There were about five months when I couldn't stand the wait for the "Midnight Run" DVD.
If I didn't get it, I was going to bust some heads in. It was held back so long, I wanted to hurt someone.
What made it worse were the constant censored broadcasts of the flick on TNT. Without the curse words, this is barely a movie. Watching "Midnight Run" on network television is like listening to a CD that has been scratched to pieces.
Beyond the coarse language, there's a lot to treasure about this movie, which feels like an '80s cop comedy akin to "Beverly Hills Cop" - same director, Martin Brest - but has more heart and a bigger brain.
Start with the sterling chemistry between the two leads. Robert DeNiro as bounty hunter Jack Walsh and Charles Grodin as the self-proclaimed white-collar criminal Jonathan "The Duke" Mardukas are two top talents in their primes here. Watching them wring the most from every scene together is like watching late-'90s Kobe and Shaq tear up the NBA. They're hilarious when they have to be and touching in scenes that require a bit more sentimentality.
The story is pure formula. Walsh has to get the lamming Duke from New York to L.A. in five days or the cranky bail bondsman that sprung him is out $500,000. The only things blocking Walsh from the biggest - and last - payday of his lousy career are cops, feds, a dimwitted rival bounty hunter and a ferocious mob boss still steaming over the $15 million Duke stole from him to give to charity.
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As they road trip across the country - Duke can't fly - Walsh is constantly forced to recapture his convict, who nearly escapes several times.
This is a movie where every element just seems to come together perfectly. The actors are all fantastic because they're given meat to chew on. There are no less than a dozen integral characters in "Midnight Run," each with his or her own pitch-perfect personality.
The plot never drags for a second. The rousing conclusion in a Vegas airport terminal - "Serrano's got the disks!" - would be the highlight of this movie if the other hour-and-a-half weren't equally satisfying.
I finally added "Midnight Run" to my DVD collection two years ago, and as I step back and look at all the movies I've racked up, this film in particular gives me pause and makes me wonder what it means for a movie to be truly great.
My copies of "Citizen Kane," "Annie Hall" and "Apocalypse Now" have served no more purpose than to boost my ego. They sit, collecting dust, while "Mallrats," "Fight Club," "Napoleon Dynamite" and even "Chappelle's Show: Season One" are fortunately not wearing down from repeated viewings. There's what everyone defines as great, and then there's the movies you actually want to spend your time watching.
Is "Midnight Run" better than "The Graduate?" Anyone would say no. It's got plot holes and contrived coincidences that enable Walsh to get Duke to L.A. though a wild set of obstacles. And yet I would rather spend two hours with "Midnight Run" than almost any other movie. This should be how we define a great flick.
I've seen "Schindler's List" exactly once since its theatrical run, when I was forced to in a high-school class, yet anyone would say it's an American masterpiece, better than 99 percent of all movies out there.
"Midnight Run" is the kind of movie that makes me consider thinking otherwise.
