The Big Picture

Night Moves
is an overlooked gem from the ’70s, featuring Gene Hackman in a haunting performance as a troubled detective.
The film explores themes of fidelity and morality in a seedy Hollywood setting, showcasing Hackman’s talent as an actor.
The dark neo-noir thriller culminated in a gripping and bleak ending.

The 1975 film, Night Moves, wastes no time in getting down to business. Neither does Gene Hackman’s character, Harry Moseby. A gripping neo-noir thriller, it’s one of the best to come out during the resurgence of the genre in the ’60s and ’70s. It also happens to be one of the most underrated thrillers of that time, and the best. Riveting, brilliant, and bleak, Night Moves deserves to be remembered and praised for its cutting edge story, and Hackman’s astounding performance.

Directed by prolific director, Arthur Penn (Bonnie and Clyde), Night Moves is one of his most over-looked films. A moody crime-craper that spawns across a gritty Los Angeles and dingy Florida, the film is written by Alan Sharp, who had a knack for focusing on dark stories. In this scenario, he wrote a subtle rebellion against Hollywood. Night Moves doesn’t take it easy on the film industry, and depicts mechanics, actresses, stuntpeople, and directors as dirty dealers who care more about money than anything else, especially art. For Hackman fans and neo-noir lovers everywhere, this forgotten film is a must-watch.

Night Moves (1975) Private detective Harry Moseby takes on a case to find the missing daughter of a former movie star. His search leads him from Los Angeles to the murky waters of the Florida Keys, where he encounters a mix of dubious individuals connected to the girl’s disappearance. As Harry digs deeper, he uncovers secrets that intertwine with his own life, complicating his sense of justice and duty.Release Date February 27, 1975 Director Arthur Penn Cast Gene Hackman , Jennifer Warren , Edward Binns , Susan Clark , Harris Yulin Runtime 100 Minutes Main Genre Crime Writers Alan Sharp Studio(s) Hiller Productions , Warner Bros. Pictures Expand

What Is ‘Night Moves’ About?
Hackman stars as private detective, Harry Moseby, and he doesn’t have much to live for except solving mysteries that get him nowhere. When he catches his wife (Susan Clark) cheating on him, it’s the final straw. Having lost what once gave him something to live for, he decides to live for the job instead. Night Moves has all but lost faith in the construct of marriage, and one of its main themes is losing faith in fidelity. Moseby is then hired by former actress, Arlene Iverson (Janet Ward), to track down her 16-year-old runaway daughter, Delly Grastner, played by Melanie Griffith in her first film.

Moseby begins a wild goose hunt that leads him to sleazy men, most of them involved in the stunt world in Hollywood. They’ve all had affairs with Delly and her mother, which unsettles Moseby. A young and instantly creepy James Wood as the mechanic, Quentin, is one of the many suitors in Delly’s life, and one of the many suspects in Delly’s disappearance. On a hunch, Moseby travels to the secluded Florida Keys, where Arlene’s ex-husband and Delly’s predatory step-father, Tom (John Crawford), lives. Moseby then finds Delly living with her step-father, and he uncovers a dark series of truths involving her family, while also falling in love with the woman Tom is seeing, Paula (Jennifer Warren). The result is a slow-burning, deeply underappreciated ’70s thriller as he travels back and forth between swampy Florida and an ugly Hollywood where honesty is seldom seen.

‘Night Moves’ Speaks to the Dark and Gritty New Hollywood of the 1970s

Night Moves seems radical from today’s perspective, but in 1975, dark, gritty, and unflinching noirs and thrillers were released at a prolific rate. The 1970s, known as New Hollywood, was defined by ushering in a new batch of exciting young filmmakers who, thanks to their eclectic cinematic taste and education in film school, radicalized mainstream Hollywood. They combined numerous Hollywood sensibilities with avant-garde trends from foreign cinema, all while reflecting on the tumultuous social and political climate of the decade. In fact, Night Moves director Arthur Penn changed the cinematic landscape for the foreseeable future with his film, Bonnie and Clyde, which portrayed crime and violence with an unprecedented level of shock and visceral energy.

Gene Hackman, a supporting player in Bonnie and Clyde, was no stranger to daring genre films like The French Connection, or bleak psychological examinations of paranoia like The Conversation. Night Moves may not have broken any new rules, but it belongs in the canon of gritty noirs insisting that, no matter how hard we try to make things right, we’re all doomed. The film is a fitting companion piece to Chinatown, which similarly follows a moralistic private eye who submits to the corrupt system. It parallels Taxi Driver, in that both protagonists capitalize on the danger of a guileless young girl to validate themselves as redeemable people.

Night Moves exists in a seedy world of Hollywood. As a new wave of filmmakers invaded Hollywood, they upended its glossy depiction as the world where dreams become reality. For classic noirs and neo-noirs, Los Angeles is the ideal backdrop for stories about jaded private eyes peeling back the layers of sinister conspiracies, as seen in films such as Double Indemnity, The Long Goodbye, Chinatown, and a futuristic depiction in Blade Runner.

Gene Hackman Gives a Career Best Performance as a Haunted Detective

Hackman was born for noir, and lucky for us, he got to take a swing at it with Night Moves. His face is lined with bitterness from a hard-lived life, which fits the genre like a glove. Hackman makes Moseby his own, and is unlike any other detective in noir. Drinking water instead of whiskey, Moseby is a unique breed of investigator. He’s got morals, believes in the truth, and naively thinks he can be a hero. As every man fawns over Delly, Moseby doesn’t, and becomes disgusted with the gross boys club swarming Delly like flies. Prior to Night Moves, Hackman won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of the tough New York City cop, “Popeye” Doyle, in The French Connection. He was brutish, cold, and hard while trying to bust drug dealers, and was a playboy who indulged in various vices as a devilish antihero. Night Moves was a major departure from the cold grit of Popeye.

Hackman is haunting and haunted as Moseby, and has a tenderness not often seen in his many tough guy characters and famous villains. He carries a father-like protectiveness over Delly, and believes if he can save her, he can save himself. This is his downfall, especially as he begins to fall in love with the enchanting Paula, played by an enthralling Jennifer Warren. Hackman drenches Moseby in loneliness, and finds all the right notes of obsession as he fills the void of his loveless marriage with another case.

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As Paula becomes an evasive femme fatale, she sums up Moseby’s hunger for solving the case in one perfect metaphor. Many scenes in Florida take place on Tom and Paula’s boat at sea, and the ocean symbolizes the choppy waters Moseby wades into. Paula informs Moseby, “If sharks stop swimming, they die.” Moseby is a shark, unable to stop navigating dangerous waters, always on the hunt for blood. Hackman brings an intensity that cannot be matched. He’s an addict for answers, and only brings more people under the tide with him as he keeps swimming for clues.

Melanie Griffith’s Film Debut in ‘Night Moves’ Was Controversial
Image via Warner Bros.

Daughter of Hollywood royalty and Alfred Hitchcock muse, Tippi Hedren, Night Moves was the first film Melanie Griffith ever made. Her character was mesmerizing, disturbing, and heartbreaking all at once as the tragic. Delly is presented as a promiscuous teen who embraces her sexuality at way too young of an age, when in actuality she really is making a plea for help. The only one who can see that plea is Moseby, but she refutes him all the same. With Griffith being 16, her role and the film were seen as risqué for the time, as Delly is exploited and eroticized. This is where the film shows its age, with how it treats its underage actor and character. However, Griffith flawlessly took on an upsetting character study of a troubled youth.

Griffith also makes for a fascinating character as Delly, who is at once a bully and a victim, using seduction to hide the damage done to her young life. Appearing nude in various scenes and often times wearing scant outfits, the film’s nude shots would rightfully not fly in today’s culture. The film bluntly exploits both Delly and Griffith with a glaring male gaze, with its release date having to be delayed until Griffith turned 17 to minimize the controversy. But it’s Griffith’s performance that makes the film so devastating and unforgettable.

With Its Bleak Ending, ‘Night Moves’ Is One of the ’70s Darkest Neo-Noirs

The number one rule of neo-noir is that there are no happy endings. Night Moves is no expectation. A floundering Hackman as a naive detective who believes he can be the knight in shining armor to a damsel in distress makes for one of the darkest film entries of the 70s. Hackman also gets the opportunity to show off his brilliant physicality as an actor in one of the film’s most gripping scenes. A brutal, raw fight that puts modern, neatly choreographed showdowns to shame, it will have you on the edge of your seat. With no weapons but bare-knuckled fists of rage, Hackman pounds into his adversary late in the film, and gets badly beaten in return. There is no point to the fight, and it will get him or his enemy nowhere. But he continues on swinging, and it’s hypnotizing to watch Hackman explode like the loose cannon he hides perfectly under those cold blue eyes. No one wins, and it just leaves the two men bloody. One of them is just losing the fight slower than the other.

The last scene of Night Moves goes off like a rocket, and will have you at the edge of your seat as Moseby gets answers he now wishes he never knew, or chased. Hackman delivers his most distressing moments out on the choppy water, still needlessly treading. Film critic Roger Ebert listed NIght Moves on his great movies list, giving it four stars, and hailed it as a ’70s thriller masterpiece by highlighting Hackman’s devastating performance. It’s rare to see Hackman act so vulnerable as he’s near tears during the third act, which is what makes him and the movie so stunning. Paula’s words come back to haunt him, as he remains out at sea searching for answers. Sharks can’t stop swimming, and neither can he. So he’ll just keep going in circles forever, trying to keep his head above dark, dark waters.

Night Moves is currently available to rent or buy on Apple TV+.

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