Night Shift

Description

Odd-couple partners Henry Winkler and Michael Keaton spice up the morgue night shift by running a call-girl ring. Year: 1982 Director: Ron Howard Starring: Henry Winkler, Michael Keaton, Shelley Long Special Features: Interactive menus, Scene access Video Format: A: Standard; B: Widescreen Sound: English: Dolby Surround 2.0; Subtitles: English, French Region Coding: 1 (U.S. and Canada)

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Ron Howard's breakthrough film as a director launched Michael Keaton as a screen comic. In this film, he is teamed with a hangdog Henry Winkler as a pair of night attendants at a city morgue. Thinking entrepreneurially, Keaton (as the flakier half of the team) convinces a reluctant Winkler that they could kill two birds with one stone and use their quiet surroundings to start a call-girl business. The first girl in the stable of these unlikely pimps: Shelley Long, pre-Cheers. Given the rather tasteless subject matter (ever really met a happy hooker?), it's surprisingly good fun, ignited by the chemistry between the nebbish Winkler and the jet-propelled Keaton, who seized this role and used it to shoot him to stardom--and into several years of stinkers. Meanwhile, the film was supposed to help Winkler segue from the Fonz on Happy Days to a career acting in movies, but whatever happened to him? --Marshall Fine