Midnight Madness
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| Midnight Madness | |
|---|---|
 Poster for Midnight Madness |
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| Directed by | Michael Nankin David Wechter |
| Produced by | Ron W. Miller |
| Written by | Michael Nankin David Wechter |
| Starring | David Naughton Michael J. Fox Stephen Furst |
| Music by | Julius Wechter |
| Cinematography | Frank V. Phillips |
| Editing by | Norman R. Palmer Jack Sekely |
| Distributed by | Buena Vista |
| Release date(s) | February 1980 |
| Running time | 112 min |
| Language | English |
| IMDb profile | |
Midnight Madness is a 1980 cult comedy film from Walt Disney Productions, starring David Naughton. The film is about a group of college students who participate in an all night puzzle solving race. This is Michael J. Fox's first film role.
Tagline: The most fun you'll ever have... in the dark.
DVD Tagline: A Wacky College Adventure
The film did poorly at the box office and was panned by critics, but later gained a cult following, and has served as the inspiration for many real-life puzzle and alternate reality games.
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[edit] The game
Leon, a genius, summons five college students to his apartment and challenges them to participate in his latest game creation: The Great All-Nighter. He tells them about his game and instructs them to form teams. At first, the leaders refuse to play, however, rivalries between them lead all five to change their minds by the game's start time.
The game works like this:
- Teams are given an initial clue to solve.
- When the clue is solved, it will lead to a location.
- At that location they must find and solve another clue leading to another location and eventually the end.
Leon, as "game master," keeps track of the teams locations with a giant map, and various radio equipment. The teams also supposed to call and check in at each clue (though many of the teams end up skipping at least one location).
Starting at sundown, the five teams meet and are given envelopes with the first clue. They travel around Los Angeles, deciphering new clues in various locations, including the Griffith Observatory, a piano museum, the Pabst Blue Ribbon brewery, a restaurant, a mini golf course, the Los Angeles International Airport, and a video arcade. The first team to reach the final destination wins the game.
The movie focuses mainly on the struggle between the yellow and blue teams. The adventures of the other three teams are subplots, as well as the situation at Leon's apartment ("Game Control"). Here, along with his female assistants (Candy and Sunshine), Leon monitors the progress of the game. Already unpopular with his landlady, Mrs. Grimhouse, for the amount of noise he makes, Leon faces eviction if any of the other tenants complain. Several of them do show up to complain, but as Leon explains the mechanics of the game to them, they become fascinated with it and help run it, much to the annoyance of Grimhouse.
The game culminates in race-to-the-finish at the Bonaventure Hotel, followed by a huge party.
[edit] Teams
Teams are made up of characters who are broad stereotypes. They wear matching sweatshirts, and ride in vehicles that also match their team color.
- The Green Team, also known as "Meat Machine," are made up of jocks. During a clue hunt at the Pabst Brewery, one member falls into a beer vat and apparently drinks his way out. The team vehicle is a VW Beetle.
- The White Team is made up of debate team nerds, lead by Wesley (the only named member). Wesley is played by Eddie Deezen, who was typecast in nerd roles. The White Team ride matching mopeds.
- The Red Team is made up of the members of an unpopular sorority. Two of the members are a set of overweight twins (many of the jokes involving the red team come at their expense) and the other two are feminists. The Red Team twins abandon the game when their truck stops at a carnival. The other team members follow a trail of empty food stalls, and find them spinning the scale at a "Guess Your Weight" booth. The Red team's vehicle is a pickup truck.
- The Yellow Team are the main focus of the film. Led by Adam (Naughton), The yellow team picks up an additional member, Adam's troubled younger brother Scott (Fox), partway through the game. Adam learns that his brother is only acting out to get his attention. They also force the shy Flynch, whom Adam has been counseling, to play the game rather than allow him to go on a date with an ugly girl. Also on the team are Laura, Adam's love interest, and Marvin, another friend of Adam's. The team vehicle is a Toyota Land Cruiser.
- The Blue Team are all selfish, rude, unattractive, and cheat at every opportunity. They are led by junk food addicted, overweight, snob Harold (played by character actor Stephen Furst), who is intensely jealous of the popular Adam. Also, Melio (played by future Hollywood director Andy Tennant) purposely instigates fights between Harold and his girlfriend. "Blade," a Mexican-American who is constantly brandishing his switchblade knife, never speaks. An additional member, Barf (Brian Fishman), is apparently autistic. The team vehicle is a van equipped with a computer that can solve clues, however this device is destroyed early on when Harold hides a stash of marshmallows in the circuitry.
[edit] Legacy
Midnight Madness was rated PG—only the second film from the Disney company to receive anything other than a "G" (the first was The Black Hole). Though produced by Disney, the company's name did not appear on the credits, possibly due to its racier/offensive jokes. An alternate theory is that Disney thought that teenagers would be more likely to see the film if their name was not associated with it.
Following a limited release and bad reviews, the film achieved a small cult following after it began airing on the HBO cable network. After a 2001 DVD release from Anchor Bay Entertainment, Midnight Madness was rereleased in 2004 by Disney DVD with the "Walt Disney Pictures Presents" logo—the first time that Disney has officially associated itself with the film.
Midnight Madness has inspired many spin-offs and other Alternate Reality Games (ARG). Among some of the more popular recreations are:
Midnight Madness (Hot Springs, Arkansas) - Played every December
Midnight Madness Brevard (Brevard County, Florida) - Played on a tri-monthly basis, culminating with a yearly Tournament of Champions edition
The Game - a non-stop 24-48 hour puzzle solving race that is currently active in the San Francisco Bay Area and the Seattle Area
The stop motion animation program Robot Chicken (shown on Adult Swim) featured two brief homages to Midnight Madness in Episode 10: Badunkadunk. Two scenes from the film are reenacted, one where Leon reveals himself to the team leaders, another where Blue Team member Barf assembles the letters of a clue into the nonsense word "Fagabeefe."
[edit] Trivia
- Michael J. Fox's first film. Since most of the film was shot at night, the producers needed someone of legal age (18) who could work all night, but still look the part of Adam's younger brother. His name appears as "Michael Fox" in the opening credits, and "Michael J. Fox" in the closing.
- Adam at one point drinks Dr Pepper, for which Naughton was a spokesman.
- Paul Reubens (better known as Pee-Wee Herman) has a small part as the "Pinball Proprietor."
- The Star Fire game in the video arcade that provides the clue to the final destination was an actual arcade game of the period. The game play was real; however a special open cabinet for a standing player had been created for the movie, since the real game cabinet was an enclosed cockpit in which the player was seated.
- The movie was novelized in a 1980 paperback, Midnight Madness, by Tom Wright (Ace, 1980) ISBN 0-441-52985-2
