Night Moves (1975)

A former football player turned private detective (Gene Hackman) is hired by an ex-actress (Janet Ward) to find her missing 16 year old daughter (Melanie Griffith). While his wife (Susan Clark) is being unfaithful to him, the detective finds the elements of the case as bleak as his dismantling personal life. Directed by Arthur Penn (THE MIRACLE WORKER), this is a crucial example of neo-noir. The film's fatalistic narrative nicely captures the disheartenment of the prevalent mood of so many films of the 1970s while still remaining faithful to the formalities of classic film noir. I don't think anyone who's seen it has forgotten it. In one of his 3 or 4 best performances, Hackman shows why he was/is considered one of the best actors of his era. Bruce Surtees (THE OUTLAW JOSEY WALES) did the evocative cinematography and Michael Small (KLUTE) is responsible for the expressive underscore. With James Woods, Jennifer Warren, Edward Binns, Harris Yulin and Kenneth Mars.