Review of Night Moves (1975) by Eric R — 18 Nov 2010

Night Moves tells the story of an L.A. private detective (Gene Hackman) whom is hired by an Hollywood actress to hunt down her Nympho teenage daughter who lives in the Florida keys. This film does a great job of building around its central character, a no bullshit type guy played brilliantly by Gene Hackman.

As a viewer you really feel attached to this detectives hip as he investigates creating this overwhelming sense of mystery as the story continues to unfold. Penn camera work in this film really is fantastic, with one of the best show finales I have had the pleasure of seeing.

The other real strength with this piece is the screenplay. There are sooooo many great lines, and some instant lines that I will be quoting for years. The dialogue is sharp just perfect for this type of piece.

Each character is really greatly defined, for example the Hollywood Actress, whose flamboyant sexual charged attitude completely fits the construct which her nympho daughter develops. Just a great detective story that unfolds really well, and you gotta love the small little shout out to Eric Rohmer.

Man, the 70s really were the shit, best detective stories easily come from this decade.