1. After Hours
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLHM-wPecz0 Let me preface this with the fact that I dont believe that this is the greatest trailer ever made. Its up there, but its not the top of the list. This trailer, however, is the only one I would want to end this ranking, for the simple reason that it flies in the face of everything that Ive said before. It breaks the rules, and it does it brilliantly. As I said when we first started, a trailer should give the viewer a taste of the movie its selling. The After Hours trailer, however, gives us more than a taste; it essentially gives us the whole plot. According to all common sense and our unofficial trailer laws, this trailer should fall on its face. This trailer defies said laws and still manages to work because of its manic energy, which is exactly the kind of energy that this film is filled with. This trailer is one of the fastest-moving that youll ever watch, due to two elements. Griffin Dunne is the first of these two elements. The trailer is narrated by Dunne, telling a man about a very strange night hes had. Its a night filled with crazy bartenders, homicidal women driving ice-cream trucks, hastily improvised haircuts, and suicides. Its obviously not a night where one gets much sleep, and Dunne gives this impression of a slightly-crazed, sleep-deprived guy in his quickly-delivered, frantic re-telling of his eventful evening. The words practically stumble over themselves in their rush to get out of Dunnes mouth, and the trailer complements the speed of Dunnes delivery; the trailer seems to have been edited to the rhythm of Dunnes speech. The speech contributes to this trailers manic edge. The second element that makes the trailer is the music. Its no secret that Martin Scorsese, the director of After Hours, is a music fanatic. That fanaticism gives Scorsese a great ability to always choose the perfect song to comment on the events were seeing unfold. Some better-known examples of this ability would include the use of Harry Nilssons Jump Into the Fire and The Crystals And Then He Kissed Me in Goodfellas. You could also take a look at the trailer for The Departed, where Jack Nicholsons famous cops and criminals line is perfectly complemented by the Rolling Stones Gimme Shelter. The After Hours trailer is no exception, music-wise. Scorsese chooses three songs to score this trailer: Robert & Johnnys Youre Mine, The Monkees Last Train to Clarksville, and Peggy Lees Is That All There Is? All three songs are used brilliantly, but my personal favorite is the use of Last Train, played over the most manic moments of the trailer. The songs happy, bouncy beat makes the song a perfect companion to the funny and twisted moments were seeing unfold. The song lends an extra edge to the scene that it would not otherwise have. Assembling a great trailer is just as involved and challenging as the assembly of the film its selling. There are many elements to be juggled and added to the trailer in just the right measure. Unfortunately, sometimes, the elements just dont jibe together and a film tanks. However, genius can shine through, even in a film trailer, and the ten trailers above are just a small sampling of those shining moments. So what do you think, WhatCulture readers? Are there trailers that I should have mentioned? Do you disagree with my choices here? Let's hash it out!
Alan Howell
Contributor
Alan Howell is a native of Southern California. He loves movies of any and all kinds, Hollywood, indie, and everywhere in between. He loves pizza, sitcoms, rock and pop music, surfing, baseball, reading, and girls (not necessarily in that order).
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