Night Shift (1982)

A morgue attendant is talked into running a brothel at his workplace after a deceased pimp is sent there. However, the pimp's killers don't look too kindly on this new 'business', nor does the morgue's owner.

Director:

Ron Howard

Writers:

Lowell Ganz, Babaloo Mandel

Stars:

Henry Winkler, Michael Keaton, Shelley Long

Nominated for 1 Golden Globe. Another 1 win.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Henry Winkler	...	Chuck Lumley
Michael Keaton	...	Bill Blazejowski
Shelley Long	...	Belinda Keaton
Gina Hecht	...	Charlotte Koogle
Pat Corley	...	Edward Koogle
Bobby Di Cicco	...	Leonard (as Bobby DiCicco)
Nita Talbot	...	Vivian
Basil Hoffman	...	Drollhauser
Tim Rossovich	...	Luke
Clint Howard	...	Jefferey
Joe Spinell	...	Manetti
Cheryl Carter	...	Tanya
Becky Gonzalez	...	Lupe
Corki Grazer	...	Sylvia (as Corki Corman)
Jaid Barrymore	...	Joyce (as Ildiko Jaid)

Storyline

A nebbish of a morgue attendant gets shunted back to the night shift where he is shackled with an obnoxious neophyte partner who dreams of the "one great idea" for success. His life takes a bizarre turn when a prostitute neighbour complains about the loss of her pimp. His partner, upon hearing the situation, suggests that they fill that opening themselves using the morgue at night as their brothel. Against his better judgement, he gets talked into the idea, only to find that it's more than his boss that has objections to this bit of entrepreneurship.

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Plot Keywords:

night shift | pimp | prostitute | voyeur | panties | 

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Taglines:

It makes the day seem dead

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Genres:

Comedy

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

30 July 1982 (USA)

Also Known As:

Servicio de noche

Filming Locations:

H&H Midtown Bagels - 2239 Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Box Office

Gross USA:

$23,600,000

Company Credits

Production Co:

Major Studio Partners,The Ladd Company

Technical Specs

Runtime:

106 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The most successful movie at the box-office in constant dollars of Henry Winkler, in a film where he played the leading top first billed starring role.

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Goofs

52 minutes into the film, when Chuck is reading a computer screen showing his and Bill's investments for their prostitution "company," there are multiple spelling errors which aren't due to the screen's limitations. Chuck, being the fussy business type, would never let this happen. There's at least one typo on nine of the eleven lines displayed. Here they are: "CHUCK & BILLS INVESTMET SERVICE," "Inteest compouded monthl," "Paymnts at endof period," "Annual intrest rate," "Present vaue," "Future vale," "Monthly pament," "The interet rate is 1.46% per monh" and "And the tie period i 12 months."

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Quotes

Belinda Keaton: Franklin once told me that he wanted to be buried in his car.
Chuck Lumley: We don't do that.
Belinda Keaton: Oh.
Chuck Lumley: You'll probably have to call the funeral home or the department of motor vehicles.

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Connections

Referenced in Mike & Mike: Episode dated 23 February 2015 (2015)

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Soundtracks

Jumpin' Jack Flash
Written by Mick Jagger (uncredited) and Keith Richards (uncredited)
Performed by The Rolling Stones
Courtesy of Promotone B.V.

User Reviews

Comedy of the Absurd

This movie finds it's humor in seeing the absurdity of situations that are unusual but not completely unbelievable. The characters are memorable, especially as Henry Winkler plays a role that is a complete departure from previous roles and he does so convincingly. Winkler is a great straight man to Michael Keaton's high energy "idea man" and Shelley Long is well cast as the quintessential hooker-with-a-heart of gold. It's a very 80's film, but one that has stood the test of time. Even if the story line is "formula" it produces exactly the result you would expect: it's a loud, colorful, rollicking good time. It may be dated, but it is still funny after all these years.