Catherine O’Hara’s sudden passing has sent shockwaves through the entertainment world. Yet amid this tragic loss, her legacy continues to live on through her extraordinary body of work, particularly in the realm of comedies. While most might remember the actor for her performances in classics like Schitt’s Creek, Home Alone, or her breakout sketch comedy SCTV, one of O’Hara’s most intriguing early performances arrives in Martin Scorsese‘s After Hours.
Although many tend to associate Scorsese solely with gangster thrillers, they only make up for a fraction of his decades-long filmography. While the auteur did delve into comedies before, After Hours was his first pure comedy, notable for its dream-like atmosphere, and it stands out as unlike anything the Oscar winner has done since. It also has the prestige of earning a perfect score from the late Roger Ebert, who called it the tensest comedy he could remember.
MovieIMDbTomatometer | PopcornmeterRoger EbertAfter Hours7.690% | 87%4/4
Catherine O’Hara Shines as the Unforgettable Gail in After Hours
The Black Comedy stars Griffin Dunne in the role of Paul Hackett, a lonely word-processing specialist, who is subject to a series of misadventures over the period of a single night after coming across Rosanna Arquette’s Marcy.
After Hours is unpredictable at every turn throughout its 97-minute runtime, and its surrealism just adds to the experience. While Dunne and Arquette are undoubtedly the highlights of this nightmarish odyssey, the movie is bustling with eccentric figures. Among them is Catherine O’Hara’s Gail, an ice cream truck vendor, who is one of the several oddball characters Paul meets during his surreal night.
Although she initially offers Paul help after accidentally injuring him, Gail’s erratic behavior keeps distracting him, and she eventually turns on Paul, joining the neighborhood’s angry mob. Like the rest of the movie, her brief yet impactful performance stays with the audience, and the supporting cast is one of the key reasons why it fared so well among critics. The movie itself stands as an overlooked masterpiece that deserves the same recognition as Scorsese’s more traditional affairs.
Martin Scorsese Honors Catherine O’Hara in a Heartfelt Tribute
Even though Scorsese and O’Hara’s working history remained confined to the latter’s stint as the eccentric ice cream vendor in the surreal classic, like the rest of us, the auteur expressed that he’s going to miss her artistry in the field.
A still from The Last of Us Season 2 | Credit: HBO
Although the discussion surrounding O’Hara’s brilliance often revolves around classics like Beetlejuice, Schitt’s Creek, or Home Alone, Scorsese fondly remembers her work on SCTV. In a statement to IndieWire, he recalled:
For me, and for most of my friends, it’s ‘SCTV’: all I have to do is think about one of the characters she created, like Lola Heatherton or Dusty Towne, and I’m laughing. Catherine was a true comic genius, a true artist, and a wonderful human being. I was blessed to be able to work with her on ‘After Hours,’ and I’m going to miss her presence and her artistry. We all are
Given how much she accomplished during her decades-long run in the showbiz, especially in the realm of comedy, her works, which defined a generation, will continue to resonate with viewers in the years to come.
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After Hours is available to rent on Apple TV (USA).
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