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:

bare breasts | night shift | pimp | prostitute | voyeur | 

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Taglines:

It makes the day seem dead

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Genres:

Comedy

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Certificate:

R

Did You Know?

Trivia

Near the end of the movie, when Bill becomes a towel boy in the exclusive gentleman's club, there is an exchange between Bill and Mr. Manetti (Joe Spinell) in which Bill calls him a "Jagoff" under his breath. The term "Jagoff" is a derogatory slang expression native to Pittsburgh and surrounding western Pennsylvania, and is a derivative of "jack-off". A nod to the fact that Michael Keaton is from Coraopolis, Pennsylvania, just outside of Pittsburgh. Keaton might be from PA, but jagoff was used by everyone in the 80s, not just natives of PA.

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Goofs

Bill says "this is my stop" and gets off the subway, while Chuck stays on. But the sign next to him says the train is the Times Square - Grand Central shuttle, which makes no intermediate stops.

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Quotes

Lupe: You take us off the city streets and give us nicer men's to meet. We have furs and jewels and nicer dresses to wear and we even go to Vidal Sassoon's to fix up our hair. We move to nice apartment houses instead of living with the ratones and the mouses. Because of you, our joy is jumping 'cause we're at this party instead of humping.

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Connections

Referenced in The Best of Eddie Murphy: Saturday Night Live (1989)

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Soundtracks

Night Shift
Music and Lyrics by Burt Bacharach, Carole Bayer Sager, Marv Ross
Produced by John Boylan
Performed by Quarterflash

User Reviews

Night shift with dad

I was watching this for the second time on the telly when my dad came in after a hard day's work to wish me good night. He started watching, sat down and stayed transfixed to the end, finally declaring it one of the funniest films he had ever seen. I agreed with him. Then I sent him off to bed. I couldn't bear to look at those red spandex trousers for a minute longer.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

30 July 1982 (USA)

Also Known As:

Night Shift

Filming Locations:

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

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$2,539,633, 1 August 1982

Gross USA:

$21,095,638

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$21,095,638

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