After Dark, My Sweet (1990)

☆ ☆ ☆ ½

After Dark, My Sweet (1990) – J. Foley

How many of my reviews begin with “I haven’t read the source novel…”?  Well, here is another one, although I probably should give Jim Thompson a look since I do enjoy noir (and pulp fiction – at least Hammett, Chandler, et al.).  Here, his novel has been updated to 1990 and since its set in the desert, the shadows are all in one’s head rather than physical (given the hot sun everywhere).  “Kid” Collins (Jason Patric) is an ex-boxer who may have killed someone in the ring and then spent time in mental institutions – he’s out, possibly on the run. He gets mixed up with Fay (Rachel Ward) and Uncle Bud (Bruce Dern) who have cooked up a scheme to kidnap a rich kid and ask for a big ransom.  They convince Collins to do the heavy lifting but he begins to suspect that they are going to play him for a sucker.  So, it’s a standard noir set-up and Patric sinks himself into the role of the loser, complete with broken-down shuffle and hapless voiceover.  We never quite know whether Fay is bad or good, probably because we are seeing things through Collins’ point of view – he can’t decide because he desires her but senses a trap.  Uncle Bud is much easier to read – he’s obviously deceptive.  Dern shows again how much he can make of a good part – even if he had few of them during this point in his career.  Overall, it’s a slow burn that never quite bursts into fire.  You are there for the characters and the tension and not for any significant plot twists or action.  But director James Foley and the cast do capture that particular mood…