Weekly Pick: ‘Night Shift’ Comes Close To Being A Christmas Film

This week’s classic movie pick dips its toe in the Christmas waters, but is not necessarily a full blown “Christmas film.”

“Nightshift” might not overwhelm you with Christmas cheer, but it is set during the season and will definitely deliver some laughs to brighten the holidays. The film stars Henry Winkler, who took break from filming “Happy Days” and a fresh-faced comedian named Michael Keaton who crushed his role as obnoxious hipster Bill Blazejowski basically saying, “Hollywood, here I am!”

Winkler plays Chuck Lumley, an overstressed financial planner on sabbatical from Wall Street who takes a job working nights in the New York City morgue to enjoy the peace and quiet during his “transitional period.” That is, until Billy Blazejowski, or Billy Blaze, shows up and never stops talking, driving Winkler’s character crazy. As the two morgue employees struggle to co-exist, they connect with Belinda Keaton, played by Shelley Long, who lives down the hall in Chuck’s apartment building.

“Nightshift” came out the summer before “Cheers” dropped and made Long a household name. In “Nightshift,” she plays an escort who after her pimp is killed, rallies fellow escorts to work for Chuck and Billy Blaze, who provide a much less violent working atmosphere in the morgue. Thanks to Chuck’s financial acumen, Chuck, Bill and all the escorts make big-time Buco Dolores until it all comes crashing down amid some hilarious set pieces. In one scene, they have a party with all the escorts and a bunch of college kids. If you look close enough, you will see a partying, still undiscovered Kevin Costner.

“Nightshift” is Ron Howard’s second stab at feature film directing and first collaboration with super producer Brian Grazer. The two teamed up to form Imagine Entertainment and produce films like “Backdraft,” “Apollo 13” and “A Beautiful Mind.” The duo both won Oscars in 2001 with Howard winning Best Director for “A Beautiful Mind” and Grazer winning an Oscar for Best Picture as the film’s producer.

Their collaboration is sort of a Christmas movie (at least as much as “Die Hard” is) but beware, it isn’t totally family friendly. “Nightshift” is a classic, rated-R 1980s comedy with tons of quotable lines. While not your typical Christmas Movie, it will give you lots of laughs this holiday season and it’s this week’s “Classic Movie Pick of the Week!”

Editor’s note: For more movie and entertainment talk, join Pete Schwaba weeknights from 6 p.m. to 8 p .m. for “Nite Lite” on the Civic Media radio network.