"The Midnight Man" refers to Burt Lancaster's new job as a college security guard, working the midnight to 8:00am shift. The murder of a pretty coed immediately draws Lancaster into the investigation by way of his ex cop instincts. He buts heads with the police chief over an obvious suspect, and then the picture begins to spiral out of control. A multitude of suspects, each with a rather obscure motive begins to cloud the water. Although the cast is very good, character development is sacrificed in favor of rapidly moving from one person of interest to the next. By the conclusion, the viewer is unable to keep up with the story line. In fact, Lancaster in the end gives a long summary of who did what to whom, too little effect, since the names he throws out really don't help. The movie is very watchable, but second, or even third viewings might be required to bring clarity. - MERK

Along with Roland Kibbee (writer of such things as "The Crimson Pirate" and "Valdez is Coming"), veteran star Burt Lancaster directed this somewhat forgotten thriller, and adapted it from a novel by David Anthony. Burt stars as Jim Slade, a former police detective who'd done time for shooting his wife's lover. Now out of prison and on parole, he gets a job as midnight to eight AM night watchman at Jordon College. His cop instincts kicking in, he's determined to solve the murder of a very troubled coed, Natalie Clayborne (Catherine "Daisy Duke" Bach, in her film debut).

Slade will find that this is one VERY complex case with no shortage of suspects or morally compromised individuals. Some viewers may well find holes in the story if they examine it closely, but if it's viewed from a pure entertainment perspective, it's quite absorbing. What makes it work so well is the commanding and typically engaging performance by Burt; commendably, he is portrayed as a flawed, not squeaky-clean kind of guy, but still a basically good lawman with a talent for deduction. And although the local sheriff (Harris Yulin, "Night Moves") thinks that the creepy janitor (Charles Tyner, "Harold and Maude") makes the perfect culprit, Slade becomes quickly convinced that this dude is simply too obvious. And our protagonist is faced with danger along the way, especially from a trio of rednecks (among them, Ed Lauter of "The Longest Yard" and Mills Watson of "Cujo"), and manages to keep his cool.

The cast is phenomenal in this thing, and full of familiar faces. In addition to those mentioned, we get Susan Clark ("Porky's") as Slades' parole officer, Cameron Mitchell ("Blood and Black Lace") as his good friend, Morgan Woodward ("Cool Hand Luke") as a senator, Robert "Count Yorga" Quarry as a psychiatrist, Joan Lorring ("Three Strangers"), in her final feature film, Lawrence Dobkin ("The Ten Commandments") as a professor, and Quinn K. Redeker ("Spider Baby"). Burt's son Bill (future screenwriter of "The Bad News Bears" and "The Thing") has a supporting role as a hippie student. And Burt's longtime friend and co-star Nick Cravat ("The Flame and the Arrow") plays a gardener.

Excellent location shooting in South Carolina and a flavourful score by Dave Grusin ("The Goodbye Girl", "The Firm") further assist in making this pretty enjoyable to watch, if not all that memorable in the end.

Seven out of 10.

VIEWER'S GUIDE: Strictly adults only.

COMMENT: Lancaster has always stated that he wanted to direct but The Kentuckian (1955) and The Midnight Man are in fact his only ventures behind the cameras. Although he did an excellent job with Midnight, the film failed dismally at the boxoffice, despite my opinion that it had all the elements I would have thought necessary for success in 1974. Sex, violence, corruption and a strong antipathy towards authority and the establishment whose officials are depicted as either hopelessly incompetent or ruthlessly on the take.

Amidst all this prejudice, brutality and malfeasance, the Right has only one tainted champion. And although the odds are impossibly stacked against him, he does - through sheer grit and physical stamina on the one hand, tireless self-honesty and mental acuity on the other - eventually win through. It's a noble theme and Lancaster does it proud.

In addition to Lancaster's persuasive performance, his incisive direction and his intriguing script, what I like about The Midnight Man is its atmosphere. Not only its realistically observed small university town, all sunny community on the outside, but the more personal atmosphere of loss and disillusionment, of bitter but ruthlessly pursued truth-seeking that Lancaster brings to every scene.

Director Lancaster has made vibrant use of his support players and utilized his many brilliantly-chosen natural locations to bring his story to throbbing life. Other technical credits are likewise highly commendable, especially Jack Priestley's mood-evocative cinematography and Dave Grusin's cleverly atmospheric score which often lightens and transforms the violence into softer, autumnal shades of nostalgia and regret.

OTHER VIEWS: I'm not surprised JHR likes this one as it has many of the qualities of a JHR novel, including a dominant yet disillusioned central character, seemingly servile but actually strong and self-willed, prepared to sacrifice anything and everything for unfashionable ideals of truth and honesty. Although basically a loner, the hero is presented in a sympathetic and involving manner. It's all summed up by the sad, wistful air of regret in Lancaster's face as the camera pans in for its final end-of-the-Mitchell-story close-up.