What 1985 Scorsese film stars Griffin Dunne as a nightmarish night out?

The 1985 Martin Scorsese film starring Griffin Dunne in a nightmarish night out is “After Hours.”

Dunne plays Paul Hackett, a mild-mannered computer clerk whose late-night trip from Midtown Manhattan to SoHo spirals into a chain of increasingly strange disasters. A lost $20 bill, a sudden subway fare increase, suspicious neighbors, thieves, hostile strangers, and a false burglary accusation all prevent him from getting home.

The film began as a screenplay by Joseph Minion, originally connected to the title “One Night in Soho.” Scorsese became attached after the collapse of other projects and shaped the material into a fast, paranoid black comedy. The story’s Kafkaesque logic makes ordinary urban inconveniences feel like an inescapable nightmare.

“After Hours” also stars Rosanna Arquette, Linda Fiorentino, Teri Garr, John Heard, and Catherine O’Hara. It was photographed by Michael Ballhaus, scored by Howard Shore, and later won Scorsese the Best Director award at the 1986 Cannes Film Festival.