The Couchpotatoes I don't get why this movie gets such a high rating. Maybe because it's from the seventies and we don't expect much quality from that period of time. Because Night Moves has absolutely not enough qualities to make it a great movie. The first hour nothing happens and you're struggling to stay interested in the movie. The last part of the movie finally gets some action, but not much, but it still doesn't make it a good a movie. To me the only interesting part was to see how some of the actors and actresses looked while they were young, but that's about it. The story is just too slow and boring to justify such a high rating. If this movie would come out in this age it would totally bomb. There are good old movies but this one ain't one of them.

atlasmb In "Night Moves", Gene Hackman plays Harry Moseby, a private investigator from L.A. who takes on the case of a missing daughter. The trail leads him to Florida, where he becomes entwined in the lives and laid back lifestyles of the family and their associates.Harry's profession involves delving into the details of others' lives, but his own life is largely unexamined. His marriage is unfulfilling due to his inattention. As he focuses on his cases, he misses the peripheral details of his own life and the clues to remedy the situation.The film's title is a variation on "knight moves", which refers to a famous chess game and implies that Harry might be more successful in life if he thought creatively (instead of getting bogged down in minutiae).Directed by Arthur Penn, "Night Moves" may not appeal to viewers who prefer traditional story arcs. It features Jennifer Warren in her second big screen role, a young James Woods two years after "The Way We Were", and teenage Melanie Griffith in her first credited performance. Her first appearance on screen might be an homage to Bardot.I would not call this film noir, and Harry's language and mannerisms are less intense than a Sam Spade (and more like Philip Marlowe, which is appropriate for L.A.).

Bene Cumb Now and then, for a change, it is sensible to watch movies from the eras where acting and craftsmanship really prevailed, without any digital opportunities to use. Crime movies are "easier" to enjoy than sci-fi ones, where solutions are too simplistic even for those not focusing on effects and fast exchange of scenes - absence of smart mobile technology is seldom distracting, and basic elements for solving crimes have been in use for centuries. Night Moves has most elements in place - thrilling plot with twists, unexpected ending, witty humor, family tensions... True, there are some clichés related to private investigators and trivial use of erotics, but they do not decrease the value of the movie. What I missed personally was the lack of real confrontation between the detective and his "enemies", the characters of them were rather schematic.Most of the names within the movie do not require introduction even for current film lovers - Gene Hackman, Jennifer Warren, Melanie Griffith, James Woods, whereas the last two give pleasant and memorable supporting performances. Hackman and Warren are always pleasant to follow, but they certainly give no best performances of their career.All in all, a decent watch for those fond of crimes without gangs and constant chases-shootings, where the truth is achieved piece by piece, and yet the final is surprising...

seymourblack-1 Arthur Penn's 1975 thriller begins in a very familiar style with a seedy private eye, a missing person case and a client's daughter who's gone off the rails. Although there's nothing remarkable about the investigation that follows, it soon leads into a complex mystery that involves a number of murders, a collection of suspicious characters and an investigator who's constantly baffled by the events that go on around him.Harry Moseby (Gene Hackman) is the down-on-his-luck, L.A. private detective who's hired by a former actress to find her promiscuous 16-year-old daughter, Delly Grastner (Melanie Griffith). Moseby's investigations soon lead him to the Florida Keys where he finds that Delly is living with her stepfather, Tom Iverson (John Crawford) and his lover, Paula (Jennifer Warren). Initially, Delly doesn't want to return home but after finding a wreck of a plane and its dead pilot while scuba-diving, she changes her mind.Moseby doesn't feel proud of himself when he returns the girl to her mother who only wants her back because of her valuable trust fund and then feels even worse shortly after, when Delly's killed in a movie stunt that goes wrong. Moseby's convinced that Delly was murdered and goes back to Florida in search of answers but instead only encounters a series of further complications that leave him bewildered until the story reaches its shocking conclusion.Harry Moseby is a man who frequently feels lost and helpless. His difficult childhood had left him with a need to track down his father who was never there when he was growing up. Many years later, he did locate him but then couldn't bring himself to make contact with the old guy. When he discovered that his wife was having an affair, he didn't know how to deal with the situation and certainly wasn't able to make matters any better. Even his success in bringing Delly back home was tinged with sadness and regret because he felt partly to blame for what happened to her and during his affair with Paula found someone who was just as world-weary and self-loathing as he'd become.In visual terms, Moseby's predicament is emphasised by the number of times that he sees things distorted by glass or water and the closing sequence in which he's seen adrift at sea and going around in circles.In essence, "Night Moves" is very similar to many other crime dramas that were successful in previous decades but through its characters and a well-written screenplay, it powerfully conveys all the disillusion, despondency and distrust that were so prevalent in the period that followed the Watergate scandal. Gene Hackman is very believable and perfectly cast as Moseby and Jennifer Warren is convincingly mysterious as Paula. Melanie Griffith and James Woods impress in their roles and the supporting cast is also excellent.