Paramount
Home Video | Review by Dan Taylor
I've always believed that
a true "director" could extract
a winning performance from anyone. People
who either weren't "actors" or
actors you simply wouldn't expect in the
role. Think Tod Browning's FREAKS. How about
Spike Lee's SHE'S GOTTA HAVE IT? Or the
performances Betty Thomas got from Howard
Stern and Co. in PRIVATE
PARTS?
With that criteria in mind,
John Frankenheimer will go down in my cinema
history as one of the finest directors on
record. Take THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE. Sure,
anybody can make Angela Lansbury annoying
(as evidenced by years of 'Murder, She Wrote'),
but he also got Ol' Blue Eyes to rise above
his crooner image and participate in one
of cinema's first kung-fu fights!
Then there's his adaptation
of Elmore Leonard's 52 Pick-Up starring
Roy Schieder (JAWS, JAWS 2) and Ann-Margret
(VIVA LAS VEGAS!, CC AND COMPANY) delivering
the goods as a couple trying to extract
themselves from a blackmail/kidnapping case.
Next to UNDER COVER, LIFEFORCE and DANGEROUSLY
CLOSE, this is one of the best non-Michael
Dudikoff flicks ever released by
Cannon.
But, it's SECONDS that'll
forever etch the Frankenheimer name in my
movie memory bank. Based on the novel by
David Ely, the flick chronicles the tale
of a frustrated businessman (played with
glassy-eyed boredom by the excellent John
Randolph) who is given the opportunity to
start over again. No, it's not one of those
zany-body-exchange comedies we were spoiled
with a few years ago (ie, VICE VERSA, 18
AGAIN, ALL OF ME). Instead, Randolph's character
is blackmailed into being "reborn"
via painful reconstructive surgery, hair
transplants, and physical therapy at the
hands of Oscar Goldman from tv's 'The Six-Million
Dollar Man' (Richard Anderson).
Amazingly, the boring, dumpy
load emerges as Antiochus "Tony"
Wilson, a Malibu-based painter now played
by Rock Hudson. And, much to his dismay,
despite the exciting new exterior, the boring
old interior still remains.
Shot in harrowing black and
white (by Oscar-nominated James Wong Howe),
SECONDS charts his course as he unsuccessfully
attempts to adjust to his new surroundings,
and eventually succumbs to his desire to
find out where he erred in the first place.
With what we now know about Hudson's secret
life, the main character's dilemma is made
that much more powerful.
Unavailable on video since
its theatrical release in the mid-1960s's,
SECONDS is a largely-unheralded masterpiece
of modern cinema. Before some hacky Tarantino wannabe goes and remakes it do yourself a favor and rent
the original. I defy any reader to come
away from the last 5 minutes unshaken.
