Burt Lancaster's last attempt at directing was in this sadly neglected film, The Midnight Man. I was lucky enough to catch it theaters back in the day and a few times on television. Why it was panned by so many critics is as big a mystery as the one Burt Lancaster has to solve.In The Midnight Man Lancaster plays a former police detective who did a stretch for homicide himself, he killed his wife's lover. Now released from prison and on parole, he gets a job courtesy of an old police buddy Cameron Mitchell as a campus security guard at a small southern college. No sooner does he arrive there than the murder of a pretty and popular coed occur and an incriminating diary she kept goes missing.Of course this is the job of the local sheriff Harris Yulin, but Lancaster's instincts just take over and before long three other murders occur. Of course they all arise out of the initial incident.The Midnight Man is a good and complex tale of murder and blackmail and was shot on Clemson College campus on location for a good ring of authenticity. Lancaster and co-director/writer Roland Kibbee put together a very good cast. Note the following roles besides those I've already mentioned: Morgan Woodward as a southern senator and father of the first victim, Susan Clark as a faculty member who takes a romantic interest in Lancaster, and Ed Lauter and Mills Watson as a pair of Deliverance type inbreds who are working for someone who really wants Burt out of the way. Burt's son Bill Lancaster is in the cast as another college student who also winds up a murder victim.Some of the results will surprise you and what I like about the film is that Lancaster probably could have covered for a couple of the perpetrators, but his own sense of integrity wouldn't let him do that. Best scene in the film for action fans is his escape from those Deliverance types who capture him and are awaiting instructions. At least we know they're no good. Who else winds up on the wrong side of the law will surprise you and you will keep guessing until the end.

Jim Slade (Burt Lancaster) is an ex-cop and ex-con who takes a job as a night watchman at a college thanks to his friend and fellow retired copper, Quartz (Cameron Mitchell). Within a few days, Slade gets the detective bug again when a series of tapes are stolen from a Psych professor's room and Natalie (Catherine Bach), a Sentor's daughter and a subject on one of the tapes, ends up dead. Teaming with his love interest/parole officer Linda (Susan Clark), Slade attempts to unravel the mystery behind this co-ed's death, even though the local Sheriff (Harris Yulin) believes he already has the killer.The 70s were an interesting time for leading man Lancaster and this complex mystery proves to be one of his more unique vehicles. In addition to starring, Lancaster co-wrote and co-directed the film with Roland Kibbee. The film itself has a very flat, made-for-TV feel so it takes a while to adjust to that. If it weren't for the cursing and explosions of violence, I would have sworn it was a TV movie. Once over that hurdle, it is a pretty involving mystery (make sure to have you notepad handy). It is admirable to see Lancaster playing a down on his luck anti-hero (a tough cop who had murdered his wife's lover). There is also a great supporting cast including Robert Quarry, Lawrence Dobkin, Mills Watson and Ed Lauter. Lancaster's son Bill (future writer of THE BAD NEWS BEARS and THE THING) has a small role as well.

If you can look past the slickery and pretentiousness of Roland Kibbee's The Midnight Man, you'll probably find yourself enjoying 2+ hours of NBC Mystery Movie-level murder and mayhem. The cast, headed by Burt Lancaster, Susan Clark, Harris Yulin, and Cameron Mitchell provides the viewer with enough comfort and enjoyment that he or she isn't going to get too frustrated with the cheese doodle topicality, high school-level psychology, and warbling, pop-glop soundtrack.Lancaster plays a recently paroled ex-convict who hires on as a night watchman at a small, southern university. The investigator in him goes to work when a co-ed is murdered.As the bodies stack up and the romance blossoms between ex-con Burt and Parole Officer Susan Clark (who chews scenery while parading around in her bra), you may begin to notice you've lost track of who everyone is, or care for that matter.Whether you see one of the edited versions (all the crudities snipped by NBC in the mid-seventies and a raunchier version on modern cable) or the uncut issue, you'll find that the plot is incomprehensible and the writing tries way too hard to be relevant, but the whole thing is strangely, ultimately satisfying because you--and not the movie--will choose not to take The Midnight Man too seriously.

This is rarely on TV in the UK so I was pleased to catch it one late night as I've been wanting to see it for some time. Burt Lancaster plays an ex cop and an ex con, paroled after a jail sentence for shooting his wife's lover. Taking up a job as Nightwatchman at a University he's soon putting his homicide detective skills back in action after the murder of student, Catherine (Daisy Duke) Bach. Although there's some good outbursts of action and some romance, this is quite a slowly paced thriller that turns out to be an old fashioned whodunnit with a selections of characters to keep you guessing. The outcome without giving too much away involves a blackmail conspiracy where it seems the whole town is involved. Lancaster looks weary but he's likeable as a modern day Sherlock Holmes character with the usual determination of American screen detectives, "once a cop, always a cop" he's told by best pal and fellow ex cop Cameron Mitchell who despite being initially out of touch outsmarts everyone. I love seventies films and I think despite not necessarily being a classic this movie should have more recognition.