After Hours (Film)
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After Hours (film) After Hours is a 1985 American black comedy film[3] is enamoured with Paul, but Paul goes back to Tom’s bar, directed by Martin Scorsese, written by Joseph Minion, finding Tom grieving over Marcy, who was his girlfriend. and starring an ensemble cast, including Rosanna Ar- He goes to the nightclub Kiki and Horst patronize, a col- quette, Griffin Dunne, Linda Fiorentino, Teri Garr, and lection of punks attempt to shave his head into a Mohawk John Heard. Paul Hackett (Dunne) experiences a series hairstyle. On the street, Paul is mistaken for a burglar and of misadventures as he tries to make his way home from is relentlessly pursued by a mob of local residents. SoHo. Paul finds Tom again, but the mob (with the assistance of Warner Home Video have released the film on VHS Julie, Gail, and Gail’s Mister Softee truck) chases Paul. in 1991 for both widescreen and pan-and-scan NTSC He ultimately seeks refuge back at the Club Berlin. Paul laserdiscs.[4] uses his last quarter to play Is That All There Is? by Peggy Lee and asks a woman named June to dance. Paul ex- plains he’s being pursued and June, also a sculptress, of- fers to help him. She protects him by pouring plaster on 1 Plot him in order to disguise him as a sculpture. However, she won't let him out of the plaster, which eventually hardens, Paul Hackett, a word processor, meets Marcy Franklin trapping Paul in a position that resembles the character in a cafe. They discuss their common interest in Henry depicted in Edvard Munch's The Scream. The burglar duo Miller. Marcy leaves Paul her number and informs him then breaks into the Club Berlin and steals him, placing that she lives with a sculptor named Kiki Bridges, who him in the back of their van. He falls from the burglar’s makes and sells plaster of Paris paperweights resembling cargo near the gate to his office as the sun is rising, and cream cheese bagels. Later in the night, under the pre- he returns to work, bringing the film full circle. tense of buying a paperweight, Paul visits Marcy, taking a cab to her apartment. On his way to visit Marcy, a $20 bill is blown out the window of the cab, leaving him with only 2 Selected cast some spare pocket change. The cab driver is furious that he can't pay, thereby beginning the first in a long series of • Griffin Dunne as Paul Hackett misadventures for Paul that turn hostile through no fault of his own. At the apartment Paul meets the sculptor Kiki • Rosanna Arquette as Marcy Franklin and Marcy, and comes across a collection of photographs • Teri Garr as Julie and medications which imply that Marcy is severely dis- figured from burns on her legs and torso. As a result of • John Heard as Tom Schorr this implication, and as a result of a strained conversation with Marcy, Paul abruptly slips out of the apartment. • Catherine O'Hara as Gail Paul then attempts to go home by subway, yet the fare has • Linda Fiorentino as Kiki Bridges increased at the stroke of midnight and he finds that his pocket change is no longer sufficient to purchase a token. • Verna Bloom as June He goes to a bar where Julie, a waitress, becomes enam- • oured with him. The bar’s owner, Tom Schorr cannot Tommy Chong as Pepe open the cash register to give Paul his subway fare. They • Cheech Marin as Neil exchange keys so Paul can go to Tom’s place to fetch the cash register keys. On the way, he spots two burglars, • Will Patton as Horst Neil and Pepe, with one of Kiki’s sculptures. When he • returns the sculpture to the apartment, he finds Marcy Clarence Felder as Club Berlin bouncer has committed suicide while Kiki and a stout man named • Dick Miller as Pete, diner waiter Horst have already left to go to Club Berlin, a nightclub. • Paul attempts to return to Tom’s bar, but it is locked up, Bronson Pinchot as Lloyd with a sign indicating that Tom will be back in half an • Martin Scorsese as Club Berlin searchlight operator hour. Paul meets Julie in the street, who invites him up to her apartment to wait for Tom to reopen the bar. Julie • Victor Argo as Diner Cashier 1 2 7 MUSIC • Larry Block as Taxi Driver from the tumultuous development of The Last Tempta- tion of Christ.[17] It currently holds an 90% rating on re- • Rocco Sisto as Coffee Shop Cashier view aggregator Rotten Tomatoes.[18] Film critic Roger Ebert gave After Hours a positive review and a rating of four out of four stars. He praised the film as one of the 3 Production best in the year and said it “continues Scorsese’s attempt to combine comedy and satire with unrelenting pressure [19] Paramount Pictures' abandonment of The Last Tempa- and a sense of all-pervading paranoia.” He later added [20] tion of Christ production was a huge disappointment to the film to his “Great Movies” list. In The New York Scorsese. It spurred him to focus on independent compa- Times, Vincent Canby gave the film a mixed review and nies and smaller projects.[5] The opportunity was offered called it an “entertaining tease, with individually arrest- to him by his lawyer Jay Julien, who put him through ing sequences that are well acted by Mr. Dunne and the [7] Griffin Dunne and Amy Robinson's independent group: others, but which leave you feeling somewhat conned.” “Double Play Company”. The project was called “A Night in Soho” and it was based on the script by Joseph Minion. The screenplay, originally titled “Lies” after the 5 Lawsuit 1982 Joe Frank monologue that inspired the story,[6] was written as part of an assignment for his film course at Radio artist Joe Frank later filed a lawsuit, claiming the Columbia University. He was 26 years old at the time screenplay lifted its plot setup and portions of dialogue, [7] the film was produced. The script finally became “Af- particularly in the first 30 minutes of the film, from [8] ter Hours” after Scorsese made his final amendments. his 1982 NPR Playhouse monologue “Lies”.[21] Though One of Scorsese’s inputs involves the dialogue between Frank never received official credit, he reportedly was [22] Paul and the doorman at Club Berlin, inspired by Kafka's “paid handsomely” in a settlement. Before the Law, one of the short stories included in his novel The Trial.[9][10] As Scorsese explained to Paul At- tanasio, the short story reflected his fustration towards the 6 Themes and motifs production of The Last Temptation of Christ, for which he had to continiously wait, as Joseph K had to in The This film belongs in a grouping which revolve around a [11] Trial. young working professional who is placed under threat, The film was originally to be directed by Tim Burton, but named the “yuppie nightmare cycle”,[23] a sub-genre of Scorsese read the script at a time when he was unable films which combine two genres in itself – screwball com- to get financial backing to complete The Last Temptation edy and film noir. Some critics present a psychoana- of Christ, and Burton gladly stepped aside when Scorsese lytic view of the film. Paul is constantly emasculated by expressed interest in directing. women in the film: by Kiki with her sexual aggressive- ness and a lust for masochism,[24] Marcy turning down After Hours was the first fictional film in ten years in which his sexual advances, Julie turning a vigilante mob on him, Robert De Niro was not part of the cast.[3] and Gail entrapping him in paper-mache, rendering him British director Michael Powell took part in the pro- helpless. There are many references to castration within duction process of the film (Powell and editor Thelma the film,[23] most of which are shown when women are Schoonmaker married soon afterwards). Nobody was present. In the bathroom in Terminal Bar where Julie first sure how the film should end. Powell said that Paul must encounters Paul, there is an image scrawled on the wall finish up back at work, but this was initially dismissed as of a shark biting a man’s erect penis off.[25] Kiki holds too unlikely and difficult. They tried many other endings, a cigarette in her teeth when she first encounters him, a and a few were even filmed, but the only one that every- phallic symbol,[26] and Marcy makes a reference to her one felt really worked was to have Paul finish up back at husband using a double entendre when saying, “I broke work just as the new day was starting.[12] the whole thing off” when talking about her and her hus- band’s sex life.[23] A mouse trap clamps shut on a mouse when Julie tries to gift Paul the bagel paperweight. 4 Reception The film grossed $10,609,321 in the United States.[2] 7 Music Though it was not received well by audiences, it was given positive reviews at the time and went on to be consid- The musical score for After Hours was composed by ered an “underrated” Scorsese film, and a cult classic in Howard Shore, who went on to collaborate multiple times its own right.[13][14][15][16] The film did, however, garner with Scorsese. Although an official soundtrack album Scorsese the Best Director Award at the 1986 Cannes was never released, many of Shore’s cues appear on the Film Festival and allowed the director to take a hiatus 2009 album Howard Shore: Collector’s Edition Vol.