The Movie That Saved Martin Scorsese's Career Isn't What You'd Think
Though it’s safe to say that Martin Scorsese’s stellar career has been defined by considerably more ups than it has downs, there was a precarious period when it almost came to an end–and the movie that turned things around is an unexpected one. Enter 1985's After Hours, a zany, anxiety-ridden, Kafkaesque dark comedy-thriller penned by Joseph Minion, the writer of the unhinged Nicolas Cage bloodsucker classic Vampire’s Kiss. The film concerns lowly word processor Paul Hackett (Griffin Dunne) who ventures downtown to Manhattan’s quirky SoHo district for a late-night fling with Rosanna Arquette’s winsome café dweller, Marcy, only for the universe to seemingly turn on him as his evening becomes a surreal nightmare of cosmic-scale bad luck. At first glance After Hours is a non-essential Scorsese film, but in some ways, it may well be the most important film he ever made.
The success of 1976’s Taxi Driver afforded Scorsese the freedom to pick his next project. Unexpectedly, he chose the underappreciated 163-minute musical drama New York, New York, which flopped both financially and critically. Afterward, Scorsese would direct back-to-back masterpieces in Raging Bull and The King of Comedy; the former garnered immense acclaim but lost money, and the latter completely dumbfounded critics and was soundly rejected by audiences. Adding to the director's streak of frustrations, the cancellation of his passion project The Last Temptation of Christ left Scorsese contemplating quitting feature filmmaking altogether. After this Sisyphean chapter, it’s easier to understand why Scorsese was attracted to the comical desperation of After Hours.
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Scorsese directed After
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