After Hours (1985)

Hey,

I'm curious if anyone (though you'd probably call them "the older crowd" here 🙂) has actually sat down with this Scorsese (Martin Scorsese) flick. It used to air on Verizon back in the day under the title "After Hours", though the original title is just After Hours.

I'd love to hear some thoughts—just a few words on your impressions if you've seen it.

Personally, I loved it. It’s sitting pretty high on my "top 10 movies" list. Rosanna Arquette (Rosanna Arquette) is a standout for me—she's one of my absolute favorites (even if her character, played by Kim Basinger, isn't half bad either 🙂). Also, Griffin Dunne (Griffin Dunne), who plays the lead, Paul Hackett, absolutely killed it... honestly a shame he didn't get cast in more stuff later on.

The whole thing is basically a comedy of errors, where Scorsese paints this picture of a total nightmare scenario that most of us have felt at some point—that paranoid sense of being targeted, where you find yourself thinking just like the main guy: "Good God, why is this happening to me?!?"

Oh, and the movie is packed with cool cameos, including Cheech and Chong 🙂
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Anyway, here are some quick takes on the movie from the big-shot cinephiles over at imdb.com.

Watched it ages ago, twice actually. Memory’s a bit fuzzy, but I know I was pissed off the first time around and totally loved it the second. Either way, I was pretty lost both times. 😁

I’ve sat through this movie a few times now. I can honestly say there isn't much to criticize; I'm such a massive fan of Scorsese's work that my perspective might be a little biased, but let's just move past that for a second.

The atmosphere they built is so thick and intense that certain scenes are actually physically difficult to sit through; you get this overwhelming urge to just jump straight into the screen—if that were even possible—and fix everything myself...

Yeah, the movie is basically a stream of consciousness... It starts with Paul Hackett reading Miller's "Naked Lunch" in a bar, where a woman sitting across from him mentions how much she loves the book... then this nightmare kicks off where Paul ends up crossing paths with everyone connected to her, and everything just snowballs. There are moments where the paranoia feels totally overwhelming, and just when you think the whole thing is going to explode into pure nonsense... somehow, it all pulls itself together somehow. He navigates through these bizarre characters, though he definitely doesn't come out unscathed. The vibe is actually pretty close to the madness of the legendary Taxi Driver; the leads in both films are these loners in New York City who can never quite get comfortable with being alone. Scorsese is one of the big four in NYC—alongside Allen, Spike Lee, and Abel Ferrara—and honestly, he's one of the greatest directors of all time. I've got a few of his movies, including After Hours, which I think I watched on Netflix about two or three years ago.

Hey everyone, thanks for all the comments.

It’s cool to see people have actually watched the movie and enjoyed it; I'm definitely on the same page as what you guys were saying...

This movie is absolute darkness—the way the scenes and characters are seamlessly woven together is nothing short of a masterpiece... The sequence of events teeters right on the edge of absurdity throughout the entire film, yet it never loses its grip on reality for even a second... Truly brilliant!

Yeah, I’d love to take a trip down memory lane with that flick; I actually caught it way back during a pre-screening at the Film Festival. Honestly, it’s high time it popped up on TV again—and trust me, it’ll show up the second we start wishing for it here, I’ve noticed how that works.
Rosanna Arquette, man... 🙂

By the way, I just wanted to give a shout-out to the way you write, Patrick Gonzalez76, always dropping all those links to back up what you're saying. That's the only way to do it. 👍 This is the Internet, after all; links are everything.

Like I said—all you really have to do is set a reminder. Tonight on ABC at 3:10 AM, they’re airing After Hours. Get your DVR set for 😉.

Maybe you mean Small Hours (!)? 😉 Is that the one where, at the end, instead of a statue, they just end up pouring melted metal all over the sidewalk in front of the building? 😁 Brilliant!

Noah Watson4, don't you dare SPOIL it... and that's really the whole movie—it's called, as mentioned in the After Hours thread...

Rebecca Taylor57 said:Noah Watson4, don't you dare spoil it! Seriously, that's really all there is to say about this movie. And just to be clear for anyone following along, the title is actually listed right here in the thread under After Hours.

My bed! 😉 It’s never going to happen again! Believe me, I know exactly how nasty that can get. I’ve seen people completely butcher the entire legacy of Kill Bill just because they can't see past the surface. Honestly, most film buffs these days seem to feed their brains nothing but those mindless Hollywood blockbusters where something explodes in your face every five minutes. Because of that shallow mindset, they’re just going to skip right over this absolute masterpiece. 😉

Hey Michelle Howard2, huge props to you and the rest of the crew for how this forum is looking lately. As for those links, I really think we should be leaning into what the internet can actually do more often.

It's honestly great to see they're still showing the good stuff over there!

This is absolute genius. This movie seriously deserves way more credit than it gets; it’s easily one of Scorsese's funniest films, but it hits you with that specific brand of pitch-black, totally bizarre humor. 😁

This little flick reminded me of certain scenes from Taxi Driver. There’s some solid dialogue here, and the acting held up well. But honestly, when you stack it up against the rest of Martin Scorsese's filmography? It feels pretty middle-of-the-road, especially considering the absolute masterpieces the man has put out.

7/10

An excellent film. It’s a pretty atypical side for Scorsese—he seems more relaxed here, almost playing around. Plus, Rosanna Arquette is great...

I loved this movie during my early years as a cinephile, maybe 15-20 years ago. I finally revisited it after seeing almost all of Scorsese's hits and classics.
I’ve always been drawn to films of this caliber...
Think along the lines of Naked Lunch, Lynch movies, Donnie Darko, or Jacob's Ladder... everything sitting right on that edge between being overly thematic and completely nonsensical.
Nightmare cinema. Dream-like, with stunning visuals and atmosphere. 👍

The specific details have slipped my mind, but the memory of the film's atmosphere and its brilliant ideas remains.

I finally caught this one recently while I was hunting for stuff similar to De Palma's Body Double and Blow Out. You know the vibe: the eighties, nighttime, the big city, pure paranoia.
I was looking for a movie that could actually capture that specific feeling of heading home late at night. Everything's shuttered, weirdos are lurking in the shadows, and public transit is a total joke. It's like you've stepped into a different dimension entirely.
I did stumble upon Into the Night (1985) starring Michelle Pfeiffer and Jeff Goldblum, which is alright, but honestly feels more like an adventure flick than a gritty drama.

That's why this movie felt like it was made just for me. In my opinion, it handles that whole atmosphere way better.

Brilliant movie. It’s a total departure from Scorsese's usual style.

Jacob Alvarez said:I only caught this recently while hunting for movies that hit that same vibe as de palmin's Body Double or Blow Out. You know the drill: the eighties, nighttime, big city energy, pure paranoia.
I was looking for something that could actually capture that specific feeling of heading home late at night. Everything is shuttered, weirdos are congregating on street corners, public transit is a complete mess and totally unreliable. It’s like stepping into an entirely different dimension.
I did find Into the Night (1985) starring Michelle Pfeiffer and Jeff Goldblum, which is decent, but honestly feels more like an adventure flick than a heavy drama.

That’s why this movie felt like it was made specifically for me. I think it handles that atmosphere way better.

If you haven't seen it yet, try this one:

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0102536...m_flmg_c_19_dr

Highly recommended.