Off The Marquee

Most movie people have movies that they feel like the rest of the world is missing out on. I’m sure if you think for a second, one comes to mind. A film that perhaps you would buy over and over at a garage sale or library sale and have several copies of around the house ready to pass along to people. Eventually you bond with someone who feels that you share a “pet movie.” Perhaps it leads to sex? Keep dreaming. But one of my “pet movies” seems to always be on the shelf at Casa Video. I think the video suffers a bit due to the box art. Honestly, the art isn’t very inspiring, but it is one of my all time favorite movies. 

After Hours (1985) is a strange comedy that has evidently been overshadowed by Martin Scorsese’s successful gangster pictures. Paul Hackett (Griffin Dunne) is a computer programmer who is bored with life. Leaving his cramped apartment, he goes to a coffee shop to read and meets Marcy Franklin (Rosanna Arquette). The two exchange numbers and end up meeting that night despite the late hour. Marcy is extremely eccentric; evidently not what the straight-laced Paul is looking for. Marcy has emotional problems; her experiences living on the rim of a hipster lifestyle seem bigger than her personality can process. She begins stories nervously. As the details of her life unfold, it seems as if Paul might be the most reasonable person she has ever met. Paul’s role as a sounding wall is short-lived, and after several confounding conversations, he becomes frustrated and leaves abruptly. Paul leaves Marcy’s place to face Soho, a neighborhood that at that time, was the home of many artistic types. But, for a number of unlikely coincidences, Paul cannot get home. He keeps trying to get home, but he can’t. He just can’t. He can’t get on the train. He can’t get a cab. And for one of the best ensemble casts ever assembled, he cannot get any help at all. Griffin Dunne plays the straight man beautifully and ahead of his time, much in the manner that has become the recent standard in verte-style television sitcoms. Once Paul is at the mercy of Soho, his journey home is impeded by a waitress obsessed with late 50s culture played by Teri Garr, two burglars who unknowingly frame Paul for their thieving played by Cheech and Chong, a high strung ice cream truck driver played by Catherine O’Hara and Marcy’s roommate, a dominatrix type played by Linda Fiorentino. This film also lends itself to falling in love with Soho in the 80s, a neighborhood outfitted with bums, intense paper mache artists, all night gay bars, and free Mohawks on Mohawk night.

The Bookman’s Late Night Cult Classic this week is the original Italian version of Inglorious Bastards (1978) and I am ashamed to say that I have not seen it, so I cannot speak intelligently about it. Nor can I speak about it in the manner that I normally do. (See what I did there.) So maybe now is the time to catch it.
The Bookman’s Late Night Cult Classic
Every Friday and Saturday night at 10:00pm
at the Loft, 3233 E. Speedway Blvd. Tucson, AZ
Casa Video 2905 E. Speedway Blvd. Tucson, AZ
casavideo.com

Off the Marquee is meant to be a forum for reviewing and promoting overlooked classics, cult movie screenings, second-run viewing opportunities, and unique independent film experiences in and around Tucson. If you have anything in that vein you would like to share or promote, I would be psyched to hear about it.
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www.billupsallen.com