After Hours (1985) is the underrated gem of Martin Scorsese’s 1980’s films. When asked, many people would say that Raging Bull, released in 1980, was Scorsese’s only notable film of that decade. Indeed, some are even unaware that Scorsese actually made other films during this period as the box office success of After Hours, The King of Comedy (1983) and The Last Temptation of Christ (1988) were minor in comparison to Marty’s more illustrious offerings such as GoodFellas (1990) and Casino (1995).
After Hours tells the story of computer programmer Paul Hackett, played brilliantly by Griffen Dunne (American Werewolf in London) who, after a typically dull day at work, meets Rosanna Arquette in a New York coffee shop. After being given Arquette's phone number, Paul makes the unusually spontaneous decision to go to the Soho part of the city later that night in order to buy a plaster of Paris bagel paperweight from Arquette's roommate who is an artist. This, of course, is a smokescreen that can potentially result in him meeting Arquette again.
As soon as Paul’s twenty-dollar bill blows out of the taxi window en-route to Soho and he is given a withering look by the irate driver, his night goes from bad to worse. From this point onward, the seemingly simple process of returning home becomes a nightmare. Over the course of the night Paul meets a host of Soho crazies from gay vigilantes to schizophrenic waitresses. Each time Paul comes across someone who appears helpful and sympathetic, events beyond his control conspire to turn these benefactors against him.
Eventually Paul becomes so emotionally fatigued and frustrated that his use of the term ‘oh wow’ takes on a very funny and tangibly real quality in a scene toward the end of the film. Yet again, embedding issues have conspired to ruin MY night but you can watch the said scene here: http://youtu.be/CXv0lziInvE
I would argue that while Scorsese’s films in the 80’s, barring Raging Bull, were not as grand and operatic in scale as GoodFellas, Casino or The Departed (2006), they are similarly fine directorial achievements. Scorsese’s visual and narrative style in the case of this film, remains the same and ultimately recognizable as his own.
The film is laced with the trademark Scorsese sweeping movements of the camera and occasionally breathless editing we all know, but it is in his presentation and treatment of New York City, that his finest work can be seen. As in Taxi Driver (1976), the city feels like a character in its own right and something central and key, even on a subconscious level, in gaining the most emotional understanding from the film. As Paul navigates the rain-slicked streets and smoke rises up from the street’s many man-holes and air vents, the sense of place and time feels strong and drags the viewer into the city and into the film itself.
After Hours is a fantastically dark, paranoid black comedy about mistaken identity, suspicion and sexuality but also it is another one of Scorsese’s love letters to New York. Be it from a negative or a positive point of view, the film is made with the city in mind. Whether from it’s inhabitants to it’s buildings or from it’s neighborhoods to it’s transport system, this film, like so many Scorsese has made in New York before, seems to capture they way things felt in this place and at that time.
This can also be seen in the film’s satirical view of both the gay and the hipster art community in New York at that time, almost a pre-cursor to Chris Morris’s Nathan Barley and some of those that inhabit the Dalston area of London currently.
Also, watch out for early appearances of Home Alone actors John Heard and, in particular, Catherine O’Hara whose performance is especially memorable.
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