After Hours (1985)

Quirky black comedy with some whacky characters. The central character is an ordinary dull person in a dead-end job, but he gets tangled up in the seamy side of life when he ventures to the other end of town. Lots of clever twists and coincidences and strange carryings-on as the plot turns back on itself. It was worth watching in the 80's and still is.

Ever been out late and caught in a situation which acted to delay a return to the warmth and security of your bed? AH explores this theme as a goofy and wildly inventive dark comedy, perhaps intended as a cosmic joke by director Martin Scorsese. It didn’t make me antsy having to watch our anxiety ridden hero, Paul Hackett, a computer programmer enduring a prolonged nightmare as he confronted weird characters in offbeat New York nightspots. But I can appreciate Paul’s late night odyssey could be like chalk screeching down a chalkboard for viewers as he struggles to gain the safely of his apartment. The off kilter Big apple bohemian denizens he encounters were choicely acted, uttered witty dialogue and cleverly directed.

I can vividly remember the first time I saw After Hours at the cinema on its release in the Eighties. I remember feeling completely exhausted at the end. The level of tension created in this nightmare tale is almost unbearable. Its a story that plays out over one late night in NYC about a young man who stumbles from one accidental incident or encounter to the next and gets more and more deeply into trouble. Its directed by Martin Scorsese, although its seldom remembered in lists of his great films. Its said to be at least partly autobiographical reflecting the time of his life when he was trying to get The Last Temptation of Christ made, reflecting the series of problems that cropped up on the way to getting that film made. In any event, its an absolute cracker of a movie. I was delighted to rediscover it on DVD. It still has the power to completely draw you in.

Different with the odd laugh.

Intriguing black comedy that really involves you. Dunne is a wonderful Alice wandering through a dark and often threatening Wonderland.

A decent attempt to be comic, despite the almost insurmountable impossibilty of being happy ; in the context of things. Not a bad movie at all.

A night time odyssey through the stranger parts of new York in the early 80's. What I liked most about the lead was that, as the night got worse, he became calmer. A couple of laughs and the gorgeous Rosanna Arquette & Terri Garr. Give it a try.

Martin Scorcese's black comedy is terrific, makes you wish he'd make more films like this. Griffin Dunne is very likeable in the lead role as an ordinary guy who goes down town in New York 'after hours' and has an adventure that nearly kills him. In his own words ' I just wanted to meet a girl and now I have to die for it?' . The wacko characters he meets all start out wanting to help him and end up causing him more and more grief in an out of control spiral of coincidence. It is a lot of fun, highly recommended.

Weird.