SAVAGE CINEMA'S BURIED TREASURE #6: "MANHUNTER" (1986)

"MANHUNTER" (1986)
Based upon the novel Red Dragon by Thomas Harris
Written for the Screen and Directed by Michael Mann

I think that Director Jonathan Demme’s iconic psychological serial killer epic “The Silence Of The Lambs” (1991) is extremely over-rated.

Yup, I said it. And as you can now see with utmost certainty, I even published this thought as well! Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I think it is a bad movie at all. I do think that it is indeed a good one…but, defiantly, boldly, I still say that it is not a great one. I just believe that the extreme acclaim that film has received, especially during its sweep of the Academy Awards where it won Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay, was staggeringly overdone. Its ensuing legacy is one that continues to confound me.

When “The Silence Of The Lambs” was released, I was in college. I ventured out to the classic Orpheum theater on State Street, along with seemingly all of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s student population, to see what had already been receiving enormous critical acclaim. Upon exiting, seeing friends over that weekend and then, reuniting with class acquaintances the next week, the response to the film appeared to be unanimously rapturous. I even had one close friend at the time who saw the film nine times as it was an experience she could not get enough of. Yes, “The Silence Of The Lambs” did hit nearly all of the correct pressure points for me as it was undeniably an extremely disturbing film. But, something just kept me at arms length overall. It was not necessarily the graphic violence or the amount of sheer terror on display that made me resist this film—although an aspect of that did come into play. I think what bothered me most about the film was probably what may be largest “elephant in the room” and that particular elephant was Anthony Hopkins.

Now while I do not think that Hopkins delivered anything resembling a bad performance, it kept striking me as overdone and even worse, it felt to be an uninspired and completely derivative performance. For something that was being so universally praised and has endured as one of the greatest screen villains of all time, I kept crying false at what I was watching. I felt that I had seen it all before and performed much more effectively. I even felt a strange sense of empathetic jealousy as Hopkins was reaping the rewards that I felt another actor deserved. The actor in question is named Brian Cox and he was the very first actor to portray the diabolical Dr. Hannibal Lecktor (note the different spelling of the surname) in Writer/Director Michael Mann’s stylishly stunning thriller, “Manhunter.”

Released during the summer of 1986, “Manhunter” received its fair share of critical acclaim but was ultimately met with indifference at the box office and now rests in a certain level of obscurity, even for a director of Mann’s stature. However, I contend that “Manhunter,” which contains a riveting performance by Brian Cox (more on that later), is twice the film that “The Silence Of The Lambs” is considered to be and this Halloween, as you begin to seek out scary movies for home viewing, I am excited to point you in the direction of this supremely haunting film.

“Manhunter” stars William Petersen from television’s “C.S.I.” and Director William Friedkin’s savagely brutal cop thriller “To Live And Die In L.A.” (1985) as former FBI forensics detective Will Graham, who has retired from duty to carve out a new, quiet existence in Florida with his wife (Kim Griest) and young son. One day, Graham is visited by his former superior Jack Crawford (the great Mann regular, Dennis Farina) in regards to a recent string of vicious serial murders of entire families that occur during the lunar cycle and bite marks are left upon victims. The crimes are being committed by a suspect the press has named “The Tooth Fairy.” Crawford, aware of Graham’s unparalleled skill as a profiler requests that Graham return to duty for this one particular case. Graham initially refuses as his previous and final case nearly rendered him incapacitated: the hunting and capture of Dr. Hannibal Lecktor.

While Graham is trepidatious to return to the field, he eventually acquiesces and begins his search for “The Tooth Fairy” by facing down the imprisoned Dr. Lecktor for advice and counsel. Lecktor, seemingly unsurprised to receive this visit is only too willing to continue the horrific mind games that almost permanently disabled Graham during an intense reunion. “How did you catch me?” asks Lecktor slyly. Deftly attempting to maintain the upper hand, Graham remarks that the task was completed to due to Lecktor’s “disadvantages.” When asked exactly of which disadvantages to which Graham is referring, Graham tensely answers, “You’re insane.”

Meanwhile, the reticent and elusive Francis Dollarhyde (an almost unearthly Tom Noonan), the man behind the killings, is caught in a psychological and emotional quandary as he develops a crush upon blind co-worker Reba McLane (the elegant Joan Allen), who continuously shows him a level of kindness of which he is extremely unaccustomed. The remainder of “Manhunter” consists of the inevitable convergence of Graham and Dollarhyde, which builds force and urgency as the lunar cycle develops and tempts to unleash Dollarhyde’s demonic impulses once again.

“Manhunter” is an atmospheric masterpiece of creeping tension and near crippling internal crisis. The film contains all of Mann’s directorial trademarks from the sophisticated dark cinematography and set design, evocative rock and electronic music score, and a hypnotically deliberate pace, which are all filtered through Mann’s notoriously meticulous attention to detail. The film contains spellbinding imagery (Lecktor's cell, the image of a sleeping tiger, for starters) that has remained firm in my cinematic brain for almost 25 years. You will also find quietly intense performances from the entire cast, which also features Stephen Lang (currently seen as the jingoistic and bulked up military Colonel in “Avatar” as well as a smaller role in Mann’s “Public Enemies”) as a pesky journalist who turns up on the wrong end of Dollarhyde’s most horrific impulses in a sequence that is the definition of a nightmare. All of the simmering tension boils to an swiftly brutal and excellent climax set to Iron Butterfly’s hallucinogenic rock classic “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida.“

With the grim subject matter and action sequences, another tactic I appreciated tremendously from Mann is his use of actual restraint as there is actually not much on screen violence in this film. In fact, “Manhunter” is a film about the physical and psychological aftermath of unspeakable and graphic violence and the characters’ relationship with that violence. One of the very best scenes in the film is a quiet discussion, held between Graham and his son in a grocery store, about Graham’s career, responsibility and the nature of good and evil. It is simple, direct, honest and refreshingly unsentimental.

Also, “Manhunter” is another of Mann’s explorations of troubled men and their obsessive relationships with their work, be it crime fighting or murder. In Mann’s oeuvre, every job has a lugubrious process and sequence that the characters seem to be fated. With “Manhunter” and the characters of Graham and Dollarhyde, these men are no exceptions as the film works effectively as a portrait of two tortured men who are both battling to not be consumed by their deepest fears and failings. Dollarhyde’s intense inner struggle with his impulses as he is building an attraction to Rose works brilliantly in conjunction with Graham who is desperately trying to hold onto his sanity in a precarious career that he cannot seem to walk away from. This dance makes for a great duet of a character study to which Mann’s focus is riveted and also does not allow the film to disintegrate into a tasteless goon show.

And now, I must return to the performance of Brian Cox. As so many film-goers over the years have attested to Sean Connery being the only James Bond, for me, I have to say that Cox is the only Dr. Hannibal Lecktor. In regards to Hopkins, I felt as if I was always seeing the acting, that he was obviously dressed in costume to playing a part. Hopkins is an actor I have long admired yet for this particular role, I thought that I was always aware of the wizard behind the curtain.

Cox, on the other hand, IS Dr. Hannibal Lecktor! His connection to the character and thus, his connection to the audience is instantaneous. As he sits, comfortably imprisoned in an endlessly white colored cell and dressed in equally white prison fatigues, he is a picture of formidable insidiousness. It is as if he is a giant spider patiently waiting for his prized fly-Will Graham-to return, knowing full well that one day they will meet again. He is charming, fastidious, somewhat effete and even jadedly distracted, completely deflecting the mounting danger of the killings Graham hopes to solve. His non-chalance is deeply and brilliantly unsettling. When he coldly taunts Graham with the seemingly simple question, “Dream much, Will?” it sent a chill through me that I still felt which watching “The Silence Of The Lambs” and even now, as I recall the sequence. And frankly, it was a chill Hopkins never ever reached for me.

Cox is extremely aided by Mann’s storytelling genius as he decides to NOT reveal key information behind Graham and Lecktor’s relationship. We never learn what exactly led to Lecktor’s capture or what brutal damage Lecktor inflicted upon Graham that led him to retire. “Manhunter” never even makes mention of Lecktor being a cannibal. Cox’s performance is nothing less than an embodiment of evil, (much like Javier Bardem's ruthless and mostly silent performance in the Coen brothers' "No Country For Old Men" from 2007) which is all the more impressive as Cox’s screen time must be less than 15 minutes of a two hour film. Yes, I do believe that Dr. Hannibal Lecktor is one of cinema’s greatest villains but not in the performance delivered by Anthony Hopkins. It is amazing how much was accomplished with so little and if you do take the plunge and seek out this film, I hope you will be able to fully appreciate the excellence and influence of Brian Cox’s masterful performance.

So, why was this film not a box office hit? No one will ever really know the reasons why some films strike box office gold over others but in this case, the studio behind “Manhunter” did nothing to assist its lucrative goals. While the film was released at the height of Michael Mann’s hit television series, “Miami Vice” and the noir-ish “Crime Story,” the film was given a non-descript and generic title that definitely made it sound as if it were nothing less than type of “B movie” that would nowadays be an unnoticed direct-to-DVD release. While Mann did shoot the film under the original title of “Red Dragon,” the studio forced him to change the title, fearing audiences would think it was a martial arts film or even more ridiculous, would confuse it with the then recent box office bomb, Director Michael Cimino’s crime thriller “Year Of The Dragon” (1985).

But what a difference a box office smash makes as film studios, eager for a piece of the “Hannibal Lector Pie,” made not one but two sequels starring Hopkins-Director Ridley Scott's 2001’s “Hannibal" and most criminally, Director Brett Ratner’s 2002 remake of “Manhunter” under the original title of “Red Dragon”-and one poorly received prequel film without Hopkins.

For now, I point you to the original and one of Michael Mann's finest films. “Manhunter” is an intoxicating bad dream of a movie at its most compelling and mesmerizing. I am thrilled to recommend a great film to you that will certainly burrow under your skin and refuse to let you go during this Halloween season.