The 1985 Martin Scorsese black comedy After Hours certainly has its fans, but when compared and analyzed alongside the legendary director’s other work, this movie is barely even given a mention. The 14-time Academy Award nominee is one of the “Movie Brats” who broke into Hollywood during the early-1970s and found success by using gritty realism and taking inspiration from both classic cinema and foreign films. Breaking into the scene with Mean Streets in 1973, Scorsese’s New Hollywood gems Taxi Driver and Raging Bull both shook the industry while his Robert De Niro gangster flicks Goodfellas, Casino, and The Irishman are loved and lauded by many. Collaborating with Leonardo DiCaprio in recent years, their work, including Gangs of New York, The Aviator, Shutter Island, and The Wolf on Wall Street, have stood out as big-budget hits.
Some efforts like Cape Fear gained respect later, and others like New York, New York significantly flopped, but nothing else in his filmography has been received quite like After Hours. The plot follows word-processor Paul, played by Griffin Dunne, as he struggles his way through a bizarre and crazy night around Manhattan to meet a girl. Filled with a great supporting cast, Martin Scorsese’s also provided a cameo as a spotlight operator. 10 million on a four million budget pinned it as a financial success, but compared to the budgets of his more recent movies (Killers of The Flower Moon is more than fifty times After Hours’ budget), this one was a low-budget experiment.
After Hours feels like a very 1980s movie of its time. Scorsese is no stranger to making New York City come alive, but much of the film, from the punk music to appearances by Cheech and Chong playing knockoff versions of themselves, all come across like very new territory for the director, so viewers often forget Scorsese’s name is attached. The writing, performances, and cinematography are top-notch, but casual viewers don’t flock to this movie because it’s missing so many Scorsese staples: there’s no violence, and no trademark tracking shots or freeze frames. Those looking only for mob members, overarching masculinity, or themes of Catholic guilt will be let down. Common collaborators like Harvey Keitel or Joe Pesci are also nowhere to be seen. It feels like an experiment where Scorsese left his skill set at the door to simply go and play.
The film was initially set to be Tim Burton’s directorial debut, but Burton bowed out when Scorsese became involved. In fact, Burton was happy to give up the project once he learned that Scorsese had an interest after reading the After Hours script. Concerned about his career, Scorsese reportedly wanted to take whatever gig he could get after his now cult classic The King of Comedy floundered at the box office. Not taking the time to carefully choose and nurture a project (Scorsese famously took multiple decades to bring Gangs of New York and Silence to the screen), After Hours feels like it is someone else’s underrated project.
Scorsese did actually earn directing prizes at the Independent Spirit Awards and at Cannes in 1985 for After Hours, but beyond that, there was little light shed on this dark comedy. And despite some memorable supporting roles from character actors like Catherine O’Hara and Terri Garr, a lack of stars may have diminished interest both then and now. However, all hope is not lost; hit Apple TV comedy Ted Lasso paid homage to After Hours in a similarly structured episode last season. There are many classic Scorsese films to watch, but After Hours may be missed by many, simply for being the smallest and uncharacteristically different project that he’s ever done.
