Gene Hackman reunited with Bonnie and Clyde director Arthur Penn for 1975’s Night Moves. Former pro football player Harry Moseby (Hackman) finds himself in a post-sports career as a private detective.

But not a high-end one, as Harry tends to end up with sleazy infidelity cases that require more than a few “bedroom stakeouts”. When Harry takes on the investigation of a missing teenager, though, he encounters more of a challenge, one that leads him down a murky path.

Hmm… low-rent LA private detective takes on a slippery case that leads him into more trouble than he anticipated – where have I heard that plot? Many times, but most notably, this resembles the story for 1974’s Chinatown.

In no way would I call Moves a remake or rip-off of Chinatown, but I can’t help but see connections between the two – and also wonder if the latter’s success helped push Moves into production. We get enough of a Chinatown vibe here for me to think that the genre links aided the filmmakers.

Moves isn’t regarded as a classic on the level of Chinatown, but it appears to enjoy a strong reputation. At times, it seems to live up to that notoriety, but I think Moves comes with too many flaws to qualify as a particularly strong film.

Actually, Moves starts and ends pretty well, but the long stretch in between tends to drag – and drag badly. Especially when Harry goes to Florida to locate the missing girl, we end up stuck with extended periods in which little of interest seems to happen.

Not that these scenes become totally devoid of useful material, but the sluggish pacing turns into an issue. Whatever worthwhile information we receive gets somewhat lost among the tedium, and it feels like the movie would work better if it pushed the plot along more rapidly.

Though only Hackman and Susan Clark got billing on the movie’s poster, Moves offers a decent number of recognizable names. Along with a few veterans, we see Melanie Griffith and James Woods in fairly early roles.

None of the actors flop, but I can’t claim any add much to the proceedings. Even Hackman seems a little “stuck in neutral”, as the movie’s overriding cynicism overwhelms much of the material.

At times, Night Moves threatens to spark to life, but in general, it feels a bit too aimless and slow to prosper. While I don’t think this is a bad film, I can’t quite discern the reason it maintains such a positive reputation.

Night Moves appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 1.85:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. The movie came with a fairly positive image.

Sharpness was generally solid, as most of the movie seemed crisp and concise. Some of the many dimly-lit interiors could feel a bit soft, but most of the flick brought good delineation.

No issues with jagged edges, shimmering, or edge halos materialized. Print flaws also failed to appear, and grain appeared appropriate.

Colors looked positive, as they remained warm and rich for the most part – after a tinted opening, though. Much of the movie’s opening act came with a pretty heavy blue/green impression.

That largely faded along the way, however. Instead, the hues came across well for the majority of the movie.

Blacks were nicely deep and full, while shadows looked clear and smooth – outside of those mildly murky interiors I mentioned. Overall, I thought this was a mostly appealing image.

Don’t expect anything memorable from the LPCM monaural soundtrack of Night Moves, as this was a consistently average mix for its age. Speech sounded a little thin but the lines were always concise and easily intelligible.

Music lacked much range but seemed clear and didn’t suffer from any shrillness. The same went for effects.

Though I failed to notice much dynamic range from those elements, the effects seemed acceptably distinctive, and they lacked distortion. This was a decent track for an older flick.

How did the 2025 Criterion Blu-ray compare to the original BD from 2017? Though it switched from DTS-HD to LPCM, both sported similar – if not identical – monaural audio.

As for visuals, I thought both seemed pretty comparable, though the Criterion had a slight edge in terms of clarity. Note that when I reviewed the old BD, I didn’t mention the heavy blue tint that I observed with the Criterion release.

Does that mean the blue tone was “new” to the Criterion? No – perhaps it was there on the prior BD and I just didn’t note it in my review.

Unfortunately, I don’t enjoy access to the original BD to directly compare. I suspect the blue tint in the opening act was part of the source, but the colors stood out so strongly that I wanted to mention this.

The Criterion set mixes old and new extras, and we open with an audio commentary from author/film historian Matthew Asprey Gear. He provides a running, screen-specific discussion of story/character/genre domains, cast and crew, production notes and related elements.

Gear offers a strong overview with his chat. He mixes general history with filmmaking specifics to give us a fine take on the topics.

Two elements repeat from the 2017 BD. In addition to the film’s trailer, we get a vintage featurette called The Day of the Director.

This eight-minute, 33-second reel offers footage from the set with some comments from director Arthur Penn. Nothing especially insightful emerges, but it’s a decent snapshot of the production.

The remaining extras all come new to the Criterion set, and we find two separate Interviews with Director Arthur Penn. One stems from 1975 (19:17) and the other from 1995 (5:22).

Across these, Penn talks about his career as well as Night Moves. Unsurprisingly, the 1995 chat became more of a look-back versus the more “present-focused” 1975 piece.

Because it comes from the era in which Moves hit screens, it becomes the more compelling of the two. Nonetheless, both offer good information.

Jennifer Warren brings a chat with the actor. This reel runs 17 minutes, four seconds.

Warren covers how she got her role in Moves as well as her experiences during the production. She gives us a good look at her memories of Night Moves.

The set concludes with a booklet that provides photos, credits and an essay from critic Mark Harris. It ends the package well.

With solid talent behind and in front of the camera, Night Moves boasts great potential. The movie occasionally matches those expectations, but it tends to be a less engaging ride than I’d like. The Blu-ray offers generally good picture with average audio and some useful supplements. Moves turns into an erratic thriller.

To rate this film visit original review of NIGHT MOVES