The Late Shift (1996)

Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

Wow! What a bizarre film! Unfortunately the few funny moments there were were quite overshadowed by it's completely weird and random vibe throughout.

It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

This could also be a twin movie of Howard Stern's "Private Parts." This is a movie that excels because of the fantastic depth of the supporting cast and a strong performance from Kathy Bates. I've been hearing about this movie for literally 20 years and I'm glad when I finally got to see it.There are real lessons to learn from this movie about corporate politics. While media critics and I-95 corridor may prefer Dave Letterman's wise guy antics over Leno's more 'play it straight', style, Leno won because he was easier to work with, courted the affiliates, and wasn't afraid of country music as a music guest. I seriously wonder whether Conan watched this...

The other reviews say it all but watch Treat Williams for his awe inspiring speech to David Letterman. I wish someone said that to me sometime.And Bob Balaban may be Littlefield's clone-He tells Helen Kushnik to " F you and the horse you rode in on."It's amazing how the actors captured the essence of the book characters by Bill Carter.Higgins portrayal of Letterman is spot on...When he refers to his CBS contract, he says "It would put a smile on Jack Benny's face... and that's in the condition he is now."You can watch this over and over again.

"The Late Shift" tells the behind-the-scenes story of the battle for the coveted role of host of the Tonight Show after Johnny Carson's retirement. Depending on your view of the world, the film, a docu-drama, may leave you forever seeing Jay Leno as a petty, ambitious, and ruthless; and as having forced Carson's premature retirement. You may also come away with the conclusion that Jay, a hard-working professional entertainer, fought for, and won, the jewel of his profession that un-sympathetic NBC executives dangled before him at the expense of David Letterman, who had faithfully served them for years on their implicit promise of the highest prize they could give–the job of hosting the Tonight Show.As a result of the well-publicized (and over dramatized) war for the Tonight Show job, Jay no doubt gained many fans but lost many more. Surely millions of Americans (even with the recovery in ratings Jay enjoyed after the drop that followed his initial installation as host) continue to blame him for the loss of their nightly guest into the bosom of their homes. But to truly understand Jay's campaign for the hosting position you must view his fight after seeing him in the Jerry Seinfeld documentary "Comedian." Viewing Jay's life, and the life of the stand-up comic, from the behind the curtain standpoint the documentary provides, will permanently absolve Jay of any perceived wrong-doing in connection with the Tonight Show."Comedian" ostensibly follows Seinfeld's foray back into the world of the "working" stand-up after ending his record setting television series. Since everyone knows Seinfeld could have easily, and expected that he would, rest on his laurels from leading "the best comedy in television history," its easy to think a film documenting his return to stand-up as an attempt at self-aggrandizement. The film shows that Seinfeld's return to stand up does not come from a desire to give a gift in return to a first love that gave him more than it ever could have promised.And the film itself is much more than an homage to his love. The film is a window into the craft itself and a sometimes brutal exposition of the people who love her. That love is no more evident in any of the films' participants–truly the legends of the art–than in Jay Leno. His love for his art exonerates Jay for any hurt or jealousy remaining from his ascension to the throne of comedy and raises him to a national treasure in American entertainment. Although Jay has announced his own retirement from Tonight Show host, I can only pray his departure is on his own terms and not accelerated by illness. Good luck, Jay.

I can't tell whether this movie would be interesting to people who are wheelers and dealers, but it interested me precisely because I'm not. If I'd paid half the attention to ploying the system, squeezing the cow, as these characters do, who knows what dazzling heights I might have reached? The story is probably familiar to most viewers by now. When Johnny Carson announces his retirement from The Tonight Show, NBC has to choose between two replacements -- Jay Leno and David Letterman, who can both claim to be qualified. They choose Jay Leno, which annoys Letterman. Not that Leno and Letterman aren't friends, but their socioeconomic interests are in conflict. All sorts of wheelings and dealings go on, which end with Leno keeping The Tonight Show and Letterman moving to an opposite spot at CBS.Godzillions of dollars are involved of course, so it behooves everyone to act rationally. The problem faced by these characters -- not just the two stars but everyone else -- is defining "rational." Reason ought to lead you to achieving a goal. But suppose you have several goals, equally important, and contradictory? Is "success" measured in dollars? In self-satisfaction? In security at the expense of self expression? How much is friendship and loyalty worth? These are hard decisions to make but, fortunately, for millionaires it's not lonely at the top. There's plenty of advice.The most reasonable person -- in the sense that he is least influenced by fear or sentiment -- is Michael Ovitz, played by Treat Williams. As someone says jokingly about him, talking to him is like talking to the Godfather. "You have a problem? We can solve it." Ovitz went on, as I understand it, to head Walt Disney but has recently been involved in some sort of contretemps. I think they're kicking him out of Walt Disney and giving him two million godzillion dollars to ease the pain of his passage.The most interesting character, I thought, was Helen Kushnik, Kathy Bates. She was Jay Leno's totem person. And -- the book is more explicit about this -- she was evidently one of those people who, once in power, go completely berserk and believe that limits don't apply to them. It goes beyond pushiness. They become tyrants. I don't want to sound sexist but Kushnik's behavior takes a distinctly feminine form. The monster sacre hiding behind the stage props. Judy Garland's "stage mother." They protect and advance their clients as if the clients were some rare marketable commodity. Kushnik self destructs, as everyone predicts, but I'd have liked to know more about her.But it's also fun watching the sparring that goes on between the players. Here is Jay Leno, host of The Tonight Show, sneaking around through a garage and eavesdropping through a crack in the doorway while a discussion takes place that will decide if Leno is kept on or fired."The Late Shift" isn't about a subject that occupied much of my life space at the time this was going on, but it held my interest because it's one of those minor inexpensive kinds of projects that cable, especially HBO, does so well from time to time. If it's not quite up to the standard set by "Barbarians at the Gates" it's because it wasn't written by Larry Gelbart and it doesn't have James Garner's outrageous lead performance. "The Late Shift" sees some irony in the story but not much in the way of laughs, but that's okay too.It's a intensely thought-provoking movie too. Here is the thought it provoked. "Where in the hell was Michael Ovitz when I needed him?"