Night Shift (film)

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Night Shift
Night Shift movie poster
Directed by	Ron Howard
Produced by	Brian Grazer
Written by	Lowell Ganz Babaloo Mandel
Starring	Michael Keaton Henry Winkler Shelley Long Clint Howard
Music by	Burt Bacharach (score & songs) Carole Bayer Sager (songs) David Foster (song)
Cinematography	James Crabe
Editing by	Robert James Kern Mike Hill Daniel P. Hanley
Distributed by	Warner Brothers
Release date(s)	July 30, 1982
Running time	105 min.
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	Unknown
Gross revenue	$23,600,000 (USA)
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

Night Shift is a 1982 comedy film, one of Ron Howard's earliest directorial efforts. It stars Howard's Happy Days co-star Henry Winkler and Michael Keaton in his film debut. Also appearing are Shelley Long, Richard Belzer, and (as usual for Ron Howard films) Clint Howard.

Kevin Costner, has a brief scene as "Frat Boy #1", and Shannen Doherty appears as a Girl Scout.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Chuck (Winkler), formerly a successful stockbroker, has found a refuge from the ulcer-inducing Wall Street rat race in his job as an attendant at the New York City morgue. His displeasure at being "promoted" to night shift supervisor to make room for his boss's nephew is exacerbated by the irrational exuberance of Bill "Blaze" Blazejowski (Keaton), his new coworker. However, both men are inspired by the plight of Chuck's neighbor, Belinda (Long), to apply Chuck's M.B.A. education and Bill's entrepreneurial spirit to open a call girl service with headquarters at the morgue.

[edit] Soundtrack

The movie's opening theme song was "Night Shift" by Quarterflash. The closing theme song, "That's What Friends Are For," was written by Burt Bacharach and Carole Bayer Sager. The song was performed by Rod Stewart in the film. It was later covered by Dionne Warwick & Friends (Stevie Wonder, Gladys Knight, and Elton John); the cover version became a Billboard Grammy Award-winning #1 hit and raised millions for AIDS causes.

Other songs heard in the film include "You Really Got Me" by Van Halen and a live version of "Jumpin' Jack Flash" by The Rolling Stones, taken from the bootleg album Brussels Affair 1973.

[edit] Promotion

Howard appeared on Saturday Night Live to promote the film and was mock-interviewed by Eddie Murphy. Murphy asked "you made a film about pimps and there's no black people in it? I don't know whether to thank you or punch you in the mouth."