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After Hours poster

After Hours

year 1985decade 80sdirector Martin Scorsese

97 minutes

Cast

Selected cast credits · Film reference

Griffin Dunne Paul Hackett
Linda Fiorentino Kiki Bridges
Teri Garr Julie
John Heard Tom, the bartender
Dick Miller Waiter
Will Patton Horst
Robert Plunket Street pickup
Bronson Pinchot Lloyd, Paul’s coworker
Rocco Sisto Coffee-shop cashier
Larry Block Taxi driver
Victor Argo Diner cashier
Murray Moston Subway attendant
John P. Codiglia Transit cop
Clarke Evans Neighbor
Victor Bumbalo Neighbor
Bill Elverman Neighbor
Joel Jason Biker
Rand Carr Biker
Clarence Felder Bouncer
Stephen J. Lim Club Berlin bartender
Catherine Scorsese Uptown diner patron
Charles Scorsese Uptown diner patron

After Hours | The Rewatchables

host Bill Simmonshost Sean Fennesseyproducer Jack Sanders theme New York City Month
Explore episodeClose episode

Half-Assed Internet Research

Dunne’s city experiences; budget and gross; student screenplay; producing partnership; Kafka; nightlife; locations; Powell mentorship

In the discussion (10)
Approx. transcript time · 00:09:57Read transcript
  • Dunne reportedly recognized the story’s exhilarating, dangerous encounters with strangers from his own life.
  • Reported $4.5 million budget and $10.6 million gross.
  • Joseph Minion reportedly wrote the screenplay as a film-school senior thesis at 21; the later half is described as more strongly shaped by Scorsese.
  • Dunne and Amy Robinson’s production partnership and Baby It’s You brought Arquette and Ballhaus connections into After Hours.
  • Club Berlin’s doorman dialogue reportedly draws on Kafka’s Before the Law and frustrations making Last Temptation of Christ.
  • Cafe Central connected the cast and producers; Bruce Willis reportedly tended bar while famous actors socialized without paparazzi.
  • Heard’s carousing reputation worried Scorsese before the producers persuaded him; already-gentrifying Soho required Chinatown, Little Italy and Tribeca substitutions.
  • A documentary reportedly recounts Dunne and Carrie Fisher’s youthful sexual encounter as an act of friendship.
  • A reported Fiorentino/Pellicano/Rossini case is recounted; speculation that it explains her acting hiatus is explicitly only a guess.
  • Michael Powell’s mentorship reportedly helped Scorsese determine tone and ending; his own professional exile created a kinship.

Sasha Jenkins Award for Actor Who You Can’t Believe Didn’t Become a Bigger Star

In the discussion (4)
Approx. transcript time · 00:32:29Read transcript
  • Rosanna Arquette’s beauty, distinctive voice and striking personality make her a major star who deserved stronger roles.
  • Later Crash and Buffalo 66 appearances did not give her the mainstream stardom she deserved.
  • She could have played Meg Ryan romantic roles, including When Harry Met Sally, or Kelly McGillis’s Top Gun role.
  • This film captures the fascination of meeting Arquette more completely than her other work.

Roger Ebert's review

In the discussion (1)
Approx. transcript time · 00:40:56Read transcript
  • Four stars and inclusion on the Great Movies list; the quoted review stresses comedy, satire, pressure and paranoia.

Most Rewatchable Scene

Second diner conversation with Marcy

In the discussion (5)
Approx. transcript time · 00:42:36Read transcript
  • Initial diner meeting and Fiorentino back rub; the interrupted story’s missing payoff is compared with Halloween’s graveyard anecdote.
  • Second diner conversation, token-booth refusal and the dead-body sign; discovering Marcy has no burns adds unusually dark regret.
  • Terminal Bar, Garr, Club Berlin’s threatened haircut and O’Hara disrupting a remembered phone number.
  • The accidental van drop-off and circular return to work are defended as ideal nightmare resolution, despite production uncertainty.
  • Both final choices favor the second diner conversation and Surrender Dorothy story.

What’s Aged the Best?

Arquette; future Home Alone parents; city eccentrics; mob; phone numbers; cab ride; witnessed shooting; Surrender Dorothy; Cheech and Chong

In the discussion (9)
Approx. transcript time · 00:55:30Read transcript
  • Rosanna Arquette in 1985.
  • O’Hara and Heard appearing together foreshadow their Home Alone parents, again searching for someone.
  • The cab driver, subway worker and two diner workers embody distinctive New York characters.
  • The candle-carrying vigilante mob is enjoyable.
  • Using plausible non-555 phone numbers.
  • The frantic cab ride captures a remembered shift toward reckless drivers, supported by a recounted Fran Lebowitz Blu-ray conversation.
  • Witnessing a shooting and immediately fearing blame creates a funny unexplained nightmare moment.
  • The Surrender Dorothy story remains hilarious.
  • Cheech and Chong bring their own comic world inside the Scorsese movie.

The Great Shot Gordo Award for Most Cinematic Shot

Falling keys; bouncing taxi; Marcy’s wink; descending crane; exiting gates

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 01:00:16Read transcript
  • Keys dropping toward the camera; their danger may foreshadow Paul’s peril, though the shot is also admired as virtuosity.
  • The bouncing taxi with flamenco music; the favorite push-in on Marcy’s wink; a late crane shot descending toward Paul outdoors.
  • Paul exiting the gates.

What’s Aged the Worst?

Dunne’s unibrow; lost old Soho; canceled Last Temptation; Paul Hackett’s Jets association

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 01:05:51Read transcript
  • Dunne’s unibrow; the loss of strange old Soho.
  • Canceling Last Temptation of Christ; Paul Hackett’s name evokes the Jets’ disappointing father-and-son offensive coordinators.

The Stephen A. Smith Hottest Take Award

Top-three Scorsese; his eighties as best decade; Fiorentino missing from The Sopranos

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 01:08:07Read transcript
  • After Hours is top-three Scorsese alongside Goodfellas and The King of Comedy.
  • Scorsese’s eighties may surpass his nineties and seventies; decade filmographies are compared, and the eighties argument receives agreement.
  • Fiorentino should have appeared on The Sopranos; several hypothetical roles are offered, followed by uncertainty about why her career stopped.

Casting What-Ifs

Burton stepped aside; Fiorentino’s audition

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 01:14:48Read transcript
  • Tim Burton reportedly stepped aside for Scorsese, then made Pee-wee’s Big Adventure.
  • Fiorentino’s indifferent, intimidating audition reportedly settled a difficult Kiki casting search; Scorsese’s later praise is recalled.

Best Double Feature

After Hours poster
After Hours
Poster unavailable
Pee-wee’s Big Adventure
Poster unavailable
Goodfellas
Poster unavailable
Into the Night
Poster unavailable
Uncut Gems
Poster unavailable
Bringing Out the Dead
Poster unavailable
Game Night
Poster unavailable
The Purge
In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 01:15:21Read transcript
  • Pee-wee’s Big Adventure offers another man-child’s strange journey toward home.
  • Into the Night is the favored NYC/LA contrast; Goodfellas, Uncut Gems, Bringing Out the Dead, Game Night and The Purge are other suggestions.

Recasting Couch

Michael Keaton preferred; Tom Hanks; alternative actors by era

In the discussion (4)
Approx. transcript time · 01:21:18Read transcript
  • 1985 Hanks is proposed as Paul for stronger awkward-romance comic timing, although his lack of kookiness is questioned.
  • Keaton becomes the preferred recast for chaotic energy, while Dunne’s original performance remains loved; Guttenberg is plausible but less desired.
  • McCarthy is too young, Reinhold is floated, and alternate eras suggest Cusack circa1990, Josh Hamilton circa1996–97 and Hoffman circa2004–05.
  • Eisenberg circa2010–11 and Hader circa2013–14 are proposed; Chalamet seems too handsome and Cooper Hoffman promising but perhaps too young.

Apex Mountain

Griffin Dunne; Rosanna Arquette in1985; plaster

In the discussion (6)
Approx. transcript time · 01:29:09Read transcript
  • Dunne and Arquette’s 1985 receive emphatic yeses.
  • Fiorentino’s later Last Seduction and Men in Black compete as peaks; television-first release reportedly barred her Oscar eligibility for the former.
  • Henry Miller is placed nearer Tropic of Cancer; Heard nearer Home Alone or Cutter’s Way; Cheech and Chong nearer Up in Smoke.
  • After Hours is initially the best late-night NYC movie, then The Warriors takes first for geographical range, with After Hours close behind.
  • Unranked additional late-night NYC candidates include Taxi Driver, 25th Hour, Saturday Night Fever, Cruising, Ghostbusters, American Psycho, Good Time, Uncut Gems and Bright Lights Big City; Go is discussed as an influence inheritor rather than a NYC candidate.
  • Plaster receives a yes. Garr’s Tootsie era is preferred for her; Soho alternatives are the last fifteen years or the earlier period when Basquiat was painting masterpieces.

Scorsese or Spielberg?

Scorsese

In the discussion (1)
Approx. transcript time · 01:33:34Read transcript
  • Scorsese; Spielberg is judged unable to match this energy or direct Fiorentino similarly.

Picking Nits

Paul’s anger; easy routes home; Marcy’s suicide

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 01:35:48Read transcript
  • Paul’s sudden cruelty to Marcy is questioned, with fear of sleeping with a burn victim offered as explanation.
  • Another subway booth or simply walking home would solve Paul’s immediate problem.
  • Marcy’s suicide is puzzling; the stated overdose drug provides a Judy Garland/Wizard of Oz connection.

Just One Oscar

Thelma Schoonmaker — editing

In the discussion (1)
Approx. transcript time · 01:37:32Read transcript
  • Thelma Schoonmaker for editing, with agreement.

Probably Unanswerable Questions

Word-processing job; overnight timeline; book completion; subsequent arrest

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 01:38:33Read transcript
  • What exactly does Paul’s word-processing job entail? Its office anonymity may be intentional.
  • Clock clues suggest roughly seven hours from the late-night departure to returning to the office around6:30–7:15, but the season and exact timing remain uncertain.
  • Did Paul finish Tropic of Cancer, and could police arrest him afterward? A counterargument notes he committed no wrongdoing.

Producer review

Five-star masterpiece; precise image-making and pace

In the discussion (1)
Approx. transcript time · 01:45:13Read transcript
  • A five-star masterpiece and a fun shared watch, with precise image-making and exceptional pace. — Jack Sanders

More from the conversation

Explicit final New York City Month episode; discussion of including a native New Yorker.
Approx. transcript time · 00:00:33Read transcript
A cult classic and personal top-five Scorsese film; its editing and camera moves anticipate Goodfellas while preserving vanished Soho.
Approx. transcript time · 00:02:41Read transcript
Late-night disorientation in an older dangerous Manhattan contrasts with today’s corporate districts; an uptown office worker entering an artist/rebel world is the central premise.
Approx. transcript time · 00:04:23Read transcript
New York’s grid becomes legible through walking and studying subway maps, unlike sprawling Los Angeles; transit-strike walking is recalled with approximate dates.
Approx. transcript time · 00:06:24Read transcript
Business travel, late-night taxis and later ride-hailing illustrate different drinking and transport cultures in New York and Los Angeles.
Approx. transcript time · 00:08:38Read transcript
After Hours, Into the Night, Desperately Seeking Susan and Something Wild are grouped as cocaine-era paranoid screwball films; the discussion speculates about nightlife experience and all-night production.
Approx. transcript time · 00:11:46Read transcript
Pauline Kael’s dislike is criticized as evidence of losing touch despite skilled prose.
Approx. transcript time · 00:12:47Read transcript
Scorsese’s cocaine crisis, New York New York disappointment and perceived Raging Bull failure are contrasted with his peers’ blockbuster success.
Approx. transcript time · 00:13:33Read transcript
The canceled first Last Temptation of Christ production devastated Scorsese; its collapse is argued to have enabled After Hours and ultimately Goodfellas.
Approx. transcript time · 00:15:23Read transcript
King of Comedy’s failure and weak studio backing exemplify the loss of personal-director power; Coppola’s self-financing offers a risky alternative.
Approx. transcript time · 00:17:27Read transcript
Mid-eighties awards favored respectable prestige over audacious filmmaking; Ordinary People is nevertheless defended as a strong winner.
Approx. transcript time · 00:19:52Read transcript
The film’s stress makes casual rewatching difficult for one viewer, while another household loves its relatively nonviolent comic anxiety.
Approx. transcript time · 00:21:22Read transcript
Male desire repeatedly becoming threatening gives the movie a castration-anxiety dimension; rapid cutting and camera movement become a new Scorsese style.
Approx. transcript time · 00:22:48Read transcript
Scorsese’s visual and musical authorship is instantly recognizable; he described the shoot as rejuvenating creative freedom.
Approx. transcript time · 00:24:35Read transcript
A wish for great directors to make smaller quick films prompts Soderbergh, Coogler and Kubrick comparisons and a playful Kubrick Die Hard 3 hypothetical.
Approx. transcript time · 00:26:01Read transcript
The sleepless-night nightmare and crawling unease differ from Scorsese’s earlier realism; prior drug experiences are suggested as artistic fuel.
Approx. transcript time · 00:28:24Read transcript
Ballhaus and Schoonmaker’s collaborations, The Color of Money and Life Lessons are identified as bridges toward Goodfellas, Cape Fear and Casino.
Approx. transcript time · 00:30:11Read transcript
Fiorentino’s intermittent career, femme-fatale casting and reported difficulty on sets are discussed alongside her magnetic screen presence.
Approx. transcript time · 00:37:28Read transcript
Garr’s witty Letterman appearances and flirtatious rapport illuminate her funny, prematurely attached character here.
Approx. transcript time · 00:38:36Read transcript
O’Hara’s unusual glamorous energy is praised beyond her familiar mother roles.
Approx. transcript time · 00:40:03Read transcript
Kael’s consumer-goods criticism is rejected; knowing production backstory may distort a critic’s assessment.
Approx. transcript time · 00:41:13Read transcript
Modern New York travel, bikes, outdoor marijuana smoke and walking conditions become a present-day digression.
Approx. transcript time · 00:50:00Read transcript
Mr. Softee evokes cherished Long Island soft-serve-truck memories.
Approx. transcript time · 00:59:30Read transcript
Possible Oscar Winners Month and future Amadeus/Annie Hall episodes are contemplated, not current-episode tags.
Approx. transcript time · 01:02:32Read transcript
Jade and Color of Night theater memories are recounted, with Jade strongly disliked.
Approx. transcript time · 01:12:07Read transcript
Burton’s 1985–2000 work is loved; his later films disappoint.
Approx. transcript time · 01:15:53Read transcript
Dunne’s family tragedy, Dominick’s true-crime writing and the Didion/Dunne literary family form biographical context.
Approx. transcript time · 01:18:13Read transcript
John Gregory Dunne’s nonfiction The Studio is recommended.
Approx. transcript time · 01:19:17Read transcript
Past director episode counts lead to The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Rooney Mara and Friendship discussion.
Approx. transcript time · 01:33:55Read transcript
The Color of Money is a slightly more enjoyable hang, while After Hours inspires admiration as a necessary career hinge.
Approx. transcript time · 01:42:20Read transcript
Closing NYC Month retrospective favors future Dog Day Afternoon, The King of Comedy and Frances Ha; Die Hard with a Vengeance is especially missed by this participant.
Approx. transcript time · 01:42:55Read transcript
Craig is away; a future reaction is anticipated rather than attributed to him now.
Approx. transcript time · 01:46:07Read transcript