Reviews for Night People
Review - Night People
Well-acted, well-paced Cold War suspense movie. Peck was great as Van Dyke. Buddy Ebsen was good as his clumsy but loyal and competent aide.
Reviewed by Roger on 2024-05-28 18:08:13
Night Peopledirected by Nunnally Johnson | |
| Category: |
"Suspense" |
|---|---|
| Year of Release: | 1954 |
| Date Added: | 05/28/2024 |
| Date Watched: | 05/28/2024 |
| Description: | The Russians have grabbed a U.S. soldier from West Berlin and will only return him in exchange for two German citizens (who worked for the Allies in the war). It's the job of Col. Steve Van Dyke (Gregory Peck) to negotiate the soldier's release. Adding to his stress, the boy's father, Charles Leatherby (Broderick Crawford), an influential businessman, is in Berlin trying to push people around. Van Dyke's go-between with the Russians is an old flame, Hoffy (Anita Bjork). When Leatherby finds out that two innocent people will be tortured and killed if his son is exchanged, at first he doesn't care, but as the night goes on, he begins to feel differently. When the two Germans find out what will happen to them, they take poison. Meanwhile, Van Dyke finds out from a British intelligence officer that Hoffy is not what she seems to be—she's been working with the Russians all along. Van Dyke comes up with a plot to claim the German man is dead and the substitute Hoffy in place of the woman. He tries to get Hoffy to drink some knock-out drug, even taking some himself to prove it's OK, but she refuses. At the last minute, he has to confront her and actually knock her out. The boy is exchanged and returned to his father, and Hoffy is sent to the Russians. The two innocent Germans are saved. Van Dyke has to get his stomach pumped, but is otherwise OK. |
| My Rating: | 8 |