20 Reasons Why You Rock: 10 to Midnight
Like many movie lovers, October is the time of year when I try to cram in as many horror movies into my schedule as possible. Now there are plenty of my personal horror favorites that I consider “must watch movies” every spooky season, but there is also one Charles Bronson movie that I make sure I watch every October… 10 to Midnight.
10 to Midnight is a Charles Bronson movie that includes slasher movie elements (which were all the rage back in 1980s) along with the thrills and action you’d expect from a movie about a maverick cop hunting down a serial killer. 10 to Midnight is also a movie that rocks…
#1. When the cold open of your movie features Charles Bronson referring to himself as “a mean, selfish sonofabitch” you are starting off hot in my book.
#2. Not many directors would be able to work with a star like Charles Bronson, who definitely like things done a certain way… J. Lee Thompson managed to direct Bronson ten times before it was all said and done. The Bronson/Thompson collaborations led to many memorable films, but I believe it can be argued that 10 to Midnight was their finest hour.
#3. Gene Davis is creeptacular as “wanna be ladies man” Warren Stacy. The role of serial killer Warren Stacy allowed Davis to show off a great deal of range from confident narcissist to calculating killer to unhinged maniac… Davis owns the role of Warren Stacy. Along with range, the role of Warren Stacy also gave Davis the opportunity to show off a great deal of himself… which would be a challenging role for any actor. All of this makes Warren Stacy a character that is impossible to forget.
#4. If brutally killing the women he can’t have is not enough to establish Warren Stacy as the villain in the movie, the fact that Warren violates the long standing rule off this van’s a rockin’, don’t come a knockin’ in the first 10 minutes of the film, seals the deal.
#5. If you were looking for someone to play a seasoned and somewhat gruff police captain back in 1983… Wilford Brimley was a quality choice.
#6. The excessive nudity in 10 to Midnight is one of the reasons the movie played so well on premium cable back in the day… the executives at HBO must have known this would play well on their network, which is why they were willing to pony up $2.5 million dollars for the rights.
#7. I have not seen Andrew Stevens in a ton of movies, but I have seen enough to know that 10 to Midnight is hands down my favorite Stevens performance. Stevens is perfect as Paul McCann, the fresh faced, still wet behind the ears, new partner of the grizzled Leo Kessler. McCann gets off on the wrong foot with Kessler proving to be a “profound pain in the ass”.
#8. I have never heard anyone say “morphine” the way Charles Bronson does in this movie, but I love it.
#9. Lisa Eilbacher’s Laurie Kessler is really the heart of the entire movie as she gets to interact with all the major players… she’s the daughter of Leo Kessler, she becomes a target for the deranged Warren Stacy and the love interest of Paul McCann. Oddly enough the events of the film bring Laurie and Leo closer together after they drifted apart following the death of Laurie’s mother.
#10. 10 to Midnight has a few familiar faces… well at least familiar faces to Cannon fans…. The medical examiner was played by Jerome Thor. Among Thor’s other Cannon credits are Messenger of Death and Kinjite: Forbidden Subjects…. Robert F. Lyons, who played District Attorney Nathan Zager in the movie, also starred with Charles Bronson in Death Wish II and Murphy’s Law. Later he would go on to co-star with Michael Dudikoff in Platoon Leader… Last but not least there’s Cosie Costa, who played Dudley, the dude banging his girlfriend in the laundry room at the nursing school party. Costa would go on to play the chicken loving Mazilli in Missing in Action 2: The Beginning.
#11. The interrogation technique of Leo Kessler is taken up to an inadmissible notch when Leo pulls out a sex toy that was recovered from Warren Stacy’s apartment and he asks Warren if …A) He recognizes it, B) He’s ever seen one before and finally C) If it’s for jackin’ off.
#12. Warren’s dirty phone calls are certainly a highlight of the film and the fact that he delivers them with a Spanish accent make lines like “Call me Pedro, that means Peter. I’ve got the biggest one you’ve ever seen” all the more entertaining.
#13. This deep into the list and I am finally getting around to honoring the man himself, Charles Bronson. At this stage in his career, Bronson was well aware of what his fans wanted… Bronson getting revenge. 10 to Midnight threw in the wrinkle of Bronson playing a detective, but that just meant he got to be the maverick cop doing the wrong things for the right reasons… a role tailor made for Charles Bronson.
#14. Over the years there have been many depictions in television and the movies of slimeball attorneys but I honestly don’t think any of them did it better than Geoffrey Lewis as Dave Dante, the attorney for Warren Stacy… maybe it was the wig.
#15. One of my favorite scenes in the movie is when McCann has to confront Leo after he finds out that Leo planted the blood on Warren Stacy’s clothes. You can see the exact moment where McCann earns Leo’s respect and Leo reciprocating that respect, even though it means Warren Stacy will go free.
#16. This of course leads to Leo Kessler losing his job but more importantly getting to tell a reporter to go f*ck themself.
#17. The war between Leo Kessler and Warren Stacy is not over…. the two start playing mind games with one another and it just builds the anticipation for the inevitable final showdown.
#18. The most terrifying scene in the movie has to be when Warren shows up at Laurie’s dorm and is out for blood, laying waste to Laurie’s roommates on his quest to deliver the final blow in his escalating war with Leo Kessler by murdering Leo’s daughter.
#19. The final face to face showdown between Warren Stacy and Leo Kessler ends in the most satisfying way possible… Bronson really nails the “No we won’t!”
#20. Last but not least is the fact that 10 to Midnight is a Cannon film. Bronson and Cannon were magic together and while you can argue that Bronson’s better films were from his pre-Cannon days, Bronson’s Cannon run was a helluva fun ride!
