zeugitai I read several of the other reviews and some of the highly rated reviews manage to describe the experience of viewing this film quite well. Several aspects of the film receive little or no mention. One of these is the excellent soundtrack, very early-sixties, jazzy, musically sophisticated, well orchestrated. I firmly believe that the soundtrack makes or breaks the illusion of any television show or film. The soundtrack creates and maintains the mood. It isn't overdone, isn't at all clichéd or predictable and it lifts this simple, moody, black and white film into the realm of effectiveness. All of the actors acquit themselves well enough to maintain the mood. People may be critical of the film for lacking high production values or brisk pacing. I rate it highly for hanging together as a cogent work of art, for carrying its story through to fruition, for managing to affect the viewer and for stimulating moods and feelings. It manages to synergize into something more than its parts and its flaws. It leaves the viewer with remembered images and the sense of having experienced something poignant. As another reviewer said, I have watched it several times and always manage to be moved by it. Having said all that, as another reviewer said, it may not be everyone's cup of tea.

Scarecrow-88 Sailor visits Venice Beach pier Amusement park, falling in love with a mysterious young woman who portrays a mermaid in an alcoholic captain's show. When two men are found dead, she becomes a suspect and it could mean danger towards the sailor if he continues to carry on relations with her.Early method performance from Dennis Hopper, as the droopy-eyed, rather melancholy, lonely sailor who seeks love, only to find it in a doomed romance with a girl who yearns for his, but seems to be harboring a secret which threatens any chance for a meaningful relationship. While it does feature atmospheric direction from Curtis Harrington, Night Tide wasn't the chiller I was expecting, but more of a sombre tale of two young people finding each other, not allowed to be together as they so desire due to circumstances which may or may not be supernatural.The key to what ails them could lie in Captain Samuel Murdock(Gavin Muir), a former journeyman who found Mora(the lovely Linda Lawson, in a haunting performance)as a girl left to starve in Greece. Mora believes she might actually be a mermaid, for she "hears the calls from the sea people." Johnny Drake(Hopper)attempts to persuade her away from such nonsense, he believes is a delusion planted in her mind. Luana Anders, who is simply adorable, is the daughter of a barker so obviously in love with Johnny that it's evident all over her face and demeanor when he's near.I think Night Tide will definitely be of interest for those who can only see Hopper as an actor who portrays foul, ugly, repellent characters, Johnny quite a polar opposite of those type of roles. Very quiet and subdued, Johnny is the kind of character that is quite approachable and pleasant. It's an interesting character in his resume, but one I'm sure will surprise those who are accustomed to his Frank Booths and other loud, abrasive monsters. Marjorie Eaton has a memorable part as a clairvoyant whose tarot reading for Johnny heightens the final chapter of the movie. The movie's mood and temperament parallels Johnny, the central character. Nice little sleeper, with many effective night scenes, and a rather seductive setting. Ultimately, the result of Mora's dilemma truly is tragic because it doesn't have to end the way it does, but due to an obsessive kind of love, leading to deception and murder, the conclusion is fated to happen as it unfolds.

Hitchcoc I thought this would be another of those dull, pointless things that are part of video collections. I was pleasantly surprised by several things. First of all is Dennis Hopper who was pretty photogenic. He plays a believable young sailor who finds himself in the middle of a weird setting, falling in love with a very attractive, mysterious young woman who apparently has blood on her hands. The characters are interesting and it is all pretty well acted. Hopper underplays his character and it works pretty well. He's not emoting but that's fine. The young woman tries so hard to get acceptance but has no awareness of who she actually is. All in all, the mystery is well handled and when all is said and done, things are pretty satisfying. There's even another mystery to chomp on.

nevfahs Don't get me wrong... I don't think this is a great achievement in film making.I stumbled across this movie on late night TV, back in the early days of UHF, when, at 13 or 14, it was very exciting to me to have new channels that were so low budget that they showed things that, in the light of mainstream, 3 channel, VHF programming, seemed very much like they were being beamed in from another galaxy.Through the lens of adolescent angst that I saw it through, this is a movie about unbearable loneliness, brilliantly captured by Dennis Hopper, whose only way out of his loneliness is through a beautiful woman from another world that he can't fully understand.Like Kabuki theater on Darvon, he moves through the shadows of this overfiltered dreamworld of seaside 1960. The real monster is loneliness, and unlike most horror movies, the monster wins this one.The setting, the off season seaside resort (and it could have been any, not just Venice Beach) was perfect, being there by oneself is possibly the loneliest experience one could have, hinting at a livelier, fun=filled world that, because of time, is unattainable.It represents to me, maybe the first "indie" film I saw and recognized as one, "indie" in the original sense of a movie that was not made to be a box office hit, but because someone HAD to make a movie about something they felt strongly about, or had an artistic vision that had to be shared. Many of the earlier examples of these movies found their way onto UHF, because they were cheap to rent. But they got me hooked, and as soon as I could drive, sought out the art theaters in nearby towns that showed what was then called "underground" cinema, Kenneth Anger, John Waters (pre-flamingoes) I am Curious (Yellow and Blue.) These films are not as enchanting to me now, but then, none of them ever lived up to Night Tide for me.For sentimental reasons, this has always been, and will always be, one of my very favorite movies.