After Hours

MOVIE DESCRIPTION:

Martin Scorsese's After Hours is a dark, tragi-comic tale of a fish out of water, centering on an uptight, white-bread computer consultant from uptown Manhattan who finds himself in the nightmarish and incomprehensible (to him) world of Soho after dark. The ordeal begins when Paul Hackett (Griffin Dunne) gets lonely and decides to leave the posh East Side and search the Soho streets for some loving from Marcy (Rosanna Arquette), the pretty young woman he met in a downtown cafe. He has her phone number and works up the nerve to call. She wants to see him, and so Paul grabs $20, hails a taxi and sets out. The weirdness begins when he loses his money during the high-speed cab ride. His visit to Marcy's loft, where he meets her crazed artist roommate Kiki (Linda Fiorentino), is a disaster, as is his encounter with the beehive-wearing retro waitress Julie (Teri Garr). ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

DVD FEATURES:

• Region: 1
• Number of Discs: 1
• Audio: Dolby Digital Mono
• Screen: Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV
• Features:
  • Commentary by Griffin Dunne, director Martin Scorsese, producer Amy Robinson, cinematographer Michael Ballhaus and editor Thelma Schoonmaker
  • Making-of documentary Filming for Your Life: Making After Hours
  • Deleted scenes
  • Theatrical trailer

AWARDS

• British Academy of Film and Television Arts

•     Nominated Best Supporting Actress - 1986 (Rosanna Arquette)

• Cannes Film Festival

•     Won Best Director - 1986 (Martin Scorsese)

• Independent Spirit Awards

•     Won Best Director - 1985 (Martin Scorsese)
•     Won Best Picture - 1985
•     Nominated Best Actress - 1985 (Rosanna Arquette)
•     Nominated Best Cinematography - 1985 (Michael Ballhaus)
•     Nominated Best Screenplay - 1985 (Joseph Minion)

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

• Cast:

  
       Griffin Dunne - Paul Hackett
       Rosanna Arquette - Marcy
       Verna Bloom - June
       Tommy Chong - Pepe
       Linda Fiorentino - Kiki
       Teri Garr - Julie
       John Heard - Tom the bartender
       Cheech Marin - Neil
       Catherine O'Hara - Gail
       Will Patton - Horst
       Robert Plunket - Mark, Street Pickup
       Bronson Pinchot - Lloyd
       Bill Elverman - Neighbor

• Director:

  Martin Scorsese

• Producer:

  Robert F. Colesberry, Griffin Dunne, Amy Robinson

• Screenwriter:

  Joseph Minion

• Cinematographer:

  Michael Ballhaus

• Composer (Music Score):

  Howard Shore

• Editor:

  Thelma Schoonmaker

• Production Designer:

  Jeffrey Townsend

• Art Director:

  Stephen Lineweaver

• Associate Producer:

  Deborah Schindler

• Set Designer:

  Leslie Pope

• Costume Designer:

  Rita Ryack

• Makeup:

  Valli

• Production Manager:

  Michael Nozik

• Casting:

  Mary Colquhoun

REVIEW:

• Paul is trying to get into Marcy's apartment. She tosses her keys down to him. Scorsese gives the audience the shot from the keys' point of view. They hurtle ominously towards Paul. This is a quick but quintessential moment in After Hours, a film that has the feel of a nightmare where nothing goes right and trouble can suddenly occur out of nowhere. Although lots of strange things happen to Paul over the course of his night in SoHo (he's hunted by a vigilante mob, nearly has his head shaved, and gets encased in plaster of paris to name just three), the sequences are directed with a certain amount of reality. Viewers are given the sense that the events in this film, however improbable, are possible. Griffin Dunne does a fine job with the tricky role of Paul. His character, after making the decision to go to Marcy's apartment, is almost totally passive. Events happen to him. While it would be easy to dislike such a put-upon character, Dunne makes the viewer sympathize with Paul because he always tries to extricate himself from the situation he is in without harming anyone else. He is desperate to get away from Teri Garr's beehived waitress, but the way he submits to her requests will gain the goodwill of the audience. Desperate to work on any project after Paramount cancelled The Last Temptation of Christ four days before that film was supposed to go before the camera, Scorsese quickly became attached to After Hours. Because Paul is unable to do what he wants and powerless to change his situation, it is tempting to assume that Scorsese felt a strong affinity for his protagonist. Armed with numerous stylistic touches and a noir sensibility, After Hours is a dark comedy that allowed a fine director to exorcise his career frustrations. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi