AFTER HOURS Discussion

I love this movie. Even though it's a "light" film, it might be my favorite Scorcese.

"Art sure is ugly, man."

I'll probably get blamed for that.

It's definitely my favorite Scorsese. The most singular film he ever made, in my opinion.

"The uglier it is, the more it's worth!"

"Then this must be worth a fortune."

For me, a personal sentimental connection I guess. I grew up in the Lower East Side ... Chinatown, to be precise. Not too far from where this movie takes place. My parents and I would frequently hang out in Soho. And often walk through it at night after a movie at the Thalia or Film Forum.

There was something about Soho that struck me as magical when I was a kid. As well as an inherent eeriness. I first saw this movie when I was a kid and it resonated with me then because it brought to life all those feelings. Even now, I watch it and I get chills. Scorsese brought out the mythic aspect of Soho... And much of that has disappeared now. There's very little trace of it left. You see, like, Greenpoint and Williamsburg trying to pick up the slack. But it's not the same thing.

But it's still alive in After Hours. The movie itself seems to be like this living thing that just grabs hold of you. It's especially potent when you watch it late at night. It really feels like you're being transported.

One of my favorite films of all time.

Possibly the best line in the picture.

But I'm also very partial to John Heard's delivery of:

Oh... Marcy.

Marcy Marcy Marcy Marcy! Marcy!! Marcy!!!

It's so tragic, yet so hilarious at the same time.

I have nothing to add but my love for this movie. I hope that's enough. I'm not from New York, I've never had a night like this, etc. but I love it. Completely. Totally my favorite Scorsese, not to take away from any of his other work.

Great movie, maybe not as dark as it could have been (or the filmmakers felt it was) but it's a film I've revisited again and again, as recently as three days ago actually.

The first time I saw this I could only wonder about just where the hell it was going, and then when that ending happened I thought that it was so completely perfect and pretty much the only way the film could have ended. Little did I know at the time that Scorsese and company had worked on figuring out a way to end the film for weeks, and that it ultimately came from a suggestion by Michael Powell. That's pretty awesome. Also, it has my second favorite Scorsese cameo, the first being his amazing scene in Taxi Driver.

I don't understand why people marginalize this movie and consider it lesser Scorsese. It's one of his best films period and I make no apologies for it. It just works and underlines the same type of dark humor that appears in all of his movies. This just happens to be the funniest, and also one of the bleakest.

Comedy is hard. This is neck and neck with The Last Temptation as my favorite of his films. So let me ask anyone out there who doesn't like it that much: why? And why can't it be as good as some of his "more serious" movies? Because it's not dramatic? Because there aren't gangsters in it? I don't get it.

It features amazing performances, a breakneck pace, incredible camera work, snappy dialogue, witty writing and features a biting commentary on modern urban lifestyle. What's wrong with it?

I think a lot of it lies with the marginalization of comedy in general. Like you've said, it's very hard, but people tend to see it as lesser fare, and in Scorsese's case, when in comparison to his usual serous fare, it might seem out of place.

Not much I can add other than that I love this film. Anyone ever stuck downtown after midnight (particularly on a Sunday night) will swear by the vibe in the film. I'll usually run a double feature of this with MIRACLE MILE for friends from time to time.

Erix is right, not just SoHo but the whole island is a pale shadow of the sleazy, mysterious place it used to be.

Parker, well put. I always catch people acting sheepish about liking the movie, for fear of losing their film fan cred, one assumes. Ludicrous. Many moons ago, the Walter Reade did a Scorsese retro and, unsurprisingly, this one had the weakest attendance. I managed to find a way to query two random people on the way out and both said, not in so many words, that they were there because it was Scorsese and they were seeing everything else. Also, that they thought it was supposed to be a comedy(!?!).


*My "AFTER HOURS moment": running into Martha Plimpton at some small Korean shop at 4 am...and not only having a decent conversation with her but realizing we shared a close mutual friend.

It's probably the funniest movie that also kind of makes my skin crawl. It's the ultimate urban paranoia movie. It's a universal nightmare of being stuck in a section of town you're not familiar with and can't get home.

I love the scene near the end where Dunne takes refuge at the guy's apartment who thinks he's about to get seduced and just unloads the entire history of the movie to him in one crazed monologue. "He would've taken my face and punched it like THIS!"

Also, this is another entry in the "Unremakable In This Age of Cell Phones" canon.

There are plenty of ways around this. It's more of an "Unremakable in the Age of ATM's."

And while that movie is funny, I think this one is ten times more of a "comedy." As someone pointed out in the recent King of Comedy thread, Pupkin is basically a more comedic version of Travis Bickle.

And I love the way he reportedly put it: Why doesn't he just go back to work?

It's so logical and perfect that you wonder why it never occurred to anyone else.

The ending of having him crawl into Verna Bloom's vagina and show up on the West Side Highway (so now we know where Charlie Kaufman got that idea) might have worked in the most likely much more bizarre version Tim Burton would have made.

Nothing.

It's the comedy factor, as has been mentioned. And, also, people just plain don't seem to get it. A fellow chewer whom I respect dearly (so I won't name him) also confessed that it doesn't work for him. But he's got good taste. So, I can only imagine that it just doesn't connect with him.

Another criticism that is sometimes leveled at it is the "implausibility" of the plot. As in: why doesn't he just walk home? And, granted, as a native New Yorker, I can attest that it really is not unfathomable to just take a walk uptown from Soho to, say W72nd St. or wherever the fuck he lives.

But that complaint is missing the point. And, besides, the screenplay does address this and quite cleverly. Rain is thrown in, which makes the prospects of walking home more difficult and uncomfortable.

Furthermore, at one point, Paul does say: I'm walking home. But circumstances force him to abandon that idea, leading finally to the climax.

I wonder what it says about me that I also love that film. What does it say about me that my two favorite Scorseses happen to be his comedies.

And you may as well throw Goodfellas in there too. I think it's a laugh riot.

True... And yet, it somehow doesn't feel dated. Even with Dunne's faux Miami Vice getup and the very 80s feel of the whole thing. Watching it is like stepping into a time machine and it all makes sense.

Though, I can see it seeming sillier to people who were born after 1985 or who have absolutely no familiarity with anything that the movie portrays.

The most chilling thing about it is how it's essentially a Kafkaesque nightmare, but also it's only barely an exaggeration. Soho really was like that! And I've met plenty of people even today who are very much like the characters in this film. John Heard's bartender is not unlike a friend of mine in that same profession. I mean, really. Looks like him and everything.

Speaking of Kafka, who else loses his shit every time during Paul's confrontation with the bouncer at Club Berlin?

This is the granddaddy of the "into the night" genre of films. For people looking for others, I'd recommend:

THE NIGHT BEFORE
MIRACLE MILE
INTO THE NIGHT
THE ICE HARVEST
SOMETHING WILD
JUDGMENT NIGHT
COLD DOG SOUP
LATE LAST NIGHT
QUICK CHANGE
GO
COLLATERAL
NIGHT ON EARTH
MYSTERY TRAIN

I love these two. Mystery Train, especially. Night on Earth is way more uneven, but the Italy/Benigni/Priest/Melonfucking story sequence needs to be in the "Scene that saves it" thread. One of the hardest laughs I've ever had in a theater.

Others have already chimed in with many of the same reasons I would give for calling this my favorite Scorcese. I'll just add that, like Buckaroo Banzai, True Stories, and Big Trouble in Little China, it has special significance in that it's a movie that my dad shared with me, and that we taped off of HBO. Part of the reason I may like it so much is that I've scene it way more times than any other Scorcese.

Also, it doesn't take the emotional toll on you that other films of his do. It's much easier to sit down and watch After Hours and be swept away into the fun madness, because as dark as it gets, it's no journey to Hell the way Taxi Driver is.

And by god, the opening and closing shots are fucking amazing.

I can only agree with the praise it's gotten here. I love After Hours, have seen it multiple times, and I appreciate it more each time I watch it. It's such a great exercise in filmmaking. And I didn't realize until a few years ago that it was Ebert's favorite movie the year it came out, which surprised me considering I had never heard of it before 2007 or so.

Or, rather, the fact that all this very dark stuff is meant to be funny. And it is... Screamingly so. I think that confuses some people who fail to connect on its wavelength. The scene where Paul discovers Rosana Arquette would be tragic in a dramatic film, shocking and unnerving in a thriller. In this film, it plays that way while being almost the stuff of farce. With a slapstick beat thrown in.

Something else... Paul is the everyman and he's a sympathetic character overall. But that point is of debate as well. Much of your enjoyment will depend on how easy it is to identify with him. And, if you really think about it, he comes off as a bit of a dick.

He chats up the cute girl at the coffee shop... Calls her right away... Heads down to see her... Then starts making the moves on her hotter roommate while he waits.

Not that we haven't all been guilty of this at one time or another. But the movie is honest about it too. He goes to Soho looking to get fucked. And that's exactly what he gets.

I agree with you on that one.

And I'll also throw this out there...

The opening credits, while simplistic, is one of my favorite title sequences of all time. The credits have a very special rhythm to them. And the way they're timed to the classical piece really makes them dynamic and perfectly sets up the rhythm of the film.

Speaking of music... This score is some awesome minimalist work from Howard Shore.

The Onion AV Club just ran an article about "Movies Featuring Urban Menace." Despite having "Date Night" at the number one position, it's a pretty good list. And guess what pops up at number four?

I don't think the numerical order in those lists indicates any sort of preference.

Probably not, but Date Night shouldn't make the cut no matter what.