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The Morning After (1986) More at IMDbPro »

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24 comments in total

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12 out of 13 people found the following comment useful :-
Great murder mystery film, except for the murder mystery, 16 November 2002
Author: budikavlan from Irving, TX

It's a shame the filmmakers decided to make this a murder mystery, because the "mystery" is the only bad part of the film. Fonda and Bridges are both terrific, as usual, and the story of their meeting and falling in love along with the moral rebirth that love sparked in both would have made a fantastic movie. Jeff Bridges is the USA's stealth great actor: he quietly nails every role without an ounce of flash. His chemistry with Jane Fonda (hell, he has chemistry with every actress he's ever costarred with) is the best reason to watch this. Unfortunately, the heart of the plot is a lackluster murder/conspiracy story which undermines the rest. It takes "The Morning After" from a "must see" to a "see if there's nothing better."

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9 out of 12 people found the following comment useful :-
Fonda looks good as a has been, 6 September 2002
Author: Movie_Man 500 from La La Land

While Jane's last Oscar nominated performance (before she retired from films) has its moments, the film falls apart after she takes off her blonde wig. I thought she looked like a knockout with it on. Some really well photographed scenery pops up near the first half and there's a long extended sequence that has her clean up the dead man's apartment, which is filled with many sly touches; alas the beginning is ten times better and more developed than the weak conclusion. Jeff Bridges adds a nice touch to the story but was it really wise for the Fonda character to place all her trust in a total stranger? Kathy Bates has a cameo as a neighbor before she hit the big time scaring everyone in Misery. She's on the screen maybe 10 seconds to a minute, tops. Overall, the parts, as other reviewers have stated, are juicier than the whole.

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11 out of 16 people found the following comment useful :-
A minor Lumet, but still entertaining (*** out of ****), 5 May 1999

Author: Karl Rackwitz (rackwitz.karl@gmx.de) from Klein Köris, Germany

Caused by its less-than-perfect script, "The Morning After" (1986) seems a little pretentious and is not as suspenseful as it could be. But, thanks to the good acting by Jane Fonda and Jeff Bridges and Lumet's direction, this is still a solid thriller. If you haven't seen any Sidney Lumet films yet, you probably shouldn't start with "The Morning After", which is definitely one of the master's minor works. He has made a lot of really brilliant motion pictures, like "12 Angry Men" (1957), "Long Day's Journey Into Night" (1962), "The Pawnbroker" (1965), "The Hill" (1965), "Serpico" (1973), "Dog Day Afternoon" (1975), "Network" (1976), "Prince of the City" (1981), "The Verdict" (1982), "Daniel" (1983) and "Running on Empty" (1988).

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10 out of 16 people found the following comment useful :-
What a beautiful LA!, 2 November 2003
Author: NOEL ARAGONSS from Salinas, Spain

I Think I´ll never see again the city of Los Angeles so beautiful like in this movie. The sky is so blue that the color seems made in a laboratory. The shining California sun gives a very lighted look to all the scenes filmed on street locations. Jane Fonda, playing an alcoholic but also a sensual lady, is brilliant too and so sexy as she was in 1971, when she won the Oscar for "Klute". You´ll enjoy watching "The Morning After", if you love LA, the sunny days and ladies like Jane Fonda.

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4 out of 5 people found the following comment useful :-
All the right ingredients but what happened?..., 23 December 2006

Author: Neil Doyle from U.S.A.

THE MORNING AFTER is one of those films that begins with an intriguing opening--JANE FONDA wakes up in bed next to a murdered man and, because she was in an alcoholic daze, can't remember even entering the man's apartment. So far, so good. Nice hook to draw the viewer in.

But as the story unwinds, it becomes clear that the writers ran out of material for a substantial story about midway through. The weaknesses are offset somewhat by the good performance of JEFF BRIDGES as a helpful policeman who agrees to help Fonda solve the who-dun-it aspect of her plight.

It's all beautifully staged and photographed in a sunlit Los Angeles and worth watching for the performances alone. Fonda is at her best as the worried alcoholic who refuses to believe she could have committed the crime and Bridges provides some good chemistry as a co-star.

But the ending (with its revelation) is a bit disappointing after all the build-up to a conclusion. RAOUL JULIA and KATHY BATES have minor roles but the weak ending is hard to dismiss.

Fonda won an Oscar nomination and deserved it for creating a dimensional character in a story thin on believable characters.

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6 out of 9 people found the following comment useful :-
* *1/2 out of 4., 28 September 2001
Author: Brandon L. Sites (brandonsites1981@yahoo.com)

Jane Fonda stars as struggling, alcholic actress who wakes up one morning next to a dead, murdered courpse, only she doesn't remember anything about the night before, doesn't even know who the murdered person is, or why she is being set up.

Jane Fonda turns in a terrific Oscar nominated performance in this thriller that manages to entertain and scare every once a while, but mainly fails due to a poor script. What a shame with that cast and director though.

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3 out of 4 people found the following comment useful :-
Pretty good who "dun-it", 21 August 2003
Author: nutty227 from USA

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

I kind of like this movie, really always have.Jeff Bridges is outstanding, J.Fonda is great, and Raul Julia is also fantastic.On top of all that, Sydney Lumet does a decent job directing too.

SPOILERS: Basically, Jeff Bridges shines as a Bakersfield ex-cop named Kendall Turner,a real good ole' boy, who has all sorts of hillarious remarks about minorities and prostitution, but in reality he's a decent guy who believes in old fashioned values.Fonda plays a lush, who is fixated on her past as an actress who never quite made it.The late Raul Julia plays a Hollywood hair dresser named Jackie, who is an estranged husband of Fonda.Without giving away too much of the plot, I'll just say it has a decent and unlikely ending, pretty well conceived.Fonda is not sure if she's being framed for a murder she didn't commit, or if she actually stabbed a porn photographer in the chest with a kitchen knife,while on one of her drunken binges.In one scene early in the film, it becomes apparent someone is hiding in a closet of a loft apartment,watching Fonda as she attempts to cover her tracks in the dead man's residence.A cat wanders into the closet, and when she calls for it, she notices the door has been closed,.....ON ITS OWN!!! A chilling sequence,to say the very least.

If you dig murder mysteries, than check this one out,from circa 1986.

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1 out of 1 people found the following comment useful :-
Lumet in California, bravo Bartkowiak, 27 November 2008

Author: manuel-pestalozzi from Zurich, Switzerland

This movie was much better than I had reason to expect after reading the comments on IMDb. Its biggest flaw must be the way The Morning After is marketed. It is not really a taut whodunit thriller but rather a study of a particular place in a particular era with particular characters – a dark comedy and a love drama at the same time. The second biggest flaw is the grating, almost ever present musical score. But for the rest this movie is nearly perfect.

I should call The Morning After an expose of Southern California in the mid 1980s. The sets and the photography (a lot frontal or near frontal wide angle shots of curbside sceneries) are very accomplished – Schrader's American Gigolo came to mind. The sun is always shining, the air seems to be absolutely pure, even places that should be dirty (back yards, industrial sites etc.) are painted in gaudy colors and squeaky clean. But the minds of the principal protagonists are desperately foggy and muddled. California appears to be a big, decaying fake idyll. People go there to die, I once read in a novel by Nathanael West (The Day of the Locust – also made into a great, underrated California movie, by the way). And that more or less sums up the feel of it.

The cast is kept wonderfully small. Jane Fonda is brilliant and she would have deserved the Oscar for this part. For several long scenes she acts alone in front of the camera and she really conveys the desperation and the natural charm of the character (and she's really attractive, too, despite the boozing). Jeff Bridges is a reliable support here. Also very good is Raul Julia as Fonda's somehow estranged husband. He plays a high end hairdresser with a snazzy salon and at times displays an unexpected but highly welcome gentlemanly charm.

Until now I always thought of Sidney Lumet as an American East Coast director. It is the only one of his movies I know that is set in California. He seems to have his own way of appreciating that place. There is a director's comment on the DVD I purchased and I am looking forward to listening to that.

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1 out of 1 people found the following comment useful :-
A could have been, 27 December 2007

Author: ryancm from United States

For what it is, MORNING AFTER is good, but could have been great with a sturdier screen play. Interesting premise, but somehow it really doesn't take off. The ending is denouncement is convoluted and not very satisfying. Hard to believe that what happened actually happened! One major error is when Jeff Bridges leaves Jane Fonda off and she goes back into the loft. Bright daylight. When she enters its completely dark out as she closes the drapes. Bad continuity. This is basically a two character movie, maybe three with the Raoul character. Noboby else has anything than a bit. Look close for Kathy Bates before she hit it big. All toll, worth a look, but don't think too hard.

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5 out of 9 people found the following comment useful :-
The Light vs The Dark, 26 August 2003
Author: Gidget from California, USA

This film most closely resembles the Film Noir of the 40's & 50's in feel and form. The only difference is the open light of LA on the Thanksgiving weekend. The scene at the airport communicates how much this City (LA) is a city where everyone comes from somewhere else. The great evacuation scene at LAX leaves lonely people like Fonda and Bridges behind, and is meant to explain the relative vacant feel of the town throughout the rest of the film.

The bright autumn light and vacant cityscape during the film is a surrealistic version of LA, which even a native like me seldom gets to see. The rest of the film is much like a "B" film noir picture, where we wonder (but not seriously) whether Jane's charter may have actually done the deed in a drunken haze, and whether the Cop's will be able to get the right killer.

I love this film, not only for the scenes of LA, but for the good suspense generated by the unseen evil lurking in the all to limited shadows.

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