''After Dark, My Sweet'' is a 1990 American

neo-noir Neo-noir is a film genre that adapts the visual style and themes of 1940s and 1950s American film noir for contemporary audiences, often with more graphic depictions of violence and sexuality. During the late 1970s and the early 1980s, the term ...

crime In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a State (polity), state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definiti ...

thriller film Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre. ...

directed by James Foley, and starring Jason Patric, Rachel Ward and

Bruce Dern Bruce MacLeish Dern (born June 4, 1936) is an American actor. He has received several accolades, including the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor and the Silver Bear for Best Actor. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Suppo ...

. It is based on the 1955 Jim Thompson novel of the same name.

Plot

Ex-boxer Kevin "Kid" Collins is a drifter and an escapee from a mental hospital. In a desert town near

Palm Springs Palm Springs (Cahuilla language, Cahuilla: ''Séc-he'') is a desert resort city in Riverside County, California, United States, within the Colorado Desert's Coachella Valley. The city covers approximately , making it the largest city in Rivers ...

he meets widow Fay Anderson who convinces him to help fix up the neglected estate her husband left and lets him sleep in a trailer out back, near her dying date palms. Her acquaintance "Uncle Bud" shows up. Calling himself an ex-cop, he has long been hatching a scheme to kidnap a rich man's child and needs somebody like Collins to help carry it out. Reluctant in the beginning, Collins tries to leave and encounters Doc Goldman, who immediately can tell the young man needs to be under medical observation. Doc takes a personal interest in Collins that might include a physical attraction as well. He intrudes on Collins' relationship with the alcoholic Fay. Collins is persuaded by Uncle Bud to execute the kidnapping plan.

Cast

* Jason Patric as Kevin "Kid" Collins * Rachel Ward as Fay Anderson *

as Garrett "Uncle Bud" Stoker * George Dickerson as Doc Goldman * Mike Hagerty as Truck Driver * Rocky Giordani as Bert * Corey Carrier as Jack

Production

Filming locations

Filming took place in Mecca, California, part of the

Coachella Valley The Coachella Valley ( ) is an arid rift valley in the Colorado Desert of Southern California in Riverside County. The valley has been referred to as Greater Palm Springs and occasionally the Palm Springs Area due to the historic promine ...

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Release and reception

Box office

''After Dark, My Sweet'' was given a

limited release __FORCETOC__ Limited theatrical release is a film distribution strategy of releasing a new film in a few cinemas across a country, typically art house theaters in major metropolitan markets. Since 1994, a limited theatrical release in the Unite ...

on August 24, 1990, and grossed $244,919 on its opening weekend. It grossed a total of $2.7 million.

Critical response

Film critic

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert ( ; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American Film criticism, film critic, film historian, journalist, essayist, screenwriter and author. He wrote for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. Eber ...

included the film as part of his ''Great Movies'' list, saying, "''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 Film noir (; ) is a style of Cinema of the United States, Hollywood Crime film, crime dramas that emphasizes cynicism (contemporary), cynical attitudes and motivations. The 1940s and 1950s are generally regarded as the "classic period" of Ameri ...

. It captures above all the lonely, exhausted lives of its characters." '' Variety'' also received the film favorably: "Director/co-writer 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." 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."

Peter Travers Peter Joseph Travers (born June 27, 1943) is an American film critic, journalist, and television presenter. He reviews films for ABC News and previously served as a movie critic for ''People'' and ''Rolling Stone''. Travers also hosts the film i ...

of ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'' wrote: "Patric is sensational as Collie; the pretty-boy actor ... is unrecognizable behind Collie's coarse stubble, slack jaw and haunted stare. Patric occupies a complex character with mesmerizing conviction. Like Thompson's prose, his performance is both repellent and fascinating." When the video was released in 1991, ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American online magazine, digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, ...

'' film critic Melissa Pierson wrote: "Fittingly, director James Foley (''

At Close Range ''At Close Range'' is a 1986 American neo-noir crime drama film directed by James Foley from a screenplay written by Nicholas Kazan, based on the real life rural Pennsylvania crime family led by Bruce Johnston Sr. which operated during the 1 ...

'') 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). Together, they visit a place where desire and pain are indistinguishable, and everything goes twistingly awry." In an interview with Robert K. Elder for his book '' The Best Film You've Never Seen'', director Austin Chick praises the movie for its cinematography, stating: "It's beautifully shot ... every frame and every camera move is clearly thought out and brilliantly, beautifully executed."

References

External links

* * * * at Film Noir of the Week by film historian

Alain Silver Alain Silver is an American film producer, director, and screenwriter; music producer; film critic, film historian, DVD commentator, author and editor of books and essays on film topics, especially film noir, the samurai film, and horror films. ...

* ( Lionsgate Entertainment YouTube account) {{Jim Thompson 1990 films 1990 crime thriller films 1990 psychological thriller films 1990s American films 1990s English-language films American crime thriller films American neo-noir films English-language crime thriller films Films about kidnapping in the United States Films based on American novels Films based on Jim Thompson novels Films based on thriller novels Films directed by James Foley Films scored by Maurice Jarre Films set in Palm Springs, California