Midnight Madness (1980)

Directors:

Michael Nankin
David Wechter

Writers:

Michael Nankin (writer)
David Wechter (writer)

Release Date:

8 February 1980 (USA)

Genre:

Family | Comedy

Tagline:

A Wacky College Adventure

Plot:

Leon planned "The Great Allnighter" by picking college students to participate in his night long scavenger hunt...

Plot Keywords:

Scavenger Hunt | College | Sorority | Contest | Volkswagen Beetle

Cast

David Naughton	...	Adam Larson - Yellow Team Leader
Debra Clinger	...	Laura - Yellow Team
David Damas	...	Marvin - Yellow Team
Michael J. Fox	...	Scott Larson (as Michael Fox)
Stephen Furst	...	Harold - Blue Team Leader
Patricia Alice Albrecht	...	Lucille - Blue Team
Andy Tennant	...	Melio - Blue Team
Brian Frishman	...	Barf - Blue Team
Joel Kenney	...	Flynch - Yellow Team (as Joel P. Kenney)
Sal Lopez	...	Blade - Blue Team
Maggie Roswell	...	Donna - Red Team Leader
Robyn Petty	...	Berle - Red Team
Betsy Lynn Thompson	...	Peggy - Red Team
Carol Gwynn Thompson	...	Lulu - Red Team
Eddie Deezen	...	Wesley - White Team Leader

Also Known As:

The All-Night Treasure Hunt (USA) (working title)
The Great All-Nighter (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

USA:112 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:L | USA:PG

Filming Locations:

Burbank, California, USA

Company:

Walt Disney Pictures

Trivia:

Disney released this film, its second to be rated "PG" by the MPAA (the first being The Black Hole (1979)), without any mention of its involvement, in hopes that teenage audiences might be more likely to see it if they didn't know that it was a Disney picture. (However, the cover art of the DVD release of the film in 2004 credits the film to Walt Disney Pictures.)

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Harold's team is finally in the lead en route to the Bonadventure Hotel; Lucille asks Harold to go back for 'Little Harold' to no avail. When Melio and Lucille try and make the projected u-turn, they pull the steering wheel to the right (which would have crashed into a building, not make the u-turn to go back)

Quotes:

Lucille: Harold, how long are you gonna keep driving around without knowing where we're going?
Harold: Barf, have you finished unscrambling those letters yet?
Barf: [finishes unscrambling letters] Fagabeefe? Haha. Fagabeefe. Hey, Melio - fagabeefe.
Harold: [shouts] *Shut up*!

Movie Connections:

References Star Wars (1977)

Soundtrack:

Someone New

Midnight Madness . . . is gonna get to you!

Somewhere in the dark recesses of my brain cells a song plays in my head. I can't forget it no matter how hard I try. It's MIDNIGHT MADNESS and it's gonna get to you! Wish i could find a copy of this on a 45rpm record. Five disparate teams head out one night in L.A. for a scavenger hunt for clues instead of physical objects. An unkempt game-master with two gorgeous assistants is the mastermind of all this insanity that's about to be unleashed on L.A. All the teams are stereotypes (this movie being from 1980, before political correctness screwed everything up): the "good guys", the "nerds" led by Eddie Deezen, the dumb beer-loving "jocks", the "we-don't-need-a-man-type ladies", especially the redhead. The giggling twins are a scream, too. And finally, the "bad guys" with Stephen Furst as the leader. Furst is hilarious as the overweight slob Harold, whose attempt to use a computer to decipher the various clues leads to a gooey mess. Movies like this aren't made anymore. These days, movies have to have an "edginess" to them with some dark characters and other nonsense. Go back to the days when the "good guys" led by David Naughton were still good and not hopelessly conflicted. So dump all serious pretensions and go back to 1980. It's MIDNIGHT MADNESS . . .