out of control
by Douglas Messerli
Ron
Koslow (writer), John Landis (director) Into
the Night / 1985
In the same year as Scorcese's After Hours, director John Landis filmed
his Into the Night, both works
sharing numerous similarities, notably the portrayal of their heroes as
nebbish-like failures, cast out into a world they could not possibly have
imagined and not able to comprehend.
Ed Okin (Jeff Goldblum) is having trouble sleeping, and, as he admits to
his friend and co-worker Herb (Dan Aykroyd), something is wrong with his home
life. His wife leaves him each morning with a purposeless kiss, wishing him
"a nice day" the way a bank teller might speak to her customer. His
insomnia is beginning to interfere with his work (he has missed the fact that
the engineering group with whom works, has announced a different set up of
frequencies weeks earlier). A trip back home in the middle of day, reveals that
his wife is having a affair with a co-worker. Although he is dismissive of
Herb's coarse advice to fly out to Las Vegas—"There's a girl there who do
'anything you want' for fifty dollars an hour." "Will she bring me a
pony?"— he suddenly finds himself at the Los Angeles airport without any
real destination.
By accident Ed witnesses a brutal murder of a handsome young Iranian,
Hasi, and an attempt on the life of Hasi's companion, Diana (Michelle Pfeiffer)
by SAVAK (Iranian secret police controlled by the evil Shaheen Parvici [Irene
Papas]). Many of the minor characters of Landis' film are played by fellow film
directors, including Landis serving as one of the SAVAK bungles. Throughout
these figures are presented as racial stereotypes, foolish and incompetent; but given the number
of murders they and others actually accomplish by the end of the film, they are
definitely dangerous fools, despite Okin's often casual disdain for all that
happens around him.
Diana has been unwittingly involved with the appropriation of some
valuable jewels which the Shaheen is determined to retrieve in order that she
can make escrow on property. The obvious and ridiculous greediness of this
underground world makes for some comic book moments as Ed meets challenge after
challenge with a wry sense of humor. Even Melville's man, Colin (in one of the
best scenes of the film) marvels at Ed's nonchalant style:
Colin Morris: [Ed is waiting outside the Tiffany
store for Diana] You're very good. You're really very good.
I'm amazed we've not met before.
Ed: I beg your pardon?
Colin Morris: I've been watching you ever since you
left Caper's yacht. Very impressive.
Ed: Oh yeah?
Colin Morris: You can stop performing now, Ed. If
that's your name.
Ed: Heh, I don't know, what are you talking about?
Colin Morris: OK. I represent Monsieur Melville, and
I can assure you that he will be far more reasonable than the SAVAK.
Ed: The SAVAK?
Colin Morris: The Shah's secret police. Death squad.
Iranian gestapo. *Shaheen's* boys.
Ed: ...Shaheen's boys...
Colin Morris: Heh, heh, I like you Ed. I do like
you. You're very good.
[Draws pistol, puts it in Ed's
mouth.]
Colin Morris: The stones.
Ed: What?
Colin Morris: Where are the stones?
Ed: I can't help you.
Colin Morris: [Cocks pistol] We do understand
each other, don't we?
Ed: Uh, I don't know.
Colin Morris: [Sees police car approaching, puts
pistol away] Very good. Very impressive. I'm sure
we'll chat again.
The character Diana, on the other hand, ultimately, is one of the most
merciless manipulators possible. Although Landis attempts to make her also a
near-innocent, unaware of any of the larger effects of her relationships with
men like Hami and the wealthy Jack Caper (Richard Farnsworth) upon herself and
others, she is anything but uninvolved. With no vacillation she uses her
friend, a wanabee actress, to hide her jewels within a secret pocket of her
coat, which later results in the woman's brutal murder by the SAVAK.
Nonetheless, Diana breezily returns to the house after the after the attack to
pick up the coat, using a passing policeman as a way to escape Melville.
Just by showing up at the apartment of Hamid, she causes his murder and
that of most of his family and servants. Everywhere she goes, including a short
visit to her brother, mayhem and murder follow. If Ed previously has fretfully
found life uneventful, in the two nights he spends with Diana (one of them in a
dark culvert), he encounters a whirlwind of destruction far deeper and more
perverse than Scorcese's computer nerd, Paul, encounters on his long outing.
"She is a woman who will go with anyone," Shaheen tells Ed;
but this time, it appears, she has no one else left who might save her. Ed is
her only hope.
In a final attempt to contact Caper, her former lover, she breaks into
his house, only to discover that he is gravely ill and his wife has returned to
claim his estate upon his death. Caper suggests yet another "caper,"
a meeting between Ed and Shaheen to make a deal for the return of the stones.
Again, Ed's oddball lack of consequence saves the day, convincing the
mad Medea-like villain that she has no choice but to go along with their plan:
Diana has hidden the jewels within dozens of bouquets of roses at the flower
market under the name of Parvici, allowing the couple time to escape.
But the trip to Mexico is delayed, as the captain explains: the plane is
malfunctioning, and the couple has no choice but once again to face the
murderous forces of Melville, SAVAK, and this time, government police, brought
in presumably by Caper. A standoff results, and suddenly the humor that has
been partner to the film's horror, turns sour. Ed, once more with a gun pointed
at his head, begins with his usual banter: "This is ridiculous. Big shot,
huh? You got a gun. Now what? Shithead, you. Huh?"
His next word, however, says it all. The possibility of the
"real" world has dropped away. The man he faces is a
"maniac." And suddenly we recognize the level of despair out of which
Ed has survived these horrific days and nights: "Let me ask you something.
Maybe you can help me. What's wrong with my life? Why is my wife sleeping with
someone else? Why I can't I sleep?"
His very personal plea resonates even with the maniac, as he turns the
gun upon himself and shoots out his brains.
For the first time in this pummeling, pulsing movie, the
"lovers" are left to themselves. But instead of falling into an
embrace and sex, Diana luxuriously cleans her blood-stained body, while Ed
finally falls into a profoundly deep sleep.
A sharp bang declares a new day, actually the afternoon of the following
day. Diana has disappeared—just as we might have expected. Only this time,
things are different. Perhaps she has turned a new corner, cleaned up not just
her body but her life. She comes bearing gifts, the suitcase, tickets for a
Mexican escape. It is hard to say whether this couple will fall in love or
simply experience further lunatic adventures. But perhaps Ed, at least, can
finally sleep at night. And nobody will ever again be able to tell him
"Have a nice day."
Los
Angeles, November 15, 2011
All four essays reprinted from World Cinema Review (November 2011).
Reprinted from Reading Films: My International Cinema (2012).
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