After Dark, My Sweet
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After Dark, My Sweet
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, RoviReview
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, RoviCast
- Jason Patric - Kevin 'kid' Collins
- Rachel Ward - Fay Anderson
- Bruce Dern - Uncle Bud
- George Dickerson - Doc Goldman
- James Cotton - Charlie
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| After Dark (1915 Film), After Dark (1924 Film) | |
| After Darkness (1985 Film), After Earth (2013 Film) |
AMG AllMusic Guide: Pop Albums:
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After Dark, My Sweet
- Artist: Maurice Jarre
- Rating:
- Release Date: 1990
- Total Time: 32:44
- Type: Soundtrack
- Genre: Soundtrack
Review
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, Rovi| After Dark [Video/DVD] (1998 Album by Type O Negative) | |
| After Dark, My Sweet (2010 Album by TJ Kong/Nuno Dos Santos) |
Wikipedia on Answers.com:
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After Dark, My Sweet
| After Dark, My Sweet | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster |
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| Directed by | James Foley |
| Produced by | Ric Kidney Robert Redlin |
| Screenplay by | Robert Redlin James Foley |
| Story by | Jim Thompson |
| Starring | Jason Patric Rocky Giordani Rachel Ward Bruce Dern |
| Music by | Maurice Jarre |
| Cinematography | Mark Plummer |
| Editing by | Howard E. Smith |
| Distributed by | Avenue Pictures Productions |
| Release date(s) | May 17, 1990 (Cannes Film Market) August 24, 1990 (United States) |
| Running time | 114 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $6 million |
| Box office | $2,678,414 |
After Dark, My Sweet (1990) is a neo-noir film directed by James Foley starring Jason Patric, Bruce Dern, and Rachel Ward. It is based on the 1955 Jim Thompson novel of the same name.[1]
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Contents
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Plot
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.
Cast
- Jason Patric as Kevin 'Kid' Collins
- Rocky Giordani as Bert
- Rachel Ward as Fay Anderson
- Bruce Dern as Garrett "Uncle Bud" Stoker
- Tom Wagner as Counterman
- Mike Hagerty as Truck Driver
- James E. Bowen Jr. as Second Driver
- George Dickerson as Doc Goldman
- Napoleon Walls as Boxing Referee
- Corey Carrier as Jack
- Jeanie Moore as Nanny
- James Cotton as Charlie
- Burke Byrnes as Cop
Production
Filming locations
The filming took place in Indio, California.[2]
Reception
Critical response
Film critic Roger Ebert put this film on his "great movies list" and in his review of the movie wrote "After Dark, My Sweet is the movie that eluded audiences; it grossed less than $3 million, 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."[3]
The staff at Variety magazine also reviewed the film favorably, writing, "Director-cowriter James Foley has given this near-perfect adaptation of a Jim Thompson novel a contempo setting and emotional realism that make it as potent as a snakebite...Lensed in the arid and existential sun-blasted landscape of Indio, Calif, the pungently seedy film creates a kind of genre unto itself, a film soleil, perhaps."[4]
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.".[5]
When the video was released in 1991, Entertainment Weekly film critic Melissa Pierson wrote, "Fittingly, director James Foley (At Close Range) puts style over story, capturing the gritty, long-shadowed tone of his source material. After Dark, My Sweet looks simultaneously crisp and drenched in the yellow light of a strange dream, an effect that becomes especially haunting on video. In this alluring tour through unsettled emotional territory, Jason Patric (The Lost Boys) gives an exceptionally sharp performance as an ex-boxer with one screw loose and another turned down tight. He's drawn into a kidnapping scheme concocted by a former cop (Bruce Dern) and a sultry widow (Rachel Ward, for whom acting apparently means gesticulating). Together, they visit a place where desire and pain are indistinguishable, and everything goes twistingly awry."[6]
The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 82% of critics gave the film a positive review, based on 17 reviews.[7]
References
- ^ After Dark, My Sweet at the Internet Movie Database
- ^ Epodunk web site. Last accessed: February 13, 2011.
- ^ Ebert, Roger. The Chicago Sun-Times film review, March 13, 2005. Last accessed: February 13, 2011.
- ^ Variety. Film review. Last accessed: February 13, 2011.
- ^ ^ Meyers, David M. (1998). A Girl and a Gun: The Complete Guide to Film Noir on Video. Avon Books. ISBN 0-380-79067-X.
- ^ Pierson, Melissa. Entertainment Weekly, video review, March 8, 1991. Last accessed: February 13, 2011.
- ^ After Dark, My Sweet at Rotten Tomatoes. Last accessed: Last accessed: February 13, 2011.
External links
- After Dark, My Sweet at the Internet Movie Database
- After Dark, My Sweet at Rotten Tomatoes
- After Dark, My Sweet at Film Noir of the Week by film historian Alain Silver
- After Dark, My Sweet film trailer
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Mentioned in
Jim Thompson
(Writer, Actor, Crime/Drama)
After Dark, My Sweet
(1990 Crime Film)
The Living Room Tour
(2005 Album by Carole King)
Living Room Tour [JPN LP Sleeve]
(2007 Album by Carole King)
Jason Patric
(Actor, Drama/Comedy)
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