‘I’ll probably get blamed for that…’
Cinema has a rich history of guys having a terrible day. Falling Down, Office Space and Phone Booth are all fine examples of the genre. As a man who has also had many many terrible days in my life, I can relate. After Hours explores that same ground and does so with the steady hand of Martin Scorsese behind the camera…
Paul Hackett (Griffin Dunne) just wants to get home. Unfortunately, the streets of Manhattan have a different plan for our beleaguered antagonist. Despite being good and honest, Paul keeps falling victim to circumstance, bad luck and a series of women who range from deranged to maniacal. A starry supporting cast featuring Rosanna Arquette, Linda Fiorentino, John Heard, Catherine O’ Hara, Dick Miller and erm… Cheech and Chong keep things moving nicely.
Now that I’ve spent a week in New York City once I can make insufferable claims about movies capturing the feel of the Big Apple. Well, After Hours really does capture the feeling of a night in the big city spiralling out of control. It helps that it is filmed on the streets of SoHo – something that is surprisingly rare – and also that Scorsese himself is a child of the city. The result is a film that must be considered one of the great New York films of all time, despite being nowhere near Scorsese’s best.
Roared on by an electric turn from Dunne, After Hours is a funny and fun romp through the streets of New York City in the ’80s. A minor classic.