Recently watched: psychological thriller The Morning After (1986). Tagline: “Last night she drank to forget. Today she woke up to a murder. Is he her last hope or the last man she should trust?” Dir: Sidney Lumet.
On Thanksgiving morning, washed-up, middle-aged alcoholic actress Viveca Van Loren (Jane Fonda) awakens with a thunderous hangover in an unfamiliar bedroom lying next to an unfamiliar man. (Her first line of dialogue: “What the fuck?”). She was black-out drunk and has zero recollection of the night before. Understandably, Viveca panics when she realizes her bed-mate is a corpse – with a bloody knife protruding from his chest! Is someone trying to frame her for his murder? Is she in danger? Turner Kendall (Jeff Bridges), a sympathetic ex-cop with problems of his own, seemingly offers Viveca a lifeline – and maybe a chance for redemption.
I hadn’t revisited The Morning After (currently streaming for free on YouTube) in many years. I love its atmospheric view of the underbelly of Los Angeles and Viveca’s life on the fringes of show business. (Befitting a fallen glamour girl, she resides in a frou-frou dusty rose apartment in a pink stucco Art Deco building). It probably succeeds best as a downbeat character study of the tentative budding romance between the unlikely duo of Viveca and Turner. Fonda slays, but it would be interesting to see how her peers Tuesday Weld or Faye Dunaway would interpret Viveca (in her broader moments, Fonda sometimes seems to be doing a Dunaway impersonation). And with a few minor tweaks it’s easy to imagine The Morning After making a great woman-in-peril noir vehicle for Crawford, Stanwyck or Davis in the 1950s (it recalls Davis as an ageing actress on the skids in The Star). The cast includes Raul Julia, Diane Salinger (Simone from Pee-wee’s Big Adventure!) and a fleeting appearance from an unknown young Kathy Bates. One nice detail: Viveca relies on loyal gay confidantes for support. On the lam and needing a change of clothes, she visits a drag queen friend. Before that, a sympathetic gay bartender (played by Bruce Vilanch!) comps her a free drink. Best exchange: Alex: “I was being groomed to be the next Vera Miles.” Turner: “Who?” Alex: “See! I was getting ready to replace somebody the public didn't even know was missing!”
vaporwave
blakekathryn
kianamaiart
izzy806
germansingergirl
romaincrisis
gummygunk
