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 byJames Hicks
David Rayfiel (uncredited)
Produced byBruce Gilbert
Starring
Cinematography Andrzej Bartkowiak
Edited byJoel Goodman
Music by Paul Chihara
Production
companies
American Filmworks
Lorimar Productions
Distributed by 20th Century Fox
Release date
  • December 25, 1986 (1986-12-25)
Running time
103 minutes
LanguageEnglish
Budget$15 million [1]
Box office$25.1 million [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 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 and was a moderate commercial success, grossing $25.1 million against its $15 million budget. 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 with 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 "Jackie" 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 Jackie'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 Jackie. 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 Jackie's salon, and he agrees to style her hair in attempt to further conceal her identity.

Alex stays at Jackie's salon while he attends a dinner with his new lover, socialite Isabel Harding, and is startled when Turner appears there. Jackie 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 Jackie framed Alex for the crime to protect her. Jackie 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 Jackie before losing consciousness again and saving Alex. Police arrive and Isabel turns on Jackie, 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.

Cast

Release

Critical response

As of 2023 the film holds a 63% approval rating on the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, based on 19 reviews. [4] 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. [5]

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. [9]

Related Research Articles

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

Network is a 1976 American satirical drama film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, written by Paddy Chayefsky and directed by Sidney Lumet. It is about a fictional television network, the Union Broadcasting System, 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>Point of No Return</i> (1993 film) 1993 American film

Point of No Return is a 1993 American action film directed by John Badham and starring Bridget Fonda and Gabriel Byrne. It is a remake of Luc Besson's 1990 film La Femme Nikita.

<i>Klute</i> 1971 American 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, and Roy Scheider. 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.

<i>Gloria</i> (1980 film) 1980 film by John Cassavetes

Gloria is a 1980 American neo-noir crime thriller film written and directed by John Cassavetes. It tells the story of a gangster's former girlfriend who goes on the run with a young boy who is being hunted by the mob for information he may or may not have. It stars Gena Rowlands, Julie Carmen, Buck Henry, and John Adames.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bridget Fonda</span> American actress (born 1964)

Bridget Jane Fonda is an American former actress. She is known for her roles in films such as The Godfather Part III (1990), Single White Female (1992), Singles (1992), Point of No Return (1993), It Could Happen to You (1994), City Hall (1996), Jackie Brown (1997), A Simple Plan (1998), Lake Placid (1999), and Kiss of the Dragon (2001). She was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of Mandy Rice-Davies in Scandal (1989), and received Primetime Emmy and Golden Globe nominations for the television films In the Gloaming (1997) and No Ordinary Baby (2001), respectively. Fonda retired from acting in 2002.

<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 transitioning 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.

<i>Jackie Brown</i> 1997 film directed by Quentin Tarantino

Jackie Brown is a 1997 American crime film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino, based on the 1992 novel Rum Punch by Elmore Leonard. It stars Pam Grier as Jackie Brown, a flight attendant who smuggles money between the United States and Mexico. Samuel L. Jackson, Robert Forster, Bridget Fonda, Michael Keaton, and Robert De Niro appear in supporting roles.

<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 neo-noir epic 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 of the same title, by former NYPD Deputy Commissioner Robert Daley.

<i>52 Pick-Up</i> 1986 film

52 Pick-Up is a 1986 American neo-noir crime film directed by John Frankenheimer and starring Roy Scheider, Ann-Margret, and Vanity. It is based on Elmore Leonard's 1974 novel of the same name, and is the second adaptation of it after The Ambassador (1984).

<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>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>Deceived</i> 1991 American thriller film directed by Damian Harris

Deceived is a 1991 American psychological thriller film directed by Damian Harris. The script was written by Mary Agnes Donoghue and rewritten by Bruce Joel Rubin. Goldie Hawn and John Heard star, as a happily married couple whose lives are disrupted when secrets from the past are revealed.

<i>Blue Steel</i> (1990 film) 1990 film by Kathryn Bigelow

Blue Steel is a 1990 American action thriller film directed by Kathryn Bigelow and starring Jamie Lee Curtis, Ron Silver and Clancy Brown. The film is about a police officer who shoots and kills a robbery suspect on her first day of duty and then becomes involved with a witness of the shooting.

<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 1900 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>The Boston Strangler</i> (film) 1968 film by Richard Fleischer

The Boston Strangler is a 1968 American biographical crime drama film directed by Richard Fleischer and starring Tony Curtis, Henry Fonda, George Kennedy, Mike Kellin, Murray Hamilton, Sally Kellerman and William Hickey. It is loosely based on the true story of the Boston Strangler and the 1966 book of the same name by Gerold Frank.

<i>Wait Until Dark</i> (film) 1967 film by Terence Young

Wait Until Dark is a 1967 American psychological thriller film directed by Terence Young and produced by Mel Ferrer, from a screenplay by Robert Carrington and Jane-Howard Carrington, based on the 1966 play of the same name by Frederick Knott. The film stars Audrey Hepburn as a blind woman, Alan Arkin as a violent criminal searching for drugs, and Richard Crenna as another criminal, supported by Jack Weston, Julie Herrod, and Efrem Zimbalist Jr.

References

  1. ↑ "The Morning After". AFI Catalog of Feature Films . American Film Institute . Retrieved November 15, 2021.
  2. ↑ The Morning After at Box Office Mojo
  3. 1 2 "The 59th Academy Awards - 1987". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Archived from the original on May 11, 2023. Retrieved June 20, 2023.
  4. ↑ "The Morning After". Rotten Tomatoes . Retrieved February 26, 2023.
  5. 1 2 "The Morning After – Releases". AllMovie . Archived from the original on February 26, 2023.
  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. ↑ "Shout Factory: The Morning After Detailed for Blu-ray". Blu-ray.com. Archived from the original on April 21, 2023.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.