''The Night Before'' is a 1988 American

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

starring

Keanu Reeves Keanu Charles Reeves ( ; born September 2, 1964) is a Canadian actor. Born in Beirut and raised in Toronto, Reeves began acting in theatre productions and in television films before making his feature film debut in '' Youngblood'' (1986). ...

and

Lori Loughlin Lori Anne Loughlin (; born July 28, 1964) is an American actress. From 1988 to 1995, she played Rebecca Donaldson Katsopolis on the ABC sitcom ''Full House'', and reprised the role for its Netflix sequel '' Fuller House'' (2016–2018). Loughlin ...

. Reeves plays Winston Connelly, the so-called

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

nerd A nerd is a person seen as overly intellectual, obsessive, introverted or lacking social skills. Such a person may spend inordinate amounts of time on unpopular, little known, or non-mainstream activities, which are generally either highly tec ...

and vice president of the

astronomy Astronomy () is a natural science that studies astronomical object, celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and chronology of the Universe, evolution. Objects of interest ...

club. Loughlin plays Tara Mitchell, the pretty and popular head

cheerleader Cheerleading is an activity in which the participants (called cheerleaders) cheer for their team as a form of encouragement. It can range from chanting slogans to intense physical activity. It can be performed to motivate sports teams, to ente ...

who also happens to be the local police chief's daughter. The

Tagline In entertainment, a tagline (alternatively spelled tag line) is a short text which serves to clarify a thought for, or is designed with a form of, dramatic effect. Many tagline slogans are reiterated phrases associated with an individual, so ...

was: "You lost your father's car, sold your

prom A promenade dance, commonly called a prom, is a dance party for high school students. It may be offered in semi-formal black tie or informal suit for boys, and evening gowns for girls. This event is typically held near the end of the school yea ...

date and a guy called 'Tito' wants you dead. It's a date that's the time of your life."

Plot

Teen Winston regains consciousness in an alley in the middle of the night with no idea of how he got there. He's dressed in a white tuxedo jacket. Through a series of flashbacks, he remembers that he was waylaid on his way to the prom the night before. In the meantime, he has to figure out what happened to his wallet, his car keys, his

date, and why a pimp named "Tito" wants him dead. Winston finds a parking stub in his pocket. "

Danny Boy "Danny Boy" is a ballad, written by English songwriter Frederic Weatherly in 1913, and set to the traditional Irish melody of "Londonderry Air". History In 1910, in Bath, Somerset, the English lawyer and lyricist Frederic Weatherly initial ...

" offers to open, and then start the car. Naive, he agrees, but once Danny gets it started, he leaves with it. At Tara's house to take her to the prom, she tells Winston that her losing a bet on a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

game is why she has to go to prom with the flattered but clueless

Winston. Her police officer father warns him to take care of his one and only daughter and to have her home by midnight. Having gotten off the freeway and lost, Winston manages to get them lost in the

ghetto A ghetto, often called ''the'' ghetto, is a part of a city in which members of a minority group live, especially as a result of political, social, legal, environmental or economic pressure. Ghettos are often known for being more impoverished t ...

in East LA. At a stop light, a man reaches through the driver's window to rob them, but they manage to shake him off after a few blocks. Unfortunately, he got Winston's wallet. Going back to a bar he had been earlier, Winston remembers having been there with Tara. The hooker Rhonda, who had warned him not to consume a 'free' drink from the bartender, greets his familiarly. Rhonda reminds Winston accidentally sold Tara to the diminutive

pimp Procuring or pandering is the facilitation or provision of a prostitute or other sex worker in the arrangement of a sex act with a customer. A procurer, colloquially called a pimp (if male) or a madam (if female, though the term pimp has still ...

Tito for 1500 dollars, and then got thrown out of the bar, told to meet him at dawn to fight. Winston spends the remainder of the evening searching for Tara in the seedy underworld of

East LA East Los Angeles ( es, Este de Los Ángeles), or East L.A., is an unincorporated area in Los Angeles County, California. As of the 2020 census it had a population of 118,786, a drop of 6.1% from 2010, when it was 126,496. For statistical pur ...

whilst seeking to avoid Tito's wrath after Tito discovers the identity of Tara's father. Coming across a guy in the street, it turns out he was the lookout for a toy story robbery. Winston is used by the thieves to get away from the cops. In return, they help him with a lead. At a brothel, Winston finds out Tito sold Tara to another pimp, so he starts using the 1500 to locate her. He pays a Hispanic man to drive around, asking for her. Winston arrives at the hotel where she's being held for yet a third pimp, who's about to ship her to Morocco. In the end, Winston escapes with Tara from the pimp, recovers his dad's car from Danny Boy, who had planned to sell it to Tito and gets the girl (when she realises all that he did for her).

Cast

as Winston Connelly *

as Tara Mitchell *

Theresa Saldana Theresa Saldana (August 20, 1954 – June 6, 2016) was an American actress, activist, and writer. She is known for her role as Rachel Scali, the wife of Police Commissioner Tony Scali, in the 1990s television series ''The Commish'', for which sh ...

as Rhonda *

Trinidad Silva Trinidad Silva, Jr. (January 30, 1950 – July 31, 1988) was an American comedian and character actor who played small supporting roles in a number of films of the 1980s. He is best known for the roles of Jesus Martinez, a gang leader in the TV s ...

as Tito * Suzanne Snyder as Lisa

Production

It was filmed and set entirely in Los Angeles, California. Members of the group

Parliament-Funkadelic Parliament-Funkadelic (abbreviated as P-Funk) is an American music collective of rotating musicians headed by George Clinton, primarily consisting of the funk bands Parliament and Funkadelic, both active since the 1960s. Their distinctive fu ...

appear in the film under the name the Rat's Nest Band.

External links

* * * 1980s teen comedy films 1988 films American teen comedy films Films about proms Films about kidnapping Films directed by Thom Eberhardt 1988 comedy films 1980s English-language films 1980s American films {{1980s-comedy-film-stub