Are you in the 8th grade?

 If I could narrow down the number of great scripts to about 20, George Gallo's work on Midnight Run would be in the pile. 

Something sorely missing from comedies is the characters to feel human. Gallo's script is perfectly calibrated in terms of tone. It's never too goofy and never too violent. So few comedies do this anymore. A comedy doesn't always mean goofy non sequiters and the silliest stuff you can come up with. The way exposition is doled out in the movie is neatly wrapped into character observations. 

We can talk about how the Litmus Configuration is one of the great scenes in comedy history. We can talk about how Serrano's speech to the Duke about 'going home and having a nice meal' manages to turn blood cold. A scene that happens exactly when it needs to, showing why Jonathan Mardukis is frightened for his life as far as the predicament he is in. If this scene was placed at the beginning of the film, it would create a gray cloud over the whole film. Thus diminishing any comedic hijinx that ensues between Jack and The Duke. 

The impetus for this post about Midnight Run is a scene about half way through the picture which raises the stakes for Jack. But isn't through threat of violence. 

The stop in to Chicago where they visit his ex-wife comes at a point in the film where Jack's credit card has been cancelled. He is moneyless. The Duke, being the moral character he is, suggests he go to visit his ex-wife's house. 

When he sees his daughter Denise standing speechless in the doorway, DeNiro's whole body language and vocal inflection change. 'Are you in the 8th grade?' is the queston of a man who is desperately trying to noramlize that awkward moment between them. Seeing the daughter run after him with offering her babysitting money just hits me in the heart. It doesn't kick us out of the story. The rest of the movie builds off it. 

The bits where we see Jack hold his watch up to his ear pay off here. He is trapped in the past and unable to move on. Nine years have gone by and he has refused to take off the watch his ex has gifted him. He simply can't let go. This explanation is echoed in the boxcar scene after a brilliant comic improv regarding chickens on Grodin's part. It's yet another example of how the script uses character moments. It accomplishes two (in this case 3) things at once as all great writing does. 

   1. The story of Jack's watch and why he can't let Gail go

   2. It solidifies the relationship between the two 

   3. The verbal ping pong between them ends with "in the next life", a phrase which returns in their           last scene together. 

By the end of the film, the watch finds itself on the wrist of The Duke. "Something to remember our adventures by." What does Jack get? A cash strap in the neighborhood of $300,000. Even though he is unable to get a taxi drive to break a $1000 bill, he'll get to where he's going. Eventually.