Main Cast: Jason Patric, Rachel Ward, Bruce Dern, George Dickerson, James Cotton
Release Year: 1990
Country: US
Run Time: 114 minutes
Plot
Adapted from a novel by pulp writer Jim Thompson, After Dark, My Sweet evokes memories of the film noirs of yore. Jason Patric plays Collie, a short-fused ex-boxer who gets mixed up with alcoholic widow Fay (Rachel Ward) and burned-out former lawman Uncle Bud (Bruce Dern). These two lowlifes involve Collie in a kidnapping scheme. At first willing to go along with the plan, Collie tires of Fay's drunken mood swings and seeks out new companionship. Doctor George Dickinson proves all too eager to be friends with Collie -- more than friends, in fact. Driven back into Fay's arms, Collie agrees to aid in the kidnapping. But when the victim turns out to be diabetic, things go from bad to worse. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
After Dark, My Sweet, adapted from cult-favorite crime novelist Jim Thompson's 1955 novel, is a dark and involving yet flawed modern-day film noir. Director James Foley and cinematographer Mark Plummer successfully creates a mood of desperation, which partially explains the motivations of the characters, but are not helped by a weak screenplay by Robert Redlin that fails to fully flesh out the characters. Jason Patric gives a wonderfully smoldering performance as the psychotic Collie, and finds the core of sympathy in an otherwise unpleasant character. Ward, while lovely, lacks the allure and sexuality necessary to make her a memorable femme-fatale and fails to create any real sexual chemistry with Patric. Without this chemistry, her character remains a drunken loser rather than a true film noir seductress. Bruce Dern is adequate as the completely unappealing and repellant Bud, but the character fails to evoke any empathy that would allow the audience to understand or relate to him on any level. Despite these flaws, Patric's performance makes this moody, atmospheric film well worth watching. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide
Corey Carrier - Jack; James E. Bowen, Jr. - Truck Driver; Burke Byrnes - Cop; Rocky Giordani - Bert; Michael Hagerty - Truck Driver; Vincent Joseph Mazzella, Jr. - Flashback Fighter; Jeanie Moore - Nanny; Thomas Wagner; Napoleon Walls - Boxing Referee
Credit
David Rubin - Casting, Ric Kidney - Co-producer, Robert Redlin - Co-producer, Hope Hanafin - Costume Designer, James Foley - Director, Howard E. Smith - Editor, Cary Brokaw - Executive Producer, Maurice Jarre - Composer (Music Score), Felicity Bowring - Makeup, Ken Hardy - Production Designer, Ric Kidney - Production Designer, David Brisbin - Production Designer, Mark Plummer - Cinematographer, Margaret Goldsmith - Set Designer, Ken Diaz - Special Effects, A.J. Nay - Stunts, James Foley - Screenwriter, Robert Redlin - Screenwriter, Jim Thompson - Book Author
A low-key and melancholy score that continues Jarre's experiments in interweaving electronic instruments with small orchestral ensembles, but achieves little on any particular front. Indeed, the intrusion of racketing sampled drums tends to defocus the music, interrupting the thematic flow. For Jarre, this is an unusually lumpen piece of work. ~ Steven McDonald, All Music Guide
Ex-boxer Kevin "Kid" Collins is a drifter and an escapee from a mental hospital. He meets Fay Anderson, a widow, who convinces him to help fix up the neglected estate her ex-husband left. "Uncle Bud" talks them both into helping kidnap a rich boy for ransom money, and the ex-fighter must make decisions about his loyalties and what is right.
Reception
Roger Ebert in his Great films review of the movie wrote "After Dark, My Sweet is the movie that eluded audiences; it grossed less than $3 mllion, has been almost forgotten, and remains one of the purest and most uncompromising of modern film noir. It captures above all the lonely, exhausted lives of its characters." [1] Writer David M. Meyers praised the script "The screenplay, which hews closely to Jim Thompson's heartless novel, is unusually tight, spare, and well constructed."[2]
