''Past Midnight'' is a 1991

Neo-noir Neo-noir is a revival of film noir, a genre that had originally flourished during the post-World War II era in the United Statesroughly from 1940 to 1960. The French term, ''film noir'', translates literally to English as "black film", indicating ...

thriller film Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre ...

(with

slasher Slasher may refer to: * Slasher (basketball), a style of play in basketball * Slasher film, a subgenre of the horror film * Slasher (tool), a scrub-clearing implement * ''Slasher'' (2004 film), a 2004 documentary film * ''Slasher'' (2007 film) ...

connections) starring

Rutger Hauer Rutger Oelsen Hauer (; 23 January 1944 – 19 July 2019) was a Dutch actor. In 1999, he was named by the Dutch public as the Best Dutch Actor of the Century. Hauer's career began in 1969 with the title role in the Dutch television series ' ...

and

Natasha Richardson Natasha Jane Richardson (11 May 1963 – 18 March 2009) was an English actress of stage and screen. A member of the Redgrave family, Richardson was the daughter of actress Vanessa Redgrave and director/producer Tony Richardson and the granddaugh ...

, as well as co-stars Tom Wright,

Clancy Brown Clarence John "Clancy" Brown III (born January 5, 1959) is an American actor. Prolific in film and television since the 1980s, Brown is often cast in villainous and authoritative roles. Brown's film roles include Viking Lofgren in ''Bad Boys'' ...

and

Paul Giamatti Paul Edward Valentine Giamatti (; born June 6, 1967) is an American actor and film producer. He first garnered attention for his breakout role in '' Private Parts'' as Kenny "Pig Vomit" Rushton, leading to supporting roles in ''Saving Private R ...

(making his first credited screen appearance).

Plot

Parole Parole (also known as provisional release or supervised release) is a form of early release of a prison inmate where the prisoner agrees to abide by certain behavioral conditions, including checking-in with their designated parole officers, or ...

e Ben Jordan has spent the past fifteen years behind bars for his pregnant wife's murder. He is monitored by his parole officer Lee Samuels and social worker Laura Mathews after he is released. Mathews begins looking into his case and becomes convinced that he was convicted under

circumstantial evidence Circumstantial evidence is evidence that relies on an inference to connect it to a conclusion of fact—such as a fingerprint at the scene of a crime. By contrast, direct evidence supports the truth of an assertion directly—i.e., without need ...

and starts becoming convinced of his innocence in the crime. Before long she starts falling for him, but this is far from wise, since even if he is innocent, Mrs. Jordan's real murderer may soon come a calling.

Cast

as Ben Jordan *

as Laura Mathews *

as Larry Canipe *

as Steve Lundy * Tom Wright as Lee Samuels * Guy Boyd as Todd Canipe *

Charles Boswell Charles Wallace Boswell (5 August 1886 – 17 June 1956) was a New Zealand politician of the Labour Party. Biography Early life and career Boswell was the son of a pioneer family and was born in the Coromandel. He went to school at Driving C ...

as Carlton Daniels *

Ernie Lively Ernie Lively (born Ernest Wilson Brown Jr.; January 29, 1947 – June 3, 2021) was an American actor and acting coach, and the father of actors Lori Lively, Jason Lively, Robyn Lively, Eric Lively, and Blake Lively. Life and career Lively was b ...

as Detective Allan Tobias * Kibibi Monie as Dorothy Coleman *

Dana Eskelson Dana Erika Eskelson (born in Brick, New Jersey) is an American television, film, and theatre actress. Filmography *''Past Midnight'' (1991) *''Singles'' (1992) *''To Sir, with Love II'' (1996) *'' Exiled: A Law & Order Movie'' (TV, 1998) *''C ...

as Kathy Tudor * Ted D'Arms as Bill Tudor *

Krisha Fairchild Krisha Fairchild is an American actress, best known for starring in her nephew Trey Edward Shults' critically acclaimed film ''Krisha'' (2015). She is also known for her role as Louise Lispector in Syfy's horror anthology series ''Channel Zero (T ...

as Dr. Zastoupil * Sarah Magnuson as Gerrie Graymark * David Frederick White (as Dave White) as Cop *

Brian Finney Brian Finney is a British-American scholar of English literature. He has a BA (Hons) in English and Philosophy from the University of Reading and a PhD in English from Birkbeck College. He taught at the University of London until 1987, when he mig ...

(as Brian T. Finney) as Delivery Man * Sue Morales as Social Worker (uncredited)

Production

After

Quentin Tarantino Quentin Jerome Tarantino (; born March 27, 1963) is an American film director, writer, producer, and actor. His films are characterized by stylized violence, extended dialogue, profanity, Black comedy, dark humor, Nonlinear narrative, non-lin ...

significantly re-wrote the script, Catalaine Knell shared her associate producer credit with him on the film, his first official screen credit.

Release

Originally intended for a theatrical release, the film aired on the

USA Network USA Network (simply USA) is an American basic cable television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. It was originally launched in 1977 as Madison ...

on December 16, 1992. Before, the film was shown at the

American Film Market The American Film Market (AFM) is a film industry event held each year in early November. Historically, more than 7,000 people attend the eight-day annual event to network and to sell, finance and acquire films. Participants come from more than ...

and at the

Vancouver International Film Festival The Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF) is an annual film festival held in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, for two weeks in late September and early October. The festival is operated by the Greater Vancouver International Film Fest ...

in October of the previous year. The movie was released on videocassette and laserdisc on April 21, 1993 by

Columbia TriStar Home Video Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (abbreviated as SPHE) is the home video distribution division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation. Background SPHE is responsible for the distribution of the Sony Pictures lib ...

, and was released on DVD by the same company on August 17, 2004, in widescreen.

References

External links

* * *{{rotten-tomatoes, past_midnight American mystery thriller films 1990s mystery thriller films American independent films American neo-noir films CineTel Films films Films scored by Steve Bartek 1991 independent films 1991 films 1990s English-language films 1990s American films