After Hours (1985)

Forty-years ago, Oscar-winning master Martin Scorsese (Goodfellas, Taxi Driver, Killers of the Flower Moon) directed his second dark comedy in a row (after The King of Comedy) with this quirky New York story which takes place almost entirely during one crazy night.  The whole story centers on Paul played by Griffing Dunne (An American Werewolf in London, My Girl, Dallas Buyers Club) who's just a lowly word processor by day but late one night, he decides to meet up with a mysterious, beautiful woman named Marcy (Rosanna Arquette) in the Soho district.  When he arrives at her apartment, she's at first not there so he ecounters her very strange, forward roommate (Linda Fiorentino)....eventually some one dies....and things just get stranger from there as Paul finds himself trapped in this ONE part of Manhattan unable to find his way home.  The stacked cast for this cult classic also includes Teri Garr, Catherine O'Hara, Will Patton, John Heard, Cheech Marin, and Tommy Chong. 

Host: Geoff Gershon
Edited By Ella Gershon
Producer: Marlene Gershon

Transcript

AFTER HOURS - 1985

Directed by Martin Scorsese

Starring Griffin Dunne, Roseanna Arquette, Tommy Chong, Cheech Marin, Linda Fiorentino, Teri Garr, John Heard, Catherine O’Hara, Verna Bloom, Will Patton, Victor Argo, Robert Plunkett, Dick Miller, and Bronson Pinchot

Genre: Dark Comedy (Audio clip)

Even though this has the pedigree of being directed by one of our true masters (Martin Scorsese), I still kinda lump it in with one of my personal favorite subgenres: The Quirky '80's Lower Manhattan Movie. 🙂 It's a small grouping but it's always has the potential grow well beyond the '80's....Party Girl ('96) likely makes the cut as it had that ad hoc, low budget vibe....the recent Oscar-winner previous episode Anora MIGHT have had a shot if it actually ventured beyond Brooklyn AND wasn't at least twenty minutes too long. That's the thing - these movies are generally short (usually less than two hours), virtually plotless, feature key sequences in diners, several characters wearing vintage clothing, and HAVE to be filmed on location around yes.....lower Manhattan. More often than not, they're quite funny while still occasionally going unexpectedly dark.

That and they're all pretty much reliably rewatchable: Something Wild, My Dinner With Andre, The Pope Of Greenwich Village, Something Wild, Married To The Mob, and....a great but unexpected companion piece to this film as it came out the same year and features some of the same cast members (Rosanna Arquette, Will Patton)...previous episode Desperately Seeking Susan. Not every box is checked perfectly among these films, but they each share a similar....VIBE. 🤔 Whereas 'Susan definitely veers more towards fish-out-of-water, mistaken identity rom-com, THIS movie lands more as a fish-out-of-water, mistaken identity, paranoia thriller. Make no mistake though, I have little doubt that both movies take place within the same world....and despite going darker, this one is STILL quite funny thanks to an inspired lead performance from Griffin Dunne....

Dunne plays Paul, the seemingly nebbishy word processor who ventures into the SoHo district late one night with aspirations of meeting a beautiful woman (Rosanna Arquette's Marcy) whom he met earlier at a diner. He is actually invited to her apartment where things look promising IF a bit strange....for one thing, IS it her apartment?.🤫 What's her deal as she seems obsessed with having burn scars? And what's with her free-spirited sculptor roommate Kiki portrayed in a nice acid turn by Linda Fiorentino? '85 was apparently a breakout year for Fiorentino as she also co-starred in both Vision Quest and Gotcha that same year. She's both alluring and off-putting at the same time, just as Paul has arrived while Marcy runs out to the pharmacy. 🙄

There's a flirtation, some VERY awkward conversation, candles are lit, Paul notices some pretty dark stuff, kissing, crying, paper mache, unexpected nudity....this is relating to both Kiki AND Marcy mind you! Just a series of different things occur which really don't make much sense from Paul's POV. Until Paul is suddenly alone in this strange apartment....only to find that some one on-site has died suddenly. :o And things just get keep getting increasingly strange from there.....

Paul just keeps running into more trouble with various colorful characters while also encountering circumstances which continuously prevent him from getting out the neighborhood.....uptown....HOME. Subways, cabs, ice cream trucks....he tries valiantly to nab any conceivable avenue of escape and just remains stuck into the night. And all of this is just presented to us visually with such energy and style but never distractingly so by Scorsese with a major assist from Master DP, three-time Oscar-nominee Michael Ballhaus who was not only a frequent collaborator of Scorsese's (Goodfellas, Gangs of New York) but also seemed to have an affinity for shooting NYC ground-level AND majestic with equal flair (Working Girl, Quiz Show). :) The camera is constantly either moving right past Paul's shoulder to preview whatever absurd surprise is headed his way next or just over his shoulder whenever he's fleeing a bloodthirsty SOHO mob (if such a thing could exist) on the streets, which he's doing for much of the second half! 

Best Needledrop (best song cue or score used throughout runtime of film): 

Towards the end of the film just as Paul is now about at his wit’s end hiding out at a dance club where things are clearly winded down…it’s clear that he is in need of a quieter respite.  So he approaches the one woman he sees sitting across the dance floor, offers her a drink, and then asks for a dance – the woman is June played by the late, great Verna Bloom and there’s not much for either them to say but they DO have a lovely dance.  The song which Paul selects from the jukebox with his LAST quarter is an oldie-but-goodie, released in 1969 as a single by the legendary Norma Deloris Egstrom who originally hailed from Jamestown, North Dakota – she was professionally known as Peggy Lee.  Ms. Lee had an illustrious career spanning more than six decades, more than a thousand songs, and was even nicknamed at one point, the “Queen of American pop music.”  The song is a lovely, meditative waltz about LIFE and how fleeting it is….with some of the more memorable lyrics just SPOKEN by Peggy.  It fits perfectly for this moment in the film, the song is “Is That All There Is?” (Audio clip) 

Wasted Talent (most under-utilized talent involved with film):

During my most recent rewatch, it was the first time I noticed just how STACKED this cast actually was with familiar faces and names….especially for what at the time was a relatively small production.  The assortment of on-screen talent here is just legendary: near-peak Cheech & Chong as two opportunistic robbers/art purveyors whom he keeps getting mixed up with, PEAK Teri Garr as a daffy waitress who fancies him, Clarence Felder (Ruthless People) as a semi-sympathetic bouncer with some memorably droll moments, and younger Catherine O'Hara stealing EVERY one of her scenes later in the movie just acting smug, SHE'S the one driving the aforementioned ice cream truck. 😆 So many other memorable performances and/or cameos to mention not the least of which is young Will Patton playing ANOTHER monosyllabic thug with weird hair, just seven months after he did so in 'Susan. 

Trailer Moment (scene or moment that best describes this movie):

There’s a scene which occurs about 75 minutes into the film which could have gone either way….but I’m always a sucker for these types of scenes when they WORK.  You see Paul is desperately trying to get off of the street and he comes upon this mild-mannered guy in glasses and a sweater who basically is hoping to hook up with him…..hey it’s New York, we’re all consenting adults here.   So Paul follows this guy to his apartment – the guy is simply credited as “Street Pickup” and is played nicely by writer Robert Plunkett.  Once they get there, Plunkett’s character simply sits on his couch while Paul remains standing….this guy makes the mistake of ASKING Paul why he can’t just go home and what results is pure exposition dump, but clever and funny.  Dunne is just on a heater here…. (Audio clip) 

It's not only fun to watch Dunne cut loose here but to see the bored and bemused expression on the face of poor Mr. Street Pickup – Paul just gets increasingly ramped up and that uni-brow of his is just going crazy center-frame.  My favorite part is him describing his attempt to use some one’s phone by angrily repeating “Pick it up, put it down, pick it up, put it down!” Kind of fourth-wall breaking as he’s basically summarizing the movie up until this point but Dunne’s manic performance just SELLS it! (Audio clip)

MVP (person most responsible for the success of this film):

The core of this movie IS Griffin Dunne’s performance, just coming off incredibly desperate and put-upon to glorious comic effect. ;) Even to the point where he's literally screaming up to G-d while standing in the middle of the street.  As strong as the cast is which surrounds him, I just DON’T see this film working nearly as well without HIS specific acting style and overall vibe running through each of them – in pretty much every other possible scenario for how and when this movie was made, this role would have been more likely cast with a overt wise-ass comedic type along the lines of Chevy Chase, Steve Guttenberg, Michael Keaton, Eddie Murphy, or of course Bill Murray.  But the way Dunne plays him STILL gets the necessary laughs by being sufficiently desperate – it becomes more about nuance and timing.  For delivering one of the more underrated comedic performances of the 1980’s, Griffin Dunne is the MVP. 

Final Rating: 4.7 stars out of 5 

I'm pretty sure that this and previous episode The King of Comedy remain Scorsese's only true full-blown comedies....and even though neither was fully appreciated when they first came out back-to-back in the middle of the '80's, they both hold up pretty well as darkly comic tributes to the city he always called his home! It actually makes for a fun double feature with the aforementioned Desperately Seeking Susan....Happy 40th Anniversary to an underappreciated gem which just gets better with age!

Streaming on kanopy & crunchyroll

And that ends another SURRENDER DOROTHY review!