On the Random Movie Night podcast, Uproxx’s Mike Ryan and Keith Phipps watch and talk about a movie selected by a random number generator.
Sometimes the random number generator we use to pick a movie released between 1980 and 2016 is unking, giving us star-packed but strangely joyless chase comedies and tales of yuppie redemption. Other times it’s pretty nice, actually, as with this week’s selection, the 1982 comedy Night Shift. The 36th most popular film of 1982 — it made more money than Creepshow but less than Things Are Tough All Over — Night Shift is the second film directed by actor-turned-director Ron Howard. To star in the film he recruited his Happy Days co-star Henry Winkler, the then-relatively-unknown Shelly Long, and newcomer Michael Keaton, a stand up comic who turned the film into a star-making turn. Keaton plays Billy “Blaze” Blazejowski, a New York mortuary worker who gets his uptight co-worker Chuck (Winkler) to loosen up while working, yes, the night shift. Oh, and they both become kind, responsible, pimps.
Joining us this week is Anthony Breznican, who writes about Marvel, Star Wars and other topics for Entertainment Weekly when he’s not writing novels like his acclaimed debut, Brutal Youth. So, please join us as we consider whether or not Keaton’s character is actual cool and untangle the sexual politics of Night Shift.
Next week: Problem Child
Our opening theme this week is “Late Night Tales” by Lee Rosevere from the album Music For Podcasts. Our closing theme is “Max Flashback,” also by Rosevere and from the same album. You can hear more Lee Rosevere music here.
If you enjoy Random Movie Night, be sure to subscribe and review us via Apple podcasts. It makes us happy. We’re also now on Google Play and Stitcher. And we have our own Soundcloud page. Look for us soon on Stitcher and other podcatchers.
