Manhunter (1986)

User Rating:

7.2/10   

Director:

Michael Mann

Writers:

Thomas Harris (novel)
Michael Mann (screenplay)

Release Date:

15 August 1986 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Thriller

Tagline:

(reissue) Hannibal Lecter's legacy of evil begins here.

Plot:

An FBI specialist tracks a serial killer who appears to select his victims at random. |

Plot Keywords:

FBI | Serial Killer | Held At Gunpoint | Tiger | Child Murder

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

William Petersen	...	Will Graham
Kim Greist	...	Molly Graham
Joan Allen	...	Reba McClane
Brian Cox	...	Dr. Hannibal Lecktor
Dennis Farina	...	Jack Crawford
Tom Noonan	...	Francis Dollarhyde
Stephen Lang	...	Freddy Lounds
David Seaman	...	Kevin Graham
Benjamin Hendrickson	...	Dr. Frederick Chilton
Michael Talbott	...	Geehan
Dan Butler	...	Jimmy Price (as Dan E. Butler)
Michele Shay	...	Beverly Katz
Robin Moseley	...	Sarah
Paul Perri	...	Dr. Sidney Bloom
Patricia Charbonneau	...	Mrs. Sherman

Also Known As:

Red Dragon (USA) (original script title)
Red Dragon: The Curse of Hannibal Lecter (USA) (TV title)

Runtime:

119 min | USA:124 min (director's cut)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.20 : 1

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) | Dolby (35 mm prints)

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | Canada:R (Nova Scotia) | Iceland:16 | Ireland:18 | Brazil:16 | Argentina:16 | Australia:M | Canada:13+ (Québec) | Canada:AA (Ontario) (re-rating) | Canada:PA (Manitoba) | Canada:R (Ontario) (original rating) | France:-12 | New Zealand:R16 | Norway:18 | Singapore:PG | Sweden:15 | UK:18 | USA:R | West Germany:16

Filming Locations:

Atlanta, Georgia, USA

Company:

De Laurentiis Entertainment Group (DEG)

Trivia:

Frankie Faison (Lt. Fisk) is the only actor to appear in all four Thomas Harris "Hannibal" adaptations (he appears as Barney in The Silence of the Lambs (1991), Hannibal (2001) and Red Dragon (2002)).

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When the flaming Freddy Lounds comes down the parking ramp, the last few frames are the wheelchair hitting the Plexiglas wall through which they are filming the sequence.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Jack Crawford: We should have talked at the boatyard. You don't wanna talk about it here.
Will Graham: I'm not fallin' all over myself to talk about much anywhere, Jack.

Movie Connections:

Edited into "30 Even Scarier Movie Moments" (2006)

Soundtrack:

FREEZE

A personal fave!

Sure, it kind of looks like a long MIAMI VICE episode, but once you get past that, you'll find one of the most involving thrillers of the last 20 years. William Petersen is excellent as Will Graham. My favorite device is how Will starts out his profile addressing the killer in the third person ("The house must have felt cool to him"), then moves to the second ("You stood here and watched them"), but it's only when he lets himself move to the first person ("I enter the house") that the solution becomes clear. It's a journey that he doesn't want to make, but he knows it's the only way to find this guy before he kills again. Brian Cox is excellent as Lecter (you have to love the phone trick); it's too bad he wasn't brought on for SILENCE OF THE LAMBS. Might have sent his career into overdrive. The best sequence is the analysis of the Tooth Fairy's letter to Lecter at the lab. See if you can spot all the present-day TV stars! I count 3: the dad from LIFE GOES ON and Bletcher from the late lamented MILLENNIUM; Bulldog from FRASIER; and Chris Elliott, who now voices Dogbert on the DILBERT animated series!