Movies - Manhunter

Home > Listing Index > Movies > Manhunter (film)

	Movies - Manhunter

Manhunter (1986; see also 1986 in film) is a film based on Thomas Harris' 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, Dennis Farina and Tom Noonan. The cinematographer/director of photography was Dante Spinotti.

Petersen plays Will Graham, a former FBI agent 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 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 positive critical response.

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
Stephen Lang
... Freddy Lounds
Joan Allen
... Reba McClane
Tom Noonan
... Francis Dollarhyde
Frankie Faison
... Lt. Fisk

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 an excellent commentary track by Mann. Finally, in 2004, MGM released a pan and scanned version of the movie that was the one seen in theaters.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Manhunter (film) ]

This page is based on the copyrighted Wikipedia article Manhunter (film); it is used under the GNU Free Documentation License. You may redistribute it, verbatim or modified, providing that you comply with the terms of the GFDL.

Searches on eBay