Just how many careers has Midnight Run killed?

There are a whole handful of things wrong with this brief news bit from Movie Web that I came across this morning:

“Antonio Banderas, Meg Ryan, Colin Hanks, and Selma Blair will star in the romantic comedy Homeland Security for Millennium Films.

Written and directed by George Gallo, the story concerns an uptight young federal agent who finds himself having to spy on his sexually liberated mother and her new lover after the FBI links him to an international art theft ring.”

The most obvious, glaring problems here include the following:

• Do we really need a wacky romantic comedy about an uptight homeland security agent? Why not just make Dude, Where’s My Al-Qaeda?
• Colin Hanks = son of sexually liberated Meg Ryan x new lover Antonio Banderas = eeewww. I’ve got more chemistry at the bottom of yesterday’s coffee cup.
• George Gallo? Whatever happened to George Gallo?

And as I contemplated this last one, I realized something amazing. Fascinating. World-shattering. At least to me.

The 1988 road movie/action/buddy comedy Midnight Run has killed the careers of a number of very talented and promising filmmakers.

Don’t believe me? Jump to the inside and I’ll be happy to explain.

Now don’t get me wrong – I love Midnight Run; it’s one of the best comedy/action movies out there. It takes the best parts of the well-worn Lethal Weapon formula and tweaks it with just enough heart and believability to be incredibly entertaining and wildly successful – and the movie stands up well, too, certainly worth revisiting over the years.

But let’s be clear: Midnight Run proved deadly to a number of great careers. Let’s take a look:

Martin Brest
On Midnight Run: Director
Subsequent losing career: Scent of a Woman, Meet Joe Black, Gigli
Assessment: If his career’s not dead, it’s seeing the white light. Scent of a Woman may be an exception, but consider that once Brest left his comfort zone – buddy action comedies – it pretty much all fell apart for him.
Decision: Killed by Midnight Run.

George Gallo
On Midnight Run: Screenwriter
Subsequent losing career: Trapped In Paradise, Bad Boys, See Spot Run
Assessment: You might consider Bad Boys a success. And then again you might not have a soul, either. The innovation, the spark and the life found in MR are nowhere to be found since.
Decision: Killed by Midnight Run.

Yaphet Kotto
In Midnight Run: FBI Agent Alonzo Mosely
Subsequent losing career: He’s a prolific actor to be sure, but there aren’t many highlights. Freddy’s Dead? Two If By Sea? Law & Order?
Assessment: For such a solid, exciting-to-watch actor, Kotto doesn’t seem like he’s in a hurry to get back on the big screen in any kind of dedicated way. That’s fine, but when you recall parts he played in the likes of Brubaker and Alien, it seems a shame that he’s not in more movies.
Decision: Maimed by Midnight Run – but still successful on TV.

John Ashton
In Midnight Run: Marvin Dorfler
Subsequent losing career: Lots of TV appearances, not much of it good. A few spotty movies that personally I can’t even identify even after seeing them on IMDB.
Assessment: Now it’s not like Ashton necessarily would have ever elevated above character actor status; but think for a moment how great his Marvin Dorfler characterization is in MR. Think about how dumb and brutish and violent and cruel but really dumb the guy is. It’s a very solid, breakthrough-type acting job that Ashton hasn’t managed since.
Decision: Killed by Midnight Run.

Charles Grodin
In Midnight Run: Jonathan Mardukas
Subsequent losing career: Taking Care of Business, Beethoven, Clifford. And a really horrendous TV talk show.
Assessment: This is the real heartache of MR, the vicious that sits on top of the cruel in all multiple murderers. Grodin was funny, untraditional, compelling to watch. He was Albert Brooks with a bitter, angry edge. He really might have been someone to watch, long-term – but he never had a chance.
Decision: Killed, chopped up, buried, dug up again and then burned all the little pieces and jumped up and down on them by Midnight Run.

And I know what you’re going to say: “What about De Niro? He’s survived just fine since Midnight Run.”

Yeah, but he’s Bobby D. MR is just killing him more slowly than the rest. Go rent Analyze That if you don’t believe me.

(some images borrowed from the Movie Screenshots blog – awesome site!)