"Midnight Madness," an outrageous new comedy released by Buena Vista Distribution, follows 23 college rivals on a dusk to dawn race through Los Angeles to win the Great All-Nighter.
David Naughton stars as Adam Larson, student counselor and Yellow Team captain, who enters the competition to impress Laura, a campus coed played by Debra Clinger.
Also starring in a cast of bright young talents:
Stephen Furst is Harold, the rich campus slob forced to enter the game by his overbearing father. Eddie Deezen as Wesley, debate team chairman and White Team captain, is out to prove brains are better than the football team's brawn. Maggie Roswell as Donna, sorority president and Red Team captain, also joins the competition to even the score with football players who crashed her rush party. Brad Wilkin is Lavitas, Green Team captain and beer drinking fun-loving quarterback of the football squad.
Alan Solomon is Leon, the eccentric grad-student obsessed with games who created the Great All-Nighter.
Based on an original story, "Midnight Madness" was written and directed by Michael Nankin and David Wechter for Producer Ron Miller. In color by Technicolor, the film is released by Buena Vista.
Avid game players, writers Michael Nankin and David Wechter developed a screenplay centered around an elaborate clue game. College students became the players; the city a gameboard.
"Midnight Madness" underwent four title changes during production; three official, one unofficial. The original screenplay was called "The All-Night Treasure Hunt," but was later changed to "The Ultimate Game." While working on the show, cast and crew called the comedy "The Great All-Nighter," and even imprinted T-shirts with what they hoped would be the final title.
But 200 alternate titles were research-tested and "Midnight Madness" proved most popular.
The Great All-Nighter begins at sunset on a Friday night and ends when one team wins.
Five highly competitive teams made up of student counselors, athletes, sorority girls and delinquents compete. Each receives a complicated clue which leads to a location somewhere in the city.
At each location is another clue which leads to another until a winning team proves its superiority over disliked rivals.
From Los Angeles to Long Beach, 25 locations were used including Griffith Park Observatory, Hollywood Wax Museum, Osko's Disco, Occidental College, Sherman Clay Piano Museum, Pabst Brewery, Johnny's Fat Boy Restaurant, Art's Delicatessen, Hollywood Boulevard, Golfland, International Airport, Long Beach Pike, Bonaventure Hotel, plus assorted streets and alleys. Interiors were filmed at Disney Studio and of the 50-day shooting, 35 were filmed at night.
Three weeks before production began on "Midnight Madness," only a few actors had been signed. To build a cast of fresh faces, directors Nankin and Wechter held an open audition for the remaining parts.
One weekend, more than 2,000 actors and actresses were personally interviewed by the directors.
Of 25 feature roles, seven were cast from the open call, four others were cast for supporting parts.