The Morning After (1986 film)

Last updated
The Morning After
The Morning After (1986 film poster).jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Sidney Lumet
Written by
Produced byBruce Gilbert
Starring
Cinematography Andrzej Bartkowiak
Edited byJoel Goodman
Music by Paul Chihara
Production
companies
Distributed by 20th Century Fox
Release date
  • December 25, 1986 (1986-12-25)
Running time
103 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$15 million [1]
Box office$25.1 million (US and Canada) [2]

The Morning After is a 1986 American psychological thriller film directed by Sidney Lumet and starring Jane Fonda, Jeff Bridges, and Raul Julia. It follows a washed-up, alcoholic actress who awakens on Thanksgiving morning beside the dead body of a photographer in his loft, with no memory of the events from the night before. She attempts to uncover the truth of what occurred with the help of a former police officer she encounters while on the run.

Contents

Released by 20th Century Fox on Christmas Day 1986, the film received generally favorable reviews. Fonda received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in the film. [3]

Plot

Alexandra "Alex" Sternbergen, a washed-up, alcoholic actress who performs under the stage name "Viveca Van Loren", wakes up on Thanksgiving 1986 next to the bloodied corpse of a sleazy photographer named Bobby Korshack in his Los Angeles loft. Suffering a hangover, Alex does not recall any events from the night before. She phones her husband Joaquin "Jacky" Manero, a salon owner from whom she is separated, and he insists that Alex call the police. Instead, she attempts to flee the city but is unable to get a flight amidst the crush of holiday travelers. In a parking garage, she manages to hitch a ride back downtown from Turner Kendall, a former police officer who was discharged.

Alex returns to Bobby's apartment to clean the evidence and obtain the murder weapon. While leaving, she is met by Turner, returning the pocketbook she left in his car; he claims to have tracked her to the area using a matchbook with Bobby's studio address on it. Alex reluctantly agrees to invite Turner into her apartment, where the two have a makeshift Thanksgiving dinner. The evening ends with Alex drunkenly stumbling into bed, after which Turner leaves.

In the morning, Alex awakens to find Bobby's dead body in her shower, causing her to flee her apartment. She is met by Turner, who is returning to check on her. Suffering withdrawals, Turner brings Alex to a convenience store to purchase beer, and she confesses to him the events that occurred the day before. Believing Alex killed Bobby, Turner urges her to contact the authorities, but she fears she will not be believed based on a domestic assault conviction in which she stabbed her ex-husband with a paring knife while intoxicated.

Alex visits her friend Frankie, a drag queen, to obtain clothing to disguise herself. Turner subsequently confronts Alex, informing her that he searched her apartment but found no sign of Bobby's body, and believes that she may have been framed. Meanwhile, police investigating Bobby's murder visit Jacky's salon to question him about Alex's whereabouts. Alex spends the night at Turner's home, and the two have sex. In the morning, Alex is dismayed to find newspaper articles detailing her disappearance and suspicion in Bobby's murder. She visits her lawyer, Mr. Hurley, who is overseeing her divorce case from Jacky. Meanwhile, Turner interviews Bobby's neighbor, who tells him she witnessed Alex raving in a drunken state the night of Bobby's murder. Alex arrives at Jacky's salon, and he agrees to style her hair in attempt to further conceal her identity.

Alex stays at Jacky's salon while he attends a dinner with his new lover, socialite Isabel Harding, and is startled when Turner appears there. Jacky returns with Isabel and renders Turner unconscious by bludgeoning him with a vase. It is revealed that Isabel murdered Bobby, who had been blackmailing her with lascivious photographs, and Jacky framed Alex for the crime to protect her. Jacky attempts to drown Alex in a bathtub to silence her, while a remorseful Isabel looks on. However, Turner comes to and he shoots and wounds Jacky before losing consciousness again and saving Alex. Police arrive and Isabel turns on Jacky, telling police he is the one who murdered Bobby. Later, Alex visits Turner while he recovers in the hospital, and tells him she has not had a drink in two days. Turner reveals to Alex that he too is a recovering alcoholic. When Turner asks Alex to leave, she initially complies, before returning to his bedside and declaring that he makes her happy.

Cast

Reception

Critical response

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 63% based on 19 reviews, with an average rating of 5.7/10. [4] Linda Rasmussen of AllMovie described it as an "excellent thriller, crisply directed by Sidney Lumet" that "creates a good deal of suspense", and singled out Fonda for praise: "The highlight of the film is the performance by Jane Fonda reminiscent of her magnificent performance as Bree Daniels in Klute ." [5]

Critic Roger Ebert remarked the film's strong opening sequence, but added: "Unfortunately, The Morning After never lives up to its early promise – not as a thriller, anyway. The plot has some yawning gaps in it, and thriller plots should be watertight. But [it] is worth seeing anyway, because of the characters that it develops, and the performances of Fonda and Jeff Bridges in the two leads." [6] Vincent Canby of The New York Times praised the film's dark humor, writing that it "becomes the kind of enjoyable, sophisticated comedy-mystery that requires much more talent to pull off successfully than is usually acknowledged. It may be instantly disposable, but heaven save us from a season of commercial movies that, like sensible shoes, are designed to last forever." [7]

Accolades

Fonda was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress. [3]

Home media

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment released the film on DVD in 2005, [8] followed by a Warner Archive Collection made-on-demand DVD-R release on June 28, 2016. [9]

The film was released on Blu-ray for the first time by Shout! Factory on May 30, 2023. The release features a new 2K restoration of the film from an interpositive, along with two brand new featurettes. [10]

Related Research Articles

<i>12 Angry Men</i> (1957 film) 1957 American film by Sidney Lumet

12 Angry Men is a 1957 American independent legal drama film directed by Sidney Lumet in his directorial debut, adapted from a 1954 teleplay of the same name by Reginald Rose. The film tells the story of a jury of 12 men as they deliberate the conviction or acquittal of a teenager charged with murder on the basis of reasonable doubt; disagreement and conflict among the jurors forces them to question their morals and values. It stars Henry Fonda, Lee J. Cobb, Ed Begley, E. G. Marshall, and Jack Warden.

<i>Network</i> (1976 film) 1976 film by Paddy Chayefsky & Sidney Lumet

Network is a 1976 American satirical black comedy-drama film directed by Sidney Lumet and written by Paddy Chayefsky. It is about a fictional television network and its struggle with poor ratings. The film stars Faye Dunaway, William Holden, Peter Finch, Robert Duvall, Wesley Addy, Ned Beatty, and Beatrice Straight.

<i>Klute</i> 1971 film by Alan J. Pakula

Klute is a 1971 American neo-noir psychological thriller film directed and produced by Alan J. Pakula, and starring Jane Fonda, Donald Sutherland, Charles Cioffi, Nathan George, Dorothy Tristan, Roy Scheider, and Rita Gam. Its plot follows a high-priced New York City call girl who assists a detective from Pennsylvania in solving the missing person case of a john who may be stalking her. It is the first installment of what has informally come to be known as Pakula's "paranoia trilogy", followed by The Parallax View (1974) and All the President's Men (1976), all films dealing with themes of paranoia, conspiracies, and surveillance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sidney Lumet</span> American filmmaker (1924–2011)

Sidney Arthur Lumet was an American film director. Lumet started his career in theatre before moving to film, where he gained a reputation for making realistic and gritty New York dramas which focused on the working class, tackled social injustices, and often questioned authority. He received several awards including an Academy Honorary Award and a Golden Globe Award as well as nominations for nine British Academy Film Awards and a Primetime Emmy Award.

<i>Guilty as Sin</i> 1993 drama thriller film by Sidney Lumet

Guilty as Sin is a 1993 American legal thriller film written by Larry Cohen, directed by Sidney Lumet and produced by Martin Ransohoff. It stars Rebecca De Mornay and Don Johnson, and was produced by Hollywood Pictures.

<i>Blink</i> (1993 film) 1993 American film

Blink is a 1993 American neo-noir thriller film directed by Michael Apted and written by Dana Stevens. Starring Madeleine Stowe and Aidan Quinn, the film follows Emma Brody, the recipient of a corneal transplant who works with a police detective to track down a serial killer whose latest murder she inadvertently bore witness to.

<i>Prince of the City</i> 1981 film by Sidney Lumet

Prince of the City is a 1981 American epic neo-noir crime drama film directed by Sidney Lumet. It is based on the life of Robert Leuci, called ‘Daniel Ciello’ in the film, an officer of the New York Police Department who chooses, for idealistic reasons, to expose corruption in the force. The screenplay, written by Lumet and Jay Presson Allen, is based on a 1978 non-fiction book, by former NYPD Deputy Commissioner Robert Daley.

<i>A Stranger Among Us</i> 1992 film by Sidney Lumet

A Stranger Among Us is a 1992 American crime drama film directed by Sidney Lumet and starring Melanie Griffith. It tells the story of an undercover police officer's experiences in a Hasidic community. It was entered into the 1992 Cannes Film Festival. It is often cited as one of Lumet's two failures of the 1990s, the other being Guilty as Sin (1993). Despite the poor reviews suffered by both these films, Lumet received the 1993 D. W. Griffith Award of the Directors Guild of America. The film was also the first credited role for actor James Gandolfini. The shooting of the film was used as an example in Lumet's book Making Movies.

<i>Single White Female</i> 1992 film directed by Barbet Schroeder

Single White Female is a 1992 American psychological erotic thriller film based on John Lutz's 1990 novel SWF Seeks Same. It stars Bridget Fonda and Jennifer Jason Leigh and was directed by Barbet Schroeder. It follows recently estranged Allison Jones (Fonda), who begins to rent an apartment room to Hedra Carlson (Leigh). After she reconciles with her ex-boyfriend, she begins to find strange patterns of behavior in her tenant.

<i>Night Falls on Manhattan</i> 1996 American crime drama film

Night Falls on Manhattan is a 1996 American crime drama film written and directed by Sidney Lumet. Based on the novel Tainted Evidence by Robert Daley, the plot centers on a newly elected district attorney played by Andy García, who is eager to stamp out corruption within the New York City Police Department. Ian Holm, James Gandolfini, Lena Olin, Ron Leibman, and Richard Dreyfuss feature in principal supporting roles.

<i>Legal Eagles</i> 1986 film by Ivan Reitman

Legal Eagles is a 1986 American legal romantic comedy thriller film directed by Ivan Reitman, written by Jim Cash and Jack Epps, Jr. from a story by Reitman and the screenwriters, and starring Robert Redford, Debra Winger, and Daryl Hannah.

<i>The Anderson Tapes</i> 1971 film by Sidney Lumet

The Anderson Tapes is a 1971 American crime film directed by Sidney Lumet and starring Sean Connery and featuring Dyan Cannon, Martin Balsam and Alan King. The screenplay was written by Frank Pierson, based upon a best-selling 1970 novel of the same name by Lawrence Sanders. The film is scored by Quincy Jones and marks the feature film debut of Christopher Walken.

<i>Stage Struck</i> (1958 film) 1958 film by Sidney Lumet

Stage Struck is a 1958 American drama film directed by Sidney Lumet and starring Henry Fonda, Susan Strasberg and Christopher Plummer in his film debut. The screenplay, by Augustus and Ruth Goetz, is based on the stage play Morning Glory by Zoë Akins, which also served as the basis for the 1933 film Morning Glory starring Katharine Hepburn, Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and Adolphe Menjou in corresponding roles.

<i>The Wiz</i> (film) 1978 film by Sidney Lumet

The Wiz is a 1978 American musical fantasy adventure film directed by Sidney Lumet. Adapted from the 1974 Broadway musical of the same name, the film reimagines the classic children's novel, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum with an African-American cast. Dorothy, a 24-year old teacher from Harlem, finds herself magically transported to the urban fantasy Land of Oz. On her travels seeking help from the mysterious Wiz, Dorothy befriends a Scarecrow, a Tin Man, and a Cowardly Lion.

<i>Before the Devil Knows Youre Dead</i> 2007 film by Sidney Lumet

Before the Devil Knows You're Dead is a 2007 American crime thriller film directed by Sidney Lumet. The film was written by Kelly Masterson, and stars Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ethan Hawke, Marisa Tomei, and Albert Finney. The title comes from the Irish saying: "May you be in heaven a full half-hour before the devil knows you're dead". The film unfolds in a nonlinear narrative, repeatedly going back and forth in time, with some scenes shown repeatedly from differing points of view. It was the last film directed by Lumet before his death in 2011.

<i>Rachel Getting Married</i> 2008 American film by Jonathan Demme

Rachel Getting Married is a 2008 American drama film directed by Jonathan Demme, and starring Anne Hathaway, Rosemarie DeWitt, Bill Irwin, and Debra Winger. The film premiered at the 65th Venice International Film Festival on September 3, 2008, opened in Canada's Toronto International Film Festival on September 6 and released in the U.S. to select theaters on October 3. Hathaway received an Oscar nomination for Best Actress for her performance in the film.

Jenny Lumet is an American actress and screenwriter. She is the daughter of director Sidney Lumet and granddaughter of Lena Horne. Lumet is perhaps most known for writing the original screenplay of the 2008 Jonathan Demme film Rachel Getting Married, and her work on the Star Trek franchise.

<i>Bullhead</i> (film) 2011 Belgian film

Bullhead is a 2011 Belgian crime film written and directed by Michaël R. Roskam and starring Matthias Schoenaerts. The film is about the prohibited use of growth hormones on cattle by farmers with ties to organised crime "hormone mafia", and tells the story of Jacky Vanmarsenille, a young Limburgish farmer, who is approached by his veterinarian to make a deal with a West-Flemish beef trader. But the murder of a federal policeman, and an unexpected confrontation with a mysterious secret from Jacky's past, set in motion a chain of events with far-reaching consequences.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sidney Lumet filmography</span> List of works by the American filmmaker

Sidney Lumet was an American film director, producer, and screenwriter.

References

  1. "The Morning After (1986)". AFI Catalog of Feature Films . Retrieved November 15, 2021.
  2. "The Morning After (1986)". Box Office Mojo . Retrieved May 10, 2024.
  3. 1 2 "The 59th Academy Awards – 1987". Academy Awards. Archived from the original on May 11, 2023. Retrieved June 20, 2023.
  4. "The Morning After". Rotten Tomatoes . Retrieved February 26, 2023.
  5. Rasmussen, Linda. "The Morning After (1986) – Sidney Lumet". AllMovie . Retrieved May 10, 2024.
  6. Ebert, Roger (December 25, 1986). "The Morning After Movie Review (1986)". Chicago Sun-Times . Archived from the original on December 25, 2022 via RogerEbert.com.
  7. Canby, Vincent (December 25, 1986). "Film: Fonda and Bridges in 'The Morning After". The New York Times . Archived from the original on September 26, 2020.
  8. Callahan, Dan (September 8, 2005). "DVD Review: Sidney Lumet's The Morning After on Warner Home Video". Slant Magazine . Archived from the original on February 26, 2023.
  9. "The Morning After (1986) – Sidney Lumet | Releases". AllMovie . Archived from the original on February 26, 2023.
  10. "Shout Factory: The Morning After Detailed for Blu-ray". Blu-ray.com. Archived from the original on April 21, 2023.