Review of After Hours (1985) by Gordon T — 06 Apr 2011

I never think of AFTER HOURS as being a MARTIN SCORSESE film but it is . . . two of SCORSESE'S previous films didn't go over as well as he needed and Last Temptation of Christ was canceled by the studio and Scorsese NEEDED a film to re-learn how to make movies.

Commercial films need to stay under budget and be finished ON TIME and SCORSESE veered off course with KING OF COMEDY and RAGING BULL and NEW YORK, NEW YORK (according to Scorsese's own words) . . . the studio didn't want to gamble on The Last Temptation of Christ and Scorsese's girlfriend at the time Successful Paramount Executive DWAN Steel herself would not help Scorsese make Last Temptation of Christ.

SO, with AFTER HOURS, we have the result of A MOTION PICTURE AUTEUR re-cutting his teeth on a low-budget film.

AFTER HOURS is dated and not as good as when I saw it when I was 16 years old on VHS but it still WOULD BE a hundred percent.

I like to think of VAMP (with Grace Jones) as AFTER HOURS with VAMPIRES!!!! The protagonist is PUNISHED/TORMENTED throughout the film as he tries to make his way back home . . . like SALMON (the fish).

Salmon leave the safety of their home and then catch hell as they swim upstream to return home.

So, maybe there is a little LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST undertones in AFTER HOURS that attracted Scorsese to it:

Scorsese SUFFERED while trying to make LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST in 1983, CHRIST HIMSELF suffered, and the Paul (played by Griffen Dunne) must suffer in AFTER HOURS.

All three Scorsese, The Biblical Jesus of Nazereth, and Paul (in AFTER HOURS) had to SUFFER in their respective universes (they fell from safety and then had to fight their way back-up to safety).