I'm like, you are insane. That is

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the best Western film that's probably ever been filmed. And

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it won the Oscar, so.

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It did indeed. Our next actress, Jennifer Warner, who played Paula.

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What'd you do before this?

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This and that. I taught school. I kept house. I

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waited tables. I did a little stripping.

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A little hooking.

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And I tried a lot of water.

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Sounds kind of bleak. Or is it just the way

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00:18:19.619 --> 00:18:20.059
you tell it?

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Do you ask these questions because you want to know

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the answer or is it just something you think a

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00:18:25.099 --> 00:18:25.960
detective should do?

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I'll be honest with you. She looked exactly like a

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girl I went to high school with. It was striking.

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Wow.

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And she was from Florida as well, the girl that

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I went to high school with. You know, maybe it

349
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was the sun tan and the sun kissed hair or

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whatever it was. But yeah.

351
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Yeah.

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Night Moves was her breakout film role. She came from

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a respected stage background, including work on Broadway. She went

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on to become a successful writer as well as a

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director and taught future filmmakers at USC's School of the

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Cinematic Arts.

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Amazing. So we get to see one of the very

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first roles from an actress who we have seen over

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00:19:03.609 --> 00:19:06.470
and over again in many, many roles, Melanie Griffith. She

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plays Deli.

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Did you come to get your shirt back?

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No, no.

363
00:19:09.369 --> 00:19:10.829
Okay.

364
00:19:11.470 --> 00:19:13.210
No, I came to tell you that I'm a private detective.

365
00:19:13.230 --> 00:19:16.710
I heard about your mother. Take you back to L.A.

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00:19:18.299 --> 00:19:19.000
Are you kidding?

367
00:19:20.019 --> 00:19:20.440
No, I'm not.

368
00:19:26.460 --> 00:19:27.369
Well, you can forget it.

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Mellie Griffith is the daughter of Tippi Hedren from The

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Birds and Peter Griffith.

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No relation to Peter Griffin from Family Guy.

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Melanie was born August 9th, 1957. This movie was released

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in June of 75. So she would have been.

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Almost 18 years old. 9th 1957 this movie was released

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in june of 75 so she would have been almost

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18 years old but if you remember earlier i said

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this movie was filmed in 73 so when this movie

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was being made in the fall of 73 she had

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00:19:59.950 --> 00:20:03.869
just turned 16 this movie could not have been made

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00:20:04.150 --> 00:20:07.599
nowadays yeah finally i We wanted to talk about John

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Crawford because even though his screen time is not that much,

382
00:20:12.839 --> 00:20:16.539
he has a lot of impact inside this film. He

383
00:20:16.720 --> 00:20:20.089
is no relationship to Joan Crawford, but they did appear

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in the 1965 film, I Saw What You Did. And

385
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the other reason that I wanted to point him out

386
00:20:26.109 --> 00:20:29.039
here is that he had a very small role as

387
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the chief engineer in the Poseidon Adventure. He was the

388
00:20:32.119 --> 00:20:35.490
mayor in the next Dirty Harry film that we will

389
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cover called The Enforcer. And you saw him probably in

390
00:20:40.119 --> 00:20:44.240
just about every classic TV series of the era. That

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was John Crawford.

392
00:20:45.759 --> 00:20:47.640
Well, I got to confess something.

393
00:20:47.759 --> 00:20:48.039
Okay.

394
00:20:48.099 --> 00:20:50.569
I'm actually related to Joan Crawford.

395
00:20:51.069 --> 00:20:53.730
To Joan or John? Joan. Oh.

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