Martin Scorsese's After Hours -- What Makes This Movie Great? (Episode 114)

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Disclaimer: All reasonable comments are welcome, including reasoned disagreements. You will be banned for foolish talk, harassment, and hate speech on sight; it's a tremendous waste of life. I believe in freedom of association and, by extension, freedom of dissociation from you.

[@embryoroom]

Kubrick watched After Hours repeatedly in planning Eyes Wide Shut. It was partly the inspiration for initially thinking of casting Steve Martin as the original Dr. Bill. Yes, AH captures NYC of the hour back in the day. Excellent film.

[@LearningaboutMovies]

two great tidbits. did not know; thank you!

[@embryoroom]

@@LearningaboutMovies Thank you, for a wonderful KZbin experience.

[@LearningaboutMovies]

you are welcome. keep commenting please!

[@embryoroom]

@@LearningaboutMovies I shall

[@AllyWalton]

No he didn't. Where did you get that BS from?

[@chopin65]

Nightmarish is the perfect word to describe this great film, professor. For me, its a dilation of time. Most American cities have this feel during the hour of 3 AM. Good video.

[@LearningaboutMovies]

thank you.

[@torontomame]

I started nightclubbing in downtown Toronto when I turned 19, in 1984. Going to everything from big flashy clubs to weird new wave and punk bars, to scuzzy clubs where the only decor was day-glo graffiti with black lights making it all glow neon. When I was 20 I was working the overnight shift at the front desk at a downtown hotel. And by the time I was 21 I was working behind the bar and in the DJ booth in a bar one flight of stairs down from street level in a part of town where after dark was only populated by the freaky downtown crowd of the mid 80s. And I loved it. So when I rented this movie back one night after a shift behind the bar in 1987 I fell in love with it. Because I could see this kind of thing happening. I'd had similar (mis)adventures in those days. Though nowhere near as extreme, and certainly not all in one night. But this movie certainly evokes a kind of nostalgia for me of my youth.

[@LearningaboutMovies]

Great comment, thank you

[@tusharkumar8750]

After hours is underrated, and I loved it.

[@Anthony_MD]

Easily Scorsese’s most underrated film (King of Comedy gets its fair share of praise) Amazing film

[@LearningaboutMovies]

yes!

[@thesovietunicorn3127]

Nah bro, Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore is by far his most underrated. This, and king of comedy are still some of my all time favourites though. Especially KOC

[@rucals]

i watched this last night, lmao im scared to go out at night now

[@StreetsOfVancouverChannel]

I remember originally seeing when it came out on VHS right before I was entering college... I had never seen anything like it... of course when I moved to Vancouver the movie totally 'made sense'! ;)

[@LearningaboutMovies]

wow is Vancouver that seedy these days?

[@timwright4263]

Scorsese's greatest movie. Also, best soundtrack EVER. Griffin Dunne is wonderful as Paul Hackett 🕑

[@pikapo16]

When Scorsese was first offered to direct this film he had decline it to work on The Last Temptation of Christ. They then got Tim Burton to direct the movie instead, but once Last Temptation got postponed Burton allowed Scorsese to direct it instead. I wonder how different and stranger After Hours would've been had it been a Tim Burton film. Regardless, this is actually one of my personal favorites from Scorsese. Possibly top five.

[@LearningaboutMovies]

great trivia there. Burton might've been okay at that point, keeping it darker and not veering into schmaltzy sentimentality, which is he often guilty of.

[@cruddddddddddddddd]

I have never seen this. Very excited to watch when I get off work... after hours. Big fan of Kafkaesque stories. Good recommendation

[@LearningaboutMovies]

thanks, have fun!

[@cruddddddddddddddd]

@@LearningaboutMovies Okay - I watched this one. I did enjoy it. It was as you described - very Kafkaesque. Not a perfect film, but worth the watch. Thanks!

[@richinoable]

It's an Odyssey

[@ViewBothSides]

Hey great choice of movie to choose for a retro review. Your commentary really helped me think about the movie in a deeper way. Thanks.

[@LearningaboutMovies]

you're welcome.

[@abbabatoo]

You have great taste in movies. I have read 3 of your reviews of movies that you consider to be great. All 3 are among my all time favorites. "After Hours", "Tess" and "The Purple Rose of Cairo" are great movies that were well reviewed but are now all but forgotten. I saw all 3 in the theater during their first run and have viewed them multiple times since that initial viewing. I have always believed that movies should elicit some level of emotional reaction from the audience. "After Hours" made me laugh at times but also made me feel frustrated as Paul faced challenge after challenge. This movie reminded me of "The Out of Towners" with Jack Lemmon and Sandy Dennis. The premise is similar, but "After Hours" is much deeper and at a whole other level of weirdness.

[@LearningaboutMovies]

thank you, I have used Purple Rose of Cairo in a college class pretty much every time I have taught it, and that movie is near perfect for all that it's trying to achieve, including the script -- no wasted lines, and they are almost all funny to me. I'll check out Out of Towners -- thanks!

[@hughiedavies6069]

I've just watched it, brilliant, reminded me a bit of eyes wide shut, very funny 😃

[@ikd3240]

After Hours is my favorite Scorsese film. It’s both funny and nightmarish.

[@wasabirojo]

I enjoyed very much this video. Also, some of the rich comments. Thank you for this content. I've just missed the mention of the screenwriter, Joseph Minion. He did an amazing job!! Cheers! :)

[@zerc1]

After hours is like a feverish dream to me. Every time I try to grasp the meaning of it, it eludes my comprehension and understanding of what it really means. Martin Scorsese really made something special and captured 1980’s New York city at night in a twisted yet satisfying way. I’m glad you referenced a sort of parallel with Taxi driver, because although they are filmed 10 years apart, I feel like they could’ve been in the same universe of quirky night time big city life. Great commentary! Subbed!

[@Broadcastt_]

Some say that Kafka ‘asks’ for you to read his stories like an allegory but then never gives you the key. That’s how this movie feels like too.

[@LearningaboutMovies]

thank you

[@spacedproduction4084]

Found you're channel recently after watching Harakiri and wanting to see some different perspectives. I really like your very educational teacher approach also love this weird movie, especially the random Cheech and Chong cameo.

[@LearningaboutMovies]

thank you. though I don't know who's in Cheech and Chong who looks like me. I usually get the David Cross lookalike line. See "She's the Man."

[@spacedproduction4084]

@@LearningaboutMovies Sorry I meant their cameo in After Hours

[@killianlpc]

A great film. I always thought the Buffy The Vampire Slayer episode The Zeppo was just so similar to After Hours in that Xander found himself in this crazy nightmare world in the night that he just couldn't get away from similar to Griffin Dunne's character in After Hours.

[@stefansenese7481]

Fantastic movie ,actually makes you feel your in a nightmare yourself

[@roaminronin7818]

Nice, this was a 1st time watch about a month ago for me. Absolutely loved it & surprised it came from Scorsese - impressed that he would create something so strange. Very dreamlike, or nightmarelike, capturing the feeling being trapped - I liked the Alice in Wonderland reference you made. Perhaps it's linked to his employment & feeling trapped in a never ending cycle (inescapable corporate job), since the film starts & ends there... which I can relate to & have had my own unsettling dreams about. I also drew comparisons from the works of Bunuel, particularly The Exterminating Angel & Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie. Thanks!

[@LearningaboutMovies]

yes, good connection, definitely influenced by Bunuel. One wonders what Scorsese had come up with had he gone more in that direction.

[@ashleykenyon7856]

Its also a play on Dantes Inferno. But yes Manhattan was this strange during this time period. I think its a masterpiece of a dark comedy loved it since I saw it when it came out. As Interesting as the Movie 'Bulletproof heart" or David Lynch "Mullholland Drive". If you want to know if you could have hung in the 80's with out being an open wound watch this movie. Gen X great films.

[@oscarleatherdale]

My hot take: The best Scorsese film

[@Fredo_Viola]

I completely agree, this and Taxi Driver

[@tomislavcehajic9642]

Scorcese is best Hollywood director ever, the best

[@LearningaboutMovies]

among them. would be interesting to see if he is regarded in 100 years as a great American artist.

[@tomislavcehajic9642]

@@LearningaboutMovies No he is best Hollywood director ever better than Capra, Copolla, Altman, Lumet, Fincher, Scott, Paul Thomas Anderson, Wes Anderson, Cohen brothers, Del Toro, Inarritu, Cauron, Hitchcock, Copolla, Ford, Steven Spielberg, Wiliam Willer, Wiliam Friedkin, Billy Wilder, Allen and so on, why because he had far many better movies of them all maybe Wilder had close numbers of great movies but Scorcese had almost all masterpices and his movies are and art and entertainment, and how long period he work, he is best Hollywood director ever without any doubt as Billy Wilder is best screenplay man ever only Allen is close

[@tomislavcehajic9642]

@@LearningaboutMovies To be true past and today best directors are 90% from Europe and 10% from Asia, and all best Americans directors are Europians Scorcese, Scott, Copolla, Kazan, Villeneuve with Scorcese best Hollywood director today, Nolan, Leone, Antonioni, Billy Wilder Fred Zinnemann, Ford i think 95 % are from Europe because Europe is old and all best art is from Europe and Asia to be fair Europe and Asia is tehnicaly one continent but only reason is colture and to be fair we Europians country are do 90 % evil in last 2000-3000 years all wars and that stuff, but we had not have slaves

[@gladness7871]

@@tomislavcehajic9642 i dont think you know a lot of history if you say europeans were doing 90% of the evil on earth in last 2000-3000 years, stop following western narrative of white and european guilt, showing europeans and whites as racist bad people and like th whole world would live in peace without us, if only people had more knowledge and education and knew what was going on in arabic world, central asia, china, japanese empire period, africa and still going on in africa for thousands of years, such bullshit would stop immideatly

[@eivindlange783]

LOve this movie - parts of this movie resemples part of my life.

[@bethanybritz9510]

This movie is a narratology of Galileo Galilee’s life, discoveries, and interactions with other astronomers, especially Kepler. The shape of the story is a parabola - one of Galileo’s rediscoveries - and in the narrative the focus of the story is the bagel and cream cheese paperweight/Kiki Bridges. His position of hand to ear occurs at the beginning on the phone, and at the end turned into a sculpture. SOHO represents belief in a solar-centric planetary system. Marcie is Venus; the diner and Peter are the Sun; bartender is Kepler: the events that turn into pursuit by mob are a description of his interactions with Kepler, beginning with Marcie’s death representing Galileo’s fame eclipsing Kepler’s. The cash register represents Saturn; Terri Gar represents a phase of Venus; her flyer of Paul represents publishings Kepler did after doing Galileo’s astrological charts; the flooding toilet is the tides; O’dell is another phase of Venus and Mr Frosty is the Milky Way; the roving crowd from the bartender’s building is Jupiter’s spot; Joan is the last phase of Venus, she entombs Paul in his house arrest that mirrors his position at the beginning; Neil and Pepe are the Spanish Inquisition; his being dropped off at work represents the house arrest of Galileo. When you see it through this lens, the deciphering becomes much more thrilling.

[@LearningaboutMovies]

uh, what? really? I wonder if there's a written defense of this viewing somewhere?

[@carrieanderson132]

Sounds like something I want to watch

[@karltons9873]

I always considered After Hours a shaggy dog story. I love it the way I love the Big Lebowski.

[@LearningaboutMovies]

definitely fair to call it that!

[@ArmanM2]

THEORY THEORY THEORY, He entered purgatory when he left the office passing the gates, and when he ruturned completing the circle, he passed purgatory and either went to heaven and hell

[@LearningaboutMovies]

does that mean the office is heaven or hell?

[@ArmanM2]

@@LearningaboutMovies My theory is, either that, Paul is already a dead man and this journey of his, is his time in purgatory where he faces judgement by God. (The film starts with him leaving the office and passing massive golden gates) then by the end he has gone full circle returning to those gates, this time entering.. like heaven is now opened up to him as he has passed his judgements by a higher power. It could be hell, but who knows

[@xxbluetree02xx29]

I think the primary theme is that Paul gets trapped (emasculated) by every woman he meets. Also, Scorsese captures the strange feeling associated with late nights.

[@droneworldbrasil]

This movie 🍿 is great because it's in the 80's

[@laughingatyrfuneral]

In my top three movies of all time. It has everything I like, including the Bad Brains. Sweet pick

[@LearningaboutMovies]

excellent!

[@WelcomeToThe92503]

I just watched it on a whim.. cuz it showed up on my HULU algorithm and I saw Scorsese directed it I'll be honest.. I assumed the dude smoked some bad sh* t...and/or took drugs.. and what we saw was some kinda psychedelic experience or dream like/ nightmare sequence played out in real time.. But then there were subtle things that took place that brought me back to thinking it was actually happening I'll be honest tho.. the chain of events that happened were all so random and dream like... and the fact he would switch his moods and interests so rapidly...it JUST CAME OFF LIKE A HUGE DREAM. at some point I knew that it was gonna end with him just waking up ... or him returning back to his place And while there are a few take aways from this...the random and strange events and people that kept popping up .. knowing they want to meet him exactly.. all keep me thinking the dude was AS SHOWN... BORED WITH HIS LIFE AND THE MONOTONY OF IT... and this night then changed him after . But I definitely think this was a dream or a bad trip No way all of these things happened to him.. in the real world in real time.

[@MegaIkedog]

I "got" this movie. But I didn't really care for it. It reminded me of the better Into the Night and Uncut Gems (which I hated). I think Taxi Driver is a much better Scorsese NYC film.

[@mathiaskvinge5019]

Kinda off topic, but are you planning to watch The Human Condition trilogy?

[@LearningaboutMovies]

yes, for sure. will cover it on this channel, hopefully within the next year or two. (It will take a commitment!)

[@bklopps]

didnt he try to flush kleenex and thats why the toilet overflowed?

[@JHarder1000]

Out Lynch's Lynch

[@LearningaboutMovies]

little bit saner of course.

[@JHarder1000]

@@LearningaboutMovies I'm not sure Lynch IS insane. On his planet of origin, such thought and behavior might be the norm.

[@Imalrightma]

Alot of stuff was thrown at the wall with this film but left me a bit cold in the end. Felt like Scorsese going Lynchian but a bit lightweight

[@LearningaboutMovies]

Scorsese aims to make sense, whereas Lynch does not care.

[@o.l4890]

@@LearningaboutMovies early lynch ? ...naaaahhhhhh ,inland empire lynch ? Absolutely. His early stuff did make some sense, especially lost highway and mulholland drive

[@simonevans343]

I THINK YOUR OVER THINKING THIS MOVIE. SEEMS LIKE LIFE TO ME

[@southern_cinephile3412]

Definitely the weirdest Scorsese movie I’ve ever seen Finished it 5 minutes ago

[@LearningaboutMovies]

Yeah, this and Bringing Out the Dead.

[@123rockfan]

Thought this movie failed miserably as both a comedy and satire. I feel like the script didn’t even attempt to be funny or interesting. Genuinely surprised at the acclaim this movie gets.

[@Brickbreaker2212]

You’re too basic to get it. Stick to the MCU, little kid.

[@AllyWalton]

What makes this movie great? Nothing. It's average at best.

[@Brickbreaker2212]

Your taste is mediocre. Stick to Disney.