troperville

tools

toys

SubpagesFilm
Main
Trivia
WMG

main index

Narrative

Genre

Media

Topical Tropes

Other Categories

TV Tropes Org
random
Film: Into The Night
Under-rated 1985 comedy-thriller directed by John Landis, and starring Michelle Pfeiffer and Jeff Goldblum.

Briefly, Ed Okin is an insomniac aerospace engineer (Goldblum) who encounters an Iranian smuggler's girlfriend/mule Diana (Pfeiffer), at LAX, inadvertently rescuing her from her fiancé's homicidal crime family and getting drawn into a complicated jewel heist plot.


Has examples of:

  • Actor Allusion: Jeff Goldblum often mentions a dislike of snakes in his roles. Here though, after Diana she can't stand them, he says "Right now a snake would be reassuring."
    • When he drives away in Jack's car, he says "Banzai."
  • The Alleged Car: Ed's doesn't like to start.
  • Aluminum Christmas Trees: The "Go see Cal" commercial playing in the background at one point with a man riding a hippo is a real automotive dealership, and a real commercial. Cal Worthington "And his 'dog' spot" (which was always some different strange animal) were ubiquitous in the Los Angeles area. The dealerships still exist in 2012, but Cal is in his 90's and probably retired.
  • And Starring: "and David Bowie as Colin Morris"
  • Asleep for Days Ed, at the end, for two days - and awakening in the same position with hands behind the head and his elbows up and not a bit stiff!
  • Berserk Button: The SAVAK agents are touchy. It ends badly for the parrot.
  • Briefcase Full of Money
  • Elvis Impersonator: Diana's brother Charlie.
  • Farce: Ed is waiting for Diana on a TV show set and he leans against a rock which breaks, and tries to use a payphone only to discover it's a prop.
  • The Insomniac: Ed's insomnia is what gets the plot going.
  • MacGuffin: Six perfect emeralds from the crown jewels of Iran.
  • Modesty Bedsheet: in the opening Ed's wife is asleep nude in bed with the bedsheet conveniently covering her rear.
  • My Car Hates Me
  • Need a Hand, or a Handjob?: Played with.
    Herb: There's a girl there who will do anything you want for $200 dollars an hour.
    Ed: Like what?
    Herb: Anything! If you want she'll dress like Santa Claus!
    Ed: Will she bring me a pony?
  • P.O.V. Cam: being drowned
  • Technology Marches On: Even the uber-rich didn't bother with cellphones in 1985.
  • Title Theme Tune: "Into the Night", during the opening credits.
  • There Is No Kill Like Overkill: During the climax, most of the bad guys get blown away, but the one played by John Landis seems to get a special sendoff. In an interview, he said "That's the way I'd want to go".
  • Victoria's Secret Compartment (though in this case it *does* refer to the, uh, other compartment).
  • Villains Out Shopping: Or rather getting suits in the middle of the night.

GymkataFilms of the 1980sInvasion USA 1985

alternative title(s): Into The Night
random
TV Tropes by TV Tropes Foundation, LLC is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available from thestaff@tvtropes.org.
Privacy Policy
7400
36