Night Moves (1975)

82% of critics liked it
(17 reviews)
67% of users liked it
(2,943 ratings)

Private eye Harry Moseby (Gene Hackman) is dedicated to his job, but his dedication does not make him happy or powerful in his personal life, and his wife (Susan Clark) is cheating on him. Aging actress Arlene Iverson (Janet Ward) hires Harry to find her trust-funded daughter Delly (Melanie… More Private eye Harry Moseby (Gene Hackman) is dedicated to his job, but his dedication does not make him happy or powerful in his personal life, and his wife (Susan Clark) is cheating on him. Aging actress Arlene Iverson (Janet Ward) hires Harry to find her trust-funded daughter Delly (Melanie Griffith), distracting Harry from his marital problems as he tracks the lascivious runaway teen to Florida. In the Keys, Harry has an affair of his own with Paula (Jennifer Warren), and he succeeds in locating Delly, even as he learns that finding her is only the beginning of a much larger case. As the "accidental" deaths multiply, Harry discovers that everyone has his or her own motives and that he cannot do much to stem the tide of deep-seated depravity. ~ Lucia Bozzola, Rovi

Rating, Runtime: R, 1 hr. 40 min.
Directed By: Arthur Penn
Genres: Drama, Mystery & Suspense, Classics

On DVD: Jul 12, 2005

Critic Reviews

Variety Staff, Variety
Night Moves is a paradox: a suspenseless suspenser, very well cast with players who lend sustained interest to largely synthetic theatrical characters.
Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader
One of Penn's best features; his direction of actors is sensitive and purposeful throughout.
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
Arthur Penn's Night Moves is about an old-fashioned private eye who says and does all the expected things while surrounded by a plot he completely fails to understand.
Vincent Canby, New York Times
An elegant conundrum, a private-eye film that has its full share of duplicity, violence, and bizarre revelation, but whose mind keeps straying from questions of pure narrative to those of the hero's psyche.
, Film4
Hackman perfectly embodies the faded knight errant being eaten up by the simple desire to know The Truth and thus somehow redeem his misspent life.
, TV Guide's Movie Guide
This excellent contemporary noir features some of the best work of both director Arthur Penn and actor Gene Hackman.
Steve Crum, Video-Reviewmaster.com
It is all about atmosphere in this cult Arthur Penn work.
, Time Out
Essential viewing.
Brent Simon, Now Playing Magazine
A fine, steamy slice of noir.
Thomas Delapa, Boulder Weekly
An exceptional neo-noir...In Penn's short-lived time among Hollywood's elite directors, Night Moves is perhaps his most assured film next to Bonnie and Clyde.
John J. Puccio, Movie Metropolis
Hackman...is as watchable as ever, and for him alone and a maybe certain raw and realistic brutality, the movie continues to pass a fascinating ninety-odd minutes.
John J. Puccio, Movie Metropolis
When the story sticks to character and action, it succeeds. When it strays off into philosophical and psychological rambling...it loses interest.
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spirituality and Practice
An unusual detective story that points out that in a world of rampant deception, we can't believe in winners anymore
Christopher Null, Filmcritic.com
a sad attempt to quickly knock off what made Chinatown great
Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews
A seminal modern noir work from the 1970s about an innocent and lost soul making his way among liars and thieves...

Read all 15 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

Stephen M

God, I love this film! I watched it last night for the first time in years. It's one that always gets an honourable mention in those lists of the great movies that nobody went to see on first release. Thirty-seven years on, it feels and is paced more like a small character piece… More
God, I love this film! I watched it last night for the first time in years. It's one that always gets an honourable mention in those lists of the great movies that nobody went to see on first release. Thirty-seven years on, it feels and is paced more like a small character piece than a thriller, but I imagine Warner Bros. had reasonably high commercial hopes for it when it was greenlit, just four years on from Gene Hackman's Oscar-snaffling turn in The French Connection, eight from director Arthur Penn's phenomenal - and phenomenally successful - Bonnie and Clyde. Sometimes you see these neglected gems and it's completely baffling how they failed to find an audience at the time, but with Night Moves I can sort of understand how it slipped through the net. And it's not surprising that the film's critical stock began to rise with the advent of home video, when it became possible to re-examine atypically rich examples of cinema to ones heart's content. In my experience, if there's one thing an audience cannot stand it's a movie that makes them feel stupid, and, simply put - and I don't mean this as a criticism, as the effect is certainly intentional - Night Moves is probably the most forbiddingly opaque and ambiguous thriller of the 1970s. Honestly, if you're one of those people who hates loose ends and likes a nice pat denouement, do yourself a favour and stay well clear of this because it will drive you up the wall! The first time you watch it, it's largely incoherent; the characters and their respective motivations emerge more clearly with each subsequent viewing, but there's still no getting away from the fact that no matter how many times you watch it, the movie remains a riddle without a solution, or rather a riddle with any number of different solutions. R.I.P. Bruce Surtees, director of photography, 1937-2012
Pierluigi P

Everything is low key about this film, until the last thirty minutes when the plot violently unravels. As other great neo noirs of its type, it confronts a man with old fashioned morals and mentality with hypocrite modern day world. Gene Hackman gives another stelar performance.
Matheus C

An interesting neo-noir thriller but that is not near the masterpiece some critics make it be. Doesn't hold a candle to Arthur Penn's real masterpiece, "Bonnie and Clyde"
AJ V

An interesting, but unfortunately predictable mystery movie. It has potential, but it doesn't go as far as it needs to.
Stella D

this is an underseen neo-noir with typically great performance by gene hackman. with a young james brooks and a very young melanie griffith. arthur penn 1922-2010, director of bonnie and clyde, little big man and the miracle worker, rip.
Chris G

Gene Hackman continued his run of following up The French Connection with Night Moves, a modern noir tale where there is more going on than what the surface shows us. Hackman plays Harry Moseby, a retired NFL player who works as a private investigator. He takes the jobs the big… More
Gene Hackman continued his run of following up The French Connection with Night Moves, a modern noir tale where there is more going on than what the surface shows us. Hackman plays Harry Moseby, a retired NFL player who works as a private investigator. He takes the jobs the big agencies don't want, for example an ex movie star (Janet Ward) is searching for her runaway daughter. Harry gets the job. The thing is that Harry's problems go beyond the case. His wife (Susan Clark) is fooling around on him, leaving him to his work and only his work. The case leads him to Florida where he finds teenage Delly (Melanie Griffith) and Paula (Jennifer Warren), an eccentric resident of the Keys who attracts the curiosity of Harry. It's in Florida that the case begins to go beyond a simple runaway. Night Moves owes a debt to the old days, where the private dick was always in way over his head and love was never his strong suit. Hackman's portrayal is one of being coy to being naive. His life is a roller coaster of emotion that never gets back to the station to let on a new batch of people. This is Harry's ride until the very end and even as the credits roll you're just not sure how Harry is going to wind up- on his feet or in the ditch. Though not as probing as Taxi Driver, Night Moves can be considered a prime example of mid-1970's film making. There's a feel about moves made between Kent State and Star Wars. The general feeling in films was that either A) No one could be a hero or B) The hero wins, but doesn't win. Aftereffects of Vietnam? Watergate? Who knows, but there is a general tone in this era that Night Moves is also stamped with, combining with the noir aspect of the pathetic detective helps this film be better than it could have been.
jay n

Compact 70's noir has an customarily excellent performance by Gene Hackman aided by equally strong ones from Jennifer Warren and Susan Clark. Melanie Griffith is okay in her first role but her part isn't really that much. The musical score, particularly at the beginning, is… More
Compact 70's noir has an customarily excellent performance by Gene Hackman aided by equally strong ones from Jennifer Warren and Susan Clark. Melanie Griffith is okay in her first role but her part isn't really that much. The musical score, particularly at the beginning, is dreadful.
Ken S

Really great Post Modern Neo Noir. Reminiscent of the Long Goodbye, but less funny and more grizzled.
Steve K

Great, underseen flick.
Stephen E

Noir is such a provocative genre. There are so many likable characteristics about it. Each noir film has an underlying meaning, and they all deal with dark themes: greed, murder, corruption. It's impossible not to enjoy watching a mystery as it unfolds. Arthur Penn's Night… More
Noir is such a provocative genre. There are so many likable characteristics about it. Each noir film has an underlying meaning, and they all deal with dark themes: greed, murder, corruption. It's impossible not to enjoy watching a mystery as it unfolds. Arthur Penn's Night Moves is good example of noir, but it isn't a fantastic film. Why? The story is intriguing enough and it certainly holds many of the traits found in film noir, but it just doesn't have the "oomph" that it needs. You understand what I mean? Night Moves is a good film, but it needs to be a great film. With a story like this, it has to be. I don't blame the cast or really even the direction. In fact, I'm not sure who to blame. Just know that the blame goes to someone, even if that someone doesn't have a face. This film is just a slight tick above average, when it should be powerful. It's a film about morals, family morals. The message is there, black and white. But Night Moves just doesn't have the... Well, I'm done trying to explain. Gene Hackman continues to impress me with these younger roles. He is a fine actor and I see that now. His work nowadays doesn't really even being to compare with his 70's and 80's filmography. Here in Night Moves, his performance is one of the most attractive things. It's one of the best things that this film has to offer. Just don't go into Night Moves with high expectations, like the critics will get you to believe with their 4/4 star ratings. This is not a fabulous picture. This is not even a great noir. It's a good noir, and watch it because of that. There's no real mystery to look for. It's just all in the message. And that's what counts.
Burger S

I really enjoyed this, however, there were several holes in the plot. Why doesn't Moseby go back and finish listening to his answering machine after the character dies? He had cut off the playback of their message mid plot-revealing sentence when his estranged wife drops in for… More
I really enjoyed this, however, there were several holes in the plot. Why doesn't Moseby go back and finish listening to his answering machine after the character dies? He had cut off the playback of their message mid plot-revealing sentence when his estranged wife drops in for make-up sex. He even reminds himself later that it was the last contact that he had had with the deceased. It was very difficult to identify the character flying the plane at the end. Speaking of the ending, there really isn't one, just a lot of dead and dying with no hint if Moseby will survive.
Stephen E

Noir is such a provocative genre. There are so many likable characteristics about it. Each noir film has an underlying meaning, and they all deal with dark themes: greed, murder, corruption. It's impossible not to enjoy watching a mystery as it unfolds. Arthur Penn's Night… More
Noir is such a provocative genre. There are so many likable characteristics about it. Each noir film has an underlying meaning, and they all deal with dark themes: greed, murder, corruption. It's impossible not to enjoy watching a mystery as it unfolds. Arthur Penn's Night Moves is good example of noir, but it isn't a fantastic film. Why? The story is intriguing enough and it certainly holds many of the traits found in film noir, but it just doesn't have the "oomph" that it needs. You understand what I mean? Night Moves is a good film, but it needs to be a great film. With a story like this, it has to be. I don't blame the cast or really even the direction. In fact, I'm not sure who to blame. Just know that the blame goes to someone, even if that someone doesn't have a face. This film is just a slight tick above average, when it should be powerful. It's a film about morals, family morals. The message is there, black and white. But Night Moves just doesn't have the... Well, I'm done trying to explain. Gene Hackman continues to impress me with these younger roles. He is a fine actor and I see that now. His work nowadays doesn't really even being to compare with his 70's and 80's filmography. Here in Night Moves, his performance is one of the most attractive things. It's one of the best things that this film has to offer. Just don't go into Night Moves with high expectations, like the critics will get you to believe with their 4/4 star ratings. This is not a fabulous picture. This is not even a great noir. It's a good noir, and watch it because of that. There's no real mystery to look for. It's just all in the message. And that's what counts.
Tom S

"...your erect nipples!"
Brian R

Night Moves is the best film I have ever seen. It is classic neo-noir storytelling right from the get-go, with uncanny performances and with a completely gut wrenching ending. Harry Moseby(Gene Hackman) is on to find a missing girl which then takes him on a trip to the Florida Keys,… More
Night Moves is the best film I have ever seen. It is classic neo-noir storytelling right from the get-go, with uncanny performances and with a completely gut wrenching ending. Harry Moseby(Gene Hackman) is on to find a missing girl which then takes him on a trip to the Florida Keys, he starts to find out that there is more secrets at hand with the people he is associating around with. Plus to make matters worst his wife Ellen(Susan Clark) is cheating on him. One of Arthur Penn's best films and definetly my fav of all time.