10 TO MIDNIGHT
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Sound format: Mono
A world-weary LA cop (Charles Bronson) plants evidence on a young man (Gene Davis) suspected of the serial homicide of several beautiful women, but the plan backfires and Davis subsequently targets Bronson's grown-up daughter (Lisa Eilbacher)...
One of a series of gritty urban thrillers inspired by the success of DEATH WISH, J. Lee Thompson's 10 TO MIDNIGHT is a fair addition to this much-maligned subgenre. Bronson plays a well-meaning (though hopelessly misguided) cop desperate to apprehend a psychopath who strips naked before murdering his (primarily female) victims. The explanation for this glorious, gratuitous beefcake is that the killer avoids detection by washing the blood from his body before getting dressed again, though it's surely no accident that the actor playing the role is a grade-A stud of the highest order! Further, Davis' extensive nude scenes lead to a number of curious plot developments (because he was naked when he committed his crimes, Davis knows that Bronson must have planted blood on his clothes, but he can't use that as a defence without... well, you get the picture), though cinematographer Adam Greenberg (GHOST, RUSH HOUR, the "Terminator" series) turns visual cartwheels to avoid full frontal nudity (and a potential X rating).
Thompson - who gravitated towards Hollywood after forging a successful career in the UK, where he directed a number of popular mainstream entries like YIELD TO THE NIGHT and THE GUNS OF NAVARONE - takes enormous pleasure in foregrounding the more exploitable elements of William Roberts' lively screenplay, though an unpleasant sequence near the end of the film evokes queasy memories of Richard Speck's true-life killing spree in 1966, when several nurses were slaughtered in a Chicago townhouse in a fashion similar to the killings depicted here. For all its excesses, however, the movie is conservative in thought and deed, depicting the criminal justice system as a playground for the likes of Davis and his equally sleazy lawyer (a typically scene-stealing turn from Geoffrey Lewis). When Bronson confronts his nemesis during the inevitable climactic showdown, the audience is literally compelled - through dialogue and editing - to invite brutal retribution on Davis' irredeemable bad guy. It's cheap, manipulative and cynical, but it's also undeniably effective, and Bronson's closing line of dialogue is guaranteed to arouse guilty fascist impulses within even the most liberal viewers.
Davis is the spitting image of his actor brother Brad (the late and much lamented star of MIDNIGHT EXPRESS) and is quite effective in a difficult role, though his subsequent career appears to have gone nowhere, which is a shame. Co-star Andrew Stevens made a brief splash in movies like this one (including Brian DePalma's THE FURY) before becoming a producer on a wide range of Hollywood pictures (everything from 'erotic thrillers' such as NIGHT EYES to blockbusters like DRIVEN and BALLISTIC: ECKS VS. SEVER, etc.), and Lisa Eilbacher enjoyed a momentary spotlight on the big screen before returning to TV (where she had begun her career in the likes of "The Texas Wheelers" and "The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries") before fading from the business altogether. Word has it that the title 10 TO MIDNIGHT (a meaningless phrase) had been announced by Cannon for another film which ultimately failed to materialize, but someone obviously liked the sound of it and simply re-used it here! The 'TV version' is a laff riot, featuring alternate takes with Davis in black briefs. In the original, however, you get to see (almost) every inch of his fabulous, sculpted body. Drool, slobber...
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Sound format: Mono
A world-weary LA cop (Charles Bronson) plants evidence on a young man (Gene Davis) suspected of the serial homicide of several beautiful women, but the plan backfires and Davis subsequently targets Bronson's grown-up daughter (Lisa Eilbacher)...
One of a series of gritty urban thrillers inspired by the success of DEATH WISH, J. Lee Thompson's 10 TO MIDNIGHT is a fair addition to this much-maligned subgenre. Bronson plays a well-meaning (though hopelessly misguided) cop desperate to apprehend a psychopath who strips naked before murdering his (primarily female) victims. The explanation for this glorious, gratuitous beefcake is that the killer avoids detection by washing the blood from his body before getting dressed again, though it's surely no accident that the actor playing the role is a grade-A stud of the highest order! Further, Davis' extensive nude scenes lead to a number of curious plot developments (because he was naked when he committed his crimes, Davis knows that Bronson must have planted blood on his clothes, but he can't use that as a defence without... well, you get the picture), though cinematographer Adam Greenberg (GHOST, RUSH HOUR, the "Terminator" series) turns visual cartwheels to avoid full frontal nudity (and a potential X rating).
Thompson - who gravitated towards Hollywood after forging a successful career in the UK, where he directed a number of popular mainstream entries like YIELD TO THE NIGHT and THE GUNS OF NAVARONE - takes enormous pleasure in foregrounding the more exploitable elements of William Roberts' lively screenplay, though an unpleasant sequence near the end of the film evokes queasy memories of Richard Speck's true-life killing spree in 1966, when several nurses were slaughtered in a Chicago townhouse in a fashion similar to the killings depicted here. For all its excesses, however, the movie is conservative in thought and deed, depicting the criminal justice system as a playground for the likes of Davis and his equally sleazy lawyer (a typically scene-stealing turn from Geoffrey Lewis). When Bronson confronts his nemesis during the inevitable climactic showdown, the audience is literally compelled - through dialogue and editing - to invite brutal retribution on Davis' irredeemable bad guy. It's cheap, manipulative and cynical, but it's also undeniably effective, and Bronson's closing line of dialogue is guaranteed to arouse guilty fascist impulses within even the most liberal viewers.
Davis is the spitting image of his actor brother Brad (the late and much lamented star of MIDNIGHT EXPRESS) and is quite effective in a difficult role, though his subsequent career appears to have gone nowhere, which is a shame. Co-star Andrew Stevens made a brief splash in movies like this one (including Brian DePalma's THE FURY) before becoming a producer on a wide range of Hollywood pictures (everything from 'erotic thrillers' such as NIGHT EYES to blockbusters like DRIVEN and BALLISTIC: ECKS VS. SEVER, etc.), and Lisa Eilbacher enjoyed a momentary spotlight on the big screen before returning to TV (where she had begun her career in the likes of "The Texas Wheelers" and "The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries") before fading from the business altogether. Word has it that the title 10 TO MIDNIGHT (a meaningless phrase) had been announced by Cannon for another film which ultimately failed to materialize, but someone obviously liked the sound of it and simply re-used it here! The 'TV version' is a laff riot, featuring alternate takes with Davis in black briefs. In the original, however, you get to see (almost) every inch of his fabulous, sculpted body. Drool, slobber...