After Hours

Upon its premiere in 1985, Martin Scorsese’s cult favorite After Hours left legendary film critic Roger Ebert feeling so drained and “emotionally depleted” that he contemplated leaving the theater to gather his thoughts ... and maybe return later to take in the rest of what was billed as a “comedy.” Mashing up perplexing elements plucked from the Bohemian universe of Franz Kafka and surrealist radio personality Joe Frank’s monologue Lies, the film follows bored computer programmer Paul Hacket (Griffin Dunne) on a seemingly endless night as he falls down a New York City rabbit hole populated by a mysterious, potentially suicidal love interest (Rosanna Arquette), a kinky sculptress (Linda Fiorentino), a jaded bartender (John Heard) and a washed-up waitress (Teri Garr) — not to mention Cheech and Chong, and an array of assorted punks and nutjobs. Recently rebooted in pop-cultural conversations due to its clear influence on the Safdie Brothers’ 1980s-inspired crime drama Good Time (even the movie posters bear an uncanny resemblance), the enigmatic classic screens at the McNay in conjunction with the museum’s Get Reel Film Series and the Chuck Ramirez retrospective “All This and Heaven Too.”