The Midnight Man Reviews

A convoluted crime drama with Lancaster as a former police detective imprisoned for the murder of his wife's lover. After his stretch behind bars, Lancaster is released into the custody of sexy parole officer Clark. He is given a place to stay by friends Mitchell and Lorring, and he finds a job at a nearby university as a night watchman. He again finds himself surrounded by murder, however, when a student, Bach, is found dead. Suspicion falls on Tyner, a janitor with an uneasy religious fervor. Lancaster is unconvinced by the hasty accusations made by sheriff Yulin and sets out to find the real killer. He digs deeper and deeper, opening up a complex mix of blackmail, politics, and rape. It seems that Bach had admitted, on audiocassette, to her psychologist that she had relations with her father, Woodward, a powerful state senator. Woodward and his henchmen, Lauter, Watson, and Hicks, turn up as the most likely suspects and are eventually taken care of by Lancaster. Unfortunately, THE MIDNIGHT MAN doesn't deliver what is promised and succeeds only in swallowing up the characters in favor of the plot. THE MIDNIGHT MAN was Lancaster's second venture into the director's chair (THE KENTUCKIAN [1955] being his first), a task he shared with Kibbee along with producing and writing. Lancaster would later decide to remain in his actor's shoes and as a result turned in a number of superb performaces including ATLANTIC CITY (1981) and LOCAL HERO (1983).