# Night Moves (film)

Night Moves is a 1975 neo-noir film about a private detective who gets hired on to what seems a standard missing person case, as an aging Hollywood actress wants him to find and return her stepdaughter. He travels to Florida to find her, but begins to see a connection with the runaway girl, the world of Hollywood stuntmen, and a suspicious mechanic when an unsolved murder comes to light.
    Directed by Arthur Penn. Written by Alan Sharp.

## Harry Moseby

* Listen Delly, I know it doesn't make much sense when you're sixteen. Don't worry. When you get to be forty, it isn't any better.
* You told me fairy tales... About Malone... Billy Danreuther... The President getting shot... Your erect nipples!

## Arlene Iverson

* [as Harry confronts her at her poolside, after Delly's death] So I'm not grief-stricken. What does that make me? [drunkenly] You know, Delly isn't the only kid who ever had it rough. [sighs] When I was her age... I was down on my knees to half the men in this town. I'm sorry the poor little bitch is dead. And when the time comes, I'll cry for her... but you won't be around to see it, Mr. Smart-Ass-Moseby. So... Out... OUT! [drunkenly waves him away]

## Paula

* When we're all as free as Delly there'll be rioting in the streets.

## Other

* Joey Ziegler: He'd fuck a woodpile on the chance there was a snake in it.
* Joey Ziegler: Well, the world is getting smaller, the kids are getting younger and I'm getting drunk!
* Marv Ellman: There's nothing like having a mother and a daughter. Gives you sort of a kind of perspective.

## Dialogue

    Ellen Moseby: [of a football game] Who's winning?
    Harry Moseby: Nobody. One side is just losing slower than the other.
    Arlene Iverson: [shows Harry a picture] This is my second husband, Tom lverson, the bum. The only thing I got out of him was a new name. That's ahfter I quit acting. Did you ever see me in anything?
    [Harry draws a blank face, chuckles and shakes his head]
    Arlene Iverson: I was never "big," not really big. There were a lot like me. You know, studio premieres, studio romances, not much talent. But I got lucky and grabbed off one of the big guns, Irving Grastner. Oh, I had lovely tits... even if I do say so myself. [sighs] Ahh, they're sitting on a little bit of silicone now... but when they were up for grabs, they were really something special.
    Harry Moseby: [speculating that the missing daughter, Delly, may be in Florida with her stepfather] My guess is that I should go down there.
    Arlene Iverson: [melodramatically] You're gonna' go all the way to Florida on a guess?
    Harry Moseby: No. I'm gonna' fly all the way to Florida on your money, Mrs. Iverson. It's up to you.
    Arlene Iverson: [indifferently] Go ahead.
    Harry Moseby: I'm looking for Delly Grastner.
    Quentin: Delly isn't around here anymore.
    Harry Moseby: You got any idea where she could be? Is she visiting friends? Is she meditating? Did she join a commune?
    Quentin: [scoffs] Delly's idea of a "commune" is her and a guy on top of her.
    Harry Moseby: You think Delly knew that Marv and her mother were making it?
    Joey Ziegler: A blind man on a galloping horse would've known. Arlene ain't Lillian Gish.
    Nick: Where do you know Arlene from?
    Joey Ziegler: From way back.
    Nick: Oh, yeah? What's your name again? Ziegler? Joey Ziegler?
    Joey Ziegler: Joey Ziegler.
    Nick: I don't think you were one of the names.
    Joey Ziegler: What names?
    Nick: One of those she cheated on Grastner with. I got them all.
    Joey Ziegler: I'm one of a small, select group. We hold meetings in a telephone booth.
    Harry Moseby: [observing Paula, who is feeding dolphins in a special pen] What do you got 'em for?
    Paula: Well, there's a big demand for dolphins. Lots of people want 'em, you'd be surprised. People buy them for their swimming pools. They think it's chic to have a dolphin for a pet. Like that craze for baby alligators in New York years back. When they got bored with 'em, they flushed them down the john. Now they got a sewage system swarming with blind, albino, shit-eating alligators.
    Harry Moseby: [listening with a bemused look on his face] I'm not too sure I believe that.
    Paula: You're not one of those "intent on the truth" types, are you?
    Harry Moseby: Well, not religious about it, no, but I...
    Harry Moseby: What'd you do before this?
    Paula: [coyly] This and that... [pauses, gives him a look] I taught school, I... kept house. I waited tables... I did a little stripping, I did a little hooking... and I trod a lot of water.
    Harry Moseby: Sounds kind of bleak. Or is it just the way you tell it?
    Paula: [sharply] Do you ask these questions because you wanna' know the answer, or is it just something you think a detective should do?
    Harry Moseby: I just want you to know I'm here.
    Paula: Oh, that's a beauty.
    Harry Moseby: Yeah, but he didn't see it. He played something else and he lost. He must have regretted it every day of his life. I know I would have. As a matter of fact I do regret it, and I wasn't even born yet.
    Paula: That's no excuse.
    Tom Iverson: I want that kid the hell out of here. You see, I... I get pretty foolish with her, and I... Well, you've seen her. God, there ought to be a law!
    Harry Moseby: There is.
    Harry Moseby: What happened to your face?
    Quentin: I won second prize in a fight.
    Arlene Iverson: Caught me in my bath.
    Harry Moseby: I'm sorry.
    Arlene Iverson: [seductively] Oh, that's all right. You could've joined me. It's a big bath.
    Harry Moseby: [with a wry grin] Maybe some other time, when I'm feeling really dirty.
    Arlene Iverson: Are you the kind of detective who, once you get on a case nothing can get you off it? Bribes, beatings, the allure of a woman...
    Harry Moseby: That was true in the old days. Before we had a union.
    Paula: How do you resist Delly?
    Harry Moseby: Oh, I just think good, clean thoughts, like Thanksgiving, George Washington's teeth.
    Paula: Where were you when Kennedy got shot?
    Harry Moseby: Which Kennedy?
    Paula: Any Kennedy.
    Harry Moseby: When the president got shot, I was on my way to San Diego. Football game. When Bobby got shot, I was sitting in a car waiting for a guy to come out of a house with his girlfriend. Working on a divorce case. One of those times I wish I was in another business.
    Nick: Where do you know Arlene from?
    Joey Ziegler: From way back.
    Nick: Oh, yeah? What's your name again? Ziegler? Joey Ziegler?
    Joey Ziegler: Joey Ziegler.
    Nick: I don't think you were one of the names.
    Joey Ziegler: What names?
    Nick: One of those she cheated on Grastner with. I got them all.
    Joey Ziegler: I'm one of a small, select group. We hold meetings in a telephone booth.

## Taglines

* Maybe he would find the girl... maybe he would find himself.
* What private eye Harry Moseby doesn't know about the girl he's looking for... just might get him killed.

## Cast

* Gene Hackman - Harry Moseby
* Jennifer Warren - Paula
* Susan Clark - Ellen Moseby
* Melanie Griffith - Delly Grastner
* James Woods - Quentin
* Edward Binns - Joey Ziegler
* Harris Yulin - Marty Heller
* Kenneth Mars - Nick
* John Crawford - Tom Iverson
* Janet Ward - Arlene Iverson

## External links

* Night Moves quotes at the Internet Movie Database
* Night Moves at Rotten Tomatoes
* Night Moves at Allmovie