Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		5.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		0.5
Overall		4.0

Night Shift Blu-ray Movie Review

"Love brokering" ain't easy.

Reviewed by Randy Miller III November 2, 2021

Director Ron Howard's early career highlight Night Shift -- released five years after his first film, the forgotten 1977 road comedy Grand Theft Auto -- is the scandalous but sweet story of stockbroker-turned nebbish morgue employee Chuck Lumley (Henry Winkler) and the new chapter in his life: he's recently been "promoted" to the graveyard shift and works alongside obnoxious but motivated newcomer Bill "Blaze" Blazejowski (Michael Keaton, in his big-screen debut). After the death of a low-level pimp, Chuck's prostitute neighbor Belinda (Shelley Long) is in need of representation, so Bill convinces him to make their quiet morgue the new headquarters for Belinda and her girls. Chuck's good financial sense and strong moral backbone makes it a successful employee-owned business (with medical benefits, even!), so everyone's happy... except a few rival pimps who don't competition. There's always a catch, right?

Truth be told, Night Shift isn't driven by this "love broker vs. pimp" rivalry -- that element of the plot isn't even introduced until later in the film, and it could be argued that it feels kind of shoehorned in to what mostly plays out as an awkward romantic comedy. See, Chuck has the hots for Belinda, and the two even make an early connection before her refusal to leave the business drives a wedge into the relationship. But he's too timid to step up, anyway: Chuck is one stammer away from a Woody Allen stand-in, and his total reluctance to defend himself from all outside forces -- including his doomed relationship with overly sensitive fiancée Charlotte (Gina Hecht) and her uptight parents, as well as his nepotistic boss (Floyd Levine) -- only adds to mounting stress that he's got to overcome, and fast.

This makes his ultimate character arc a pretty satisfying journey, and one that's framed by an excellent time-capsule backdrop of New York City circa 1982. Night Shift is at its best when it wanders through the nooks and crannies of a city emerging from the turbulent and grimy 1970s, yet one that's still just colorful enough to be weirdly inviting. The story itself holds mainstream appeal with accessible laughs and terrific one-liners, even while still serving up a fever-dream atmosphere that would be explored later in Martin Scorsese's After Hours (long overdue for Blu-ray). Yet Night Shift's best weapon is undoubtedly cast chemistry: the lead duo of Winkler and Keaton is fantastic and, while it's easy to see why Keaton would go on to bigger things later in the decade, both were unfortunately never paired together on the big screen again. While the end product isn't quite strong enough to be "lightning in a bottle", Night Shift has aged surprisingly well: its surprisingly fair treatment of sex workers is refreshing, and the appearance of other future stars (Kevin Costner as "Frat Boy #1" and Shannon Doherty as a zealous Girl Scout, for starters) and well-known character actors (Vincent Schiavelli, Clint Howard, Charles "Roger Rabbit" Fleischer) adds a bit of spot-the-cameo fun.

The end product scratches a very specific itch and will appeal to comedy fans of this particular era... but even if you don't fall for some of its uniquely particular charms, Night Shift still works well enough as a straightforward comedy full of decent to memorable performances. A modest hit at the box office in 1982, it's remained somewhat elusive on home video despite the appearance of two separate DVD releases by Warner Bros. in 1999 and 2006 (which, as far as I know, were only different in that one was a "flipper"). This makes Warner Archive's welcome Blu-ray a great opportunity for re-evaluation, as this dual-layered disc sports one of the boutique label's best transfers to date as well as lossless 2.0 audio that greatly supports its memorable soundtrack. Unsurprisingly, though, no real extras are included.

Night Shift Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Maybe it's my soft spot for the specific appearance of early 1980s films, but Night Shift looks just about perfect on Blu-ray courtesy of Warner Archive's new 1080p restoration. As usual it has been scanned in high resolution and treated to a round of careful manual cleanup, balancing a purely film-like texture with a blemish-free appearance that likely rivals a new theatrical print. (OK, I did spot maybe one or two dirt marks, but blink and you'll miss them.) Color saturation and fine detail are likewise superb, with cleanly-rendered primaries that highlight the era-specific signage and neon-tinted city streets, as well as the colorful clothes of its cast -- none more so than Belinda, her co-workers, and Bill's offensively bad jacket and sunglasses. Shadow detail and black levels are rock-solid throughout, creating a very thick and film-like image with outstanding density and strong textures that avoid the pitfalls of standard definition's overly sharpened and processed appearance. The wide majority of Warner Archive discs push format limits and even rival 4K releases for purist-friendly presentations, and Night Shift easily stands alongside their best efforts to date.

Night Shift Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Of equal importance is the outstanding new DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio track, which greatly supports the film's terrific atmosphere and era-specific needle drops including the title track by Quarterflash and other highlights such as Burt Bacharach's "Street Talk", Al Jarreau's "Girls Know How", Rufus and Chaka Khan's "Everlasting Love", and the lesser-known first recording of Bacharach's "That's What Friends Are For", which is better known by the 1985 cover version featuring Dionne Warwick, Elton John, Gladys Knight, and Stevie Wonder. Between all those memorable pop cuts is a strong and serviceable mix that balances crisp dialogue, background effects, and other key elements in a well-balanced way that's unassuming but cleanly rendered from start to finish. Even the film's surprising third-act shootout packs a decent amount of punch with a variety of guns that haven't been lazily "upgraded" as with The Terminator's infamous 5.1 remix on Blu-ray. (Didn't think you'd see that movie hyperlinked here, did you?) It's a perfectly flawless track that, like Night Shift's sparkling new restoration, will instantly please die-hard fans and purists alike.

Optional English (SDH) subtitles are included during the main feature only.

Night Shift Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This one-disc release ships in a standard keepcase with fun poster-themed cover artwork and no inserts. Unfortunately, bonus features are limited to the original trailer, which is still better than the barebones DVD editions.

• Theatrical Trailer (2:54) - This rarely-seen promotional piece is a good bit longer and more traditional than the unique teaser trailer easily seen online (and which, unfortunately, is not included here).

Night Shift Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Ron Howard's early career highlight Night Shift is a fun but forgotten comedy with two great leads in Henry Winkler and Michael Keaton, the latter of whom makes his big-screen debut here. Featuring an original story -- that has no right being this charming, really -- as well a great time-capsule backdrop of early-1980s New York City, a solid soundtrack, and a few choice cameos, it's ripe for re-discovery. Warner Archive's Blu-ray makes the choice easy: despite the lack of real bonus features, it's one of the best move-only catalog releases in recent memory thanks to a flat-out flawless restoration and nicely rendered lossless audio mix. Highly Recommended to fans and first-timers alike.