Midnight Madness (1980)

How long are you gonna keep driving around without knowing where we're going?

Directors
Michael Nankin
David Wechter

Cast
Adam - David Naughton
Laura - Debra Clinger
Scott - Michael Fox
Harold - Stephen Furst
Melio - Andy Tennant

I'm convinced Midnight Madness was Disney's attempt to make their own version of Animal House which was released two years before. After all, it stars Stephen Furst who played Kent Dorfman in Animal House, it centers around a group of stereotypical college student factions, there's a lot of drinking (for a Disney flick), the issue with one guy's virginity comes up, and there's attention to cleavage. All this is before Disney created Touchstone Pictures so they could release movies with more mature themes.
In Midnight Madness, Furst plays blue team leader Harold whose gluttonous and careless behavior reminds me of John Belushi's character "Bluto." The rest of the characters are as cliche as 'cliche-ably' possible.
There's the mindless college jocks, the nasel-voiced nerds with Coke bottle glasses, the fat guy who hoards junk food, giggling sorority girls, and the straight "normal" guy. He's played by David Naughton (An American Werewolf in London.)
There is a lot to say about this movie. I don't even know where to begin, so I'll just jump in somewhere.
It's Michael J. Fox's first movie - cast as Michael Fox. I can't recall seeing any movie with Michael J. Fox credited as "co-starring."
Paul Reubens (aka Pee-Wee Herman) makes a cameo as the proprietor of the Pinball Arcade. On a side-note, his other Disney credits include the voice of Max in Flight of the Navigator, the voice of Lock in The Nightmare Before Christmas, and the droid pilot's voice in the early version of the Star Tours ride at Disneyland.
In Midnight Madness, a grad student named Leon, assisted by his two lovelies, Sunshine and Candy, gather a group of college students to play an involved cat and mouse game called the "Great All-Nighter" similar to something from It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.
He organizes group leaders, who initially refuse to play, but eventually agree thanks to existing rivalries.
The game is a race-to-the-finish all around Los Angeles, following clues set by Leon that'll ultimately lead the teams to a finish line.
Leon also turns his apartment into game central where he, Candy and Sunshine keep track of the teams locations and status on a giant wall map.

Each team, along with Leon inside his apartment, have their own subplots.
For instance, Adam (David Naughton), the yellow team's leader, finds his little brother Scott (Michael J. Fox) at a bus stop during the game.
Adam is disappointed in his brother as Scott constantly finds trouble. It turns out to be an attempt to gain Adam's approval. With the help of Adam's love interest, Laura (Debra Clinger), Adam will surely see his little brother as more than someone who just causes trouble. It's predictable as can be.
Meanwhile, Leon's neighbors initially complain about all the noise coming from his apartment. But one by one, their intrigue in the game pulls them in.
All the while, Leon's landlady, Mrs. Grimhaus (Irene Tedrow) threatens him with eviction as neighbors complained about his noise level. She finds that the more they're interested in the game, the more they don't have any complaints after all. There's a lot going on in this movie.
There's a lot of content in this Disney "family" picture that made me think immediately of Animal House.
When we're introduced to Adam, a college student who later joins the yellow team, asks him how he can loose his virginity. Thanks, Disney!
One of the clues has players in a restaurant, looking for something "between the melons." While the game participants find themselves inside a Johnie's Big Boy restaurant ordering a variety of melons, it turns out "melons" refers to some breast cleavage on a waitress who's wearing a necklace that reads "hug me." (It's a Disney family movie?)
In another scene, players are instructed to visit L.A.'s  Griffith Observatory. When Adam arrives, he has to wait for a young obnoxious kid to finish his turn peering through the Observatory's telescope. The camera pans to the kids view through the telescope which is fixed on an unsuspecting young woman undressing in front of an apartment window. He calls his father over, who confronts Adam stating his son needs to observe Venus for a school assignment. The kid remarks, "If I'm lucky, I'll be able to get a view of Venus's two moons."
Later, players are instructed to visit a local Pabst Blue Ribbon brewery. Not only do we get a product placement for Pabst beer in this Disney movie, we get a tour of the brewery, along with commentary that Pabst Blue Ribbon is "cold, foamy, and thirst quenching." (Midnight Madness - drink up kids! Love, your pals at Disney.)
Scott, who's underage, tries to purchase beer at the bar in side the brewery, claiming it's for someone else. He's almost arrested as a result. Nice, Disney. Very nice! (Sarcasm intended).

Michael J. Fox as Scott.

Disney, however, didn't associate themselves with the movie until it was released on DVD in 2004, with the "Walt Disney Pictures Presents" logo. However, they made sure to include their essence in the movie with a shot of Mickey Mouse's star on the Hollywood Walk-of-Fame, as well as inserting an image of Mickey in the background of another scene.
Disney isn't known for its edginess, and to see it is just rather off-putting, though laughable. I guess had they founded Touchstone Pictures just a few years earlier,  and released it through that, it wouldn't have been as much of a bother. Otherwise, it's like having a fun uncle stop by. But this time, he's uncharacteristically creepy and uncomfortable, pushing beer on your kids and offering advice on how to lose your virginity.
Co-director, Michael Nankin, was a writer for the horror movie The Gate which I reviewed on my horror film blog.
One awesome scene in an arcade has team members play a video game called Star Fire, which looks a lot like a first person shooter blasting TIE fighters from Star Wars. Oh, if people in 1980 only knew what would come years down the road as far as Disney and Star Wars are concerned.
It's the second live action Disney movie to score a PG rating (the first being The Black Hole.)
Once the characters received their first, and second clue, I thought the movie would be fun. It didn't take long before I lost interest in the clues altogether and where the characters had to go.
This movie dragged on, and on, and on. It was relentless, with one silly joke and lame stereotype after another. The writers tried way too hard with their sight gags. And the acting was lazy at times.
The characters were just not interesting. It was all stale. It was ugly for a Disney movie, and failed to entertain. I hated this movie. I would love to sit down with whomever gave the green light for Midnight Madness back then, and just pick their brain to determine what the hell they were thinking.
Even the soundtrack was forgettable. I'd put money on the claim that there's isn't one person out there who clearly remembers the soundtrack to this movie. Midnight Madness is worth nothing more than a pass. Too bad Disney doesn't keep this one locked away in their precious vault.

Coming Up Next...
Another Michael J. Fox movie that's pre-Back to the Future. This one, which is non-Disney, promises to be a much better movie that what I just reviewed.