10 Best Opening Scenes In Martin Scorsese Films

After Hours is one of the lesser appreciated films of Martin Scorsese’s famed career.

The dark comedy revolves around a series of unfortunate events in the lower Manhattan neighbourhood of SoHo. Griffin Dunne stars as bored office worker Paul Hackett, who uncharacteristically adventures into the nightlife of New York City after meeting the intriguing Marcy Franklin (Rosanna Arquette) at a cafe.

What follows is misfortune and chaos for Paul, who ends up meeting a variety of strangers and oddballs in a desperate effort to get back home.

At the office, Paul is teaching a younger colleague how to input data into a computer. The process is fairly dull and mundane, leading to the colleague remarking, “I do not intend to be stuck doing this for the rest of my life”.

Paul is hardly satisfied with his own job and, following the exchange, he stares blankly at the desks of his other colleagues. He then proceeds to leave the office, unaware of the crazy night that is ahead of him.

This opening sequence is not action-packed or filled with suspense, but strangely it is quite mesmerizing. Paul, like many people in real life, had settled for the convention and security of the regularity of everyday living. But on this day, he decided that he wanted to experience something a little bit different.