After the Game was released in 1997 in the United States of America. This film is also known as The Last Hand and Blutiges Spiel.  The DVD, The Last Hand was released in 2004.  After the Game was made by Lions Gate Home Entertainment, which is the home video and DVD distribution arm of Lions Gate Entertainment.  The film has a running time of 89 minutes.   It was produced by Robert Peters and Roy Winnick.  The music was produced by Colin Leese and cinematography by Arturo Smith.

Brewster MacWilliams

After the Game was directed and written by Brewster MacWilliams also known as Bruce MacWilliams.  Brewster MacWilliams studied filmmaking at Columbia University and also earned a BA from Cornell University in architecture, photography and creative writing. After the Game was an independent feature film which was showcased at the Cannes Film festival.  He has also produced another feature film, Trombone with Justin Floyd and produces commercials.  In 2003 at the Cannes Film Festival Brewster was selected by Saatchi and Saatchi as one the best commercial directors in the world and he was ranked as the 3rd best commercial director by Shots Magazine in 2004.

Genre

After the game falls into the category of Neo-noir which is French for “black film” or film of the night and was inspired by the Series Noir which were a series of books about hard-boiled American crime authors and became very popular in France. This film falls under the genre of drama and mystery and is a crime fiction murder mystery. The theme of the film is “after the game of poker” and “after the game of life”. The movie looks at themes such as revenge, lust, greed, deceit, karma and the afterlife.

Parental Guidance

After the game is rated R, parental guidance is advised for those under 17 years of age. The film contains scenes with strong violence, sexuality, drug content and language.

Storyline

Benny Walsh lives for gambling and on the night that he wins big he is mysteriously killed in a car accident. All of the money that Walsh won has disappeared.

Walsh’s son, Clyde is suspicious and returns to Nevada to investigate the death of his father.  While investigating he finds out that each of his father’s gambling friends had a motive to kill him.  On his search for the truth Clyde has to deal with danger and is constantly having to watch his back.  Clyde finds out that the police are corrupt and are on the take.  The police have closed the investigation, ruling it an accident, even though all the evidence points to it being a murder.  Clyde also finds out from Slim, the bartender, how much money his father had won.

Cast

The cast of After the Game includes Robert Dubac who plays the son Clyde Walsh, Frank Gorshin plays Benny Walsh the father.  Grace is played by Hudson Lieck, Stanley DeSantis plays Frank Bertini, Sam Anderson plays Jimmy Walsh, Richard Lineback plays Slim, Susan Traylor plays Veronica, Mike Genovese plays Sam Kawalski, Gerard Ismael plays Jean Luc, Lou Rawls plays Joe Wilkins the morgue attendant, Donna Eskra plays Dolly, Daniel Zacapa plays Detective Garica, Duke is played by David Keith Muller and the 3 cops are played by Joe Basile, John Shumski and Mark McPherson.

After the Game is an action packed film full of suspense and mystery and will keep viewers entertained wondering who killed Benny Walsh.