Manhunter (film)
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Manhunter is a 1986 thriller film based on Thomas Harris's novel Red Dragon. Directed by Michael Mann, it features Brian Cox as the popular character Hannibal Lecter (spelled "Lecktor" in the film, the only time in the series), and stars William Petersen, Joan Allen, Kim Greist, Dennis Farina and Tom Noonan. The cinematographer/director of photography was Dante Spinotti.
Petersen plays Will Graham, a former FBI who captured the infamous Lecter and was almost killed in the process; he is so traumatized by the event that he retires from the FBI. His former partner, Jack Crawford, calls him out of retirement to help find a killer called "The Tooth Fairy" who is murdering entire families. Graham is a profiler who has an uncanny ability to get into the mind of a killer and think as he does. Graham visits Lecter in prison in order to help get back in the state of mind necessary to empathize with a psychopath.
There is a subplot about the Tooth Fairy himself, a tortured soul named Francis Dollarhyde (Dolarhyde in the novel), played by Noonan in a critically acclaimed performance, falling in love with a blind coworker named Reba McClane, interfering with his killing spree.
The movie has a distinctive 1980s, "Miami Vice" feel to it: There is heavy emphasis on washed out pastels, the homes feature white minimalist decor, and the soundtrack features synthesizers as well as acoustic tracks. The director, Michael Mann, also produced the Miami Vice series. The song "Heartbeat," performed by Red 7, which plays over the closing credits, also features in an episode of Miami Vice.
Despite generally positive critical reviews the film was a box office failure. After The Silence of the Lambs (which was never approached by Orion as a sequel to Manhunter due to said box office failure) was released in 1991, it experienced something of a revival on video and later as a DVD release. In 2002, another adaptation of the book, titled Red Dragon, was released. It was more faithful to the novel but included more screen-time for Lecter's character, who only appears in a few scenes in the book. The remake was subjected to a mostly mixed critical response. [link] Mann's original has been called the best of the Lecter series. [link]
Whether Anthony Hopkins or Brian Cox is the better Hannibal Lecter is a topic of frequent and often passionate discussion on various internet forums.
Cast
- William Petersen ... Will Graham
- Kim Greist ... Molly Graham
- Dennis Farina ... Jack Crawford
- Brian Cox ... Hannibal Lecktor [sic]
- Stephen Lang ... Freddy Lounds
- Joan Allen ... Reba McClane
- Tom Noonan ... Francis Dollarhyde [sic]
- Frankie Faison ... Lt. Fisk
- Bill Smitrovich ... Lloyd Bowman
DVD availability
Manhunter has been available in various versions on DVD. Anchor Bay released a Limited Edition 2-DVD set in 2000 that featured an erroneously labelled "Theatrical Cut" (it actually omits some footage from the theatrical version and features some material from the "Director's Cut") and Mann's "Director's Cut" along with some nice retrospective featurettes. A standard edition was also released at the same time that only featured the "Theatrical Cut." In 2003, Anchor Bay went back to the well and released the "Restored Director's Cut" which is very close to the "Director's Cut" on the 2000 disc but omits one scene. It does, however, feature a commentary track by Mann. Finally, in 2004, MGM released a pan and scanned version of the movie that was the one seen in theaters.
Trivia
- Frankie Faison is the only person to appear in all four Hannibal Lecter films, having played Lt. Fisk in Manhunter and Barney, the orderly, in The Silence of the Lambs, Hannibal, and Red Dragon.
- When the film was first broadcast on TV, the title was changed to Red Dragon: The Pursuit of Hannibal Lecter. This was done to capitalize on the success of The Silence of the Lambs; however, the title change was misleading, since when Manhunter begins, Lecktor has already been captured and incarcerated (though if the "pursuit of Hannibal Lecter" refers to Lecktor's pursuit of Graham, it makes some sense). The title change also misspells "Lecktor".
- The film was originally going to use the novel's title, Red Dragon. When Year of the Dragon (1985) bombed at the box office, writer/director Michael Mann decided to change the title. Also, Mann was concerned that moviegoers would mistake this for another kung fu action movie, as many of those have the word Dragon prominently in their title (an example being the Bruce Lee film Enter The Dragon (1973)).
- According to an interview with Brian Cox, John Lithgow, Mandy Patinkin, and Brian Dennehy were all considered for the role of Hannibal Lecktor before Cox himself was cast.
- Many scenes were filmed in Atlanta. The asylum was actually that city's High Museum of Art.
- Because William Petersen's role was so emotionally exhausting, he did everything he could to rid himself of Will Graham after principal photography wrapped. Petersen shaved off his beard, cut his hair and dyed it blonde.
- Will Graham's home in Captiva, Florida is actually the home of artist Robert Rauschenberg.
- In an interview, Cox said that he based his portrayal of Hannibal Lecter on Scottish serial killer Peter Manuel.
- William Petersen and Dennis Farina currently have leading roles on the flagship television series ( and Law & Order, respectively) of competing U.S. television networks (CBS and NBC, respectively).
- In a third season episode of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Tom Noonan played an illusionist pursued by forensic scientist Gil Grissom, who is played by William Petersen.
- David Lynch was the first director attached to Manhunter, but he eventually left the project and was replaced by Mann. During this time, screenwriter Walon Green wrote a draft of the script, and though he is uncredited on the final film itself, many online resources list him as a co-writer.
- In the Red Dragon novel, Francis Dolarhyde's last name is spelled with only one "l," but for some reason, Michael Mann added an extra one in the screenplay.
- William Blake actually painted a series of four watercolors depicting the Great Red Dragon (his name for Satan), two of which depict the red dragon with a woman. One of these two is "The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed with the Sun" which shows the Great Red Dragon's back as he towers over a woman and this is the picture that so dominates Dolarhyde's mental state that he had it tattooed on his back in the novel. The other painting shows the great red dragon floating over a woman is "The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed with the Sun: The Devil Is Come Down", a similarly named but definitely different painting—yet this other painting is the one that is shown a few times in Manhunter.
- In the novel, Will Graham's son is called Young Willy, but he is renamed Kevin for the movie, with no explanation that Graham is not his biological father.
- After the film's completion, Dennis Farina, Bill Smitrovich and Stephen Lang joined the cast of the Michael Mann produced TV series Crime Story. That series also featured Ted Levine, who played serial killer Buffalo Bill in The Silence of the Lambs.
External links
- [Manhunter - a Michael Mann Film from 1986]
- [Manhunter - Complete Resource Site]
- [The Hannibal Lecter Studiolo]
| Hannibal Lecter Film>films Young Hannibal (based on Behind the Mask) Red Dragon / Manhunter The Silence of the Lambs Hannibal |
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