Past Midnight

Past Midnight is a 1991 American neo-noir thriller film starring Rutger Hauer and Natasha Richardson, as well as co-stars Tom Wright, Clancy Brown and Paul Giamatti.

Plot

Parolee Ben Jordan has spent the past fifteen years behind bars for the murder of his pregnant wife. He is monitored by his parole officer Lee Samuels and social worker Laura Mathews after he is released. Mathews begins looking into his case and becomes convinced that he was convicted under circumstantial evidence and starts becoming convinced of his innocence in the crime. Before long she starts falling for him, but this is far from wise, since even if he is innocent, Mrs. Jordan's real murderer may soon come a calling.

Cast

Rutger Hauer as Ben Jordan
Natasha Richardson as Laura Mathews
Paul Giamatti as Larry Canipe
Clancy Brown as Steve Lundy
Tom Wright as Lee Samuels
Guy Boyd as Todd Canipe
Charles Boswell as Carlton Daniels
Ernie Lively as Detective Allan Tobias
Kibibi Monie as Dorothy Coleman
Dana Eskelson as Kathy Tudor
Ted D'Arms as Bill Tudor
Krisha Fairchild as Dr. Zastoupil
Sarah Magnuson as Gerrie Graymark
David Frederick White as Cop
Brian Finney as Delivery Man
Sue Morales as Social Worker

Production

After Quentin Tarantino significantly re-wrote the script, Catalaine Knell shared her associate producer credit with him on the film, his first official screen credit.

Release

Originally intended for a theatrical release, the film aired on the USA Network on December 16, 1992. Before, the film was shown at the American Film Market and at the Vancouver International Film Festival in October of the previous year. The movie was released on videocassette and laserdisc on April 21, 1993 by Columbia TriStar Home Video, and was released on DVD by the same company on August 17, 2004, in widescreen.