Review of Manhunter (1986) by Gordon T — 26 May 2010

Oh no, Another "Long-one" (I think this one meanders more than my reaction to CHRISTINE)-if you read this one to the end, consider yourself a good and patient person.

(its not a waste of time, there are Good Thoughts floating-around herein:).

Dialog.

Dolarhyde Open your eyes.

Lounds: No.

Dolarhyde: Open them.

Or I'll staple your eyelids to your forehead.

Dolarhyde: To me, you are a slug in the sun.

You are privy to a great becoming but you recognize nothing.

You are an ant in the afterbirth. Before me you rightly.

Tremble.

But you owe me more than fear.

YOU OWE ME AWE.

MANHUNTER!!!!!!

The MOST UNDERRATED, UNDER-APPRECIATED FILM AND Mass Market novel of the 1980s.

RED DRAGON by Thomas Harris is a work of genius in story and plotting and MANHUNTER is a stunning cinematic adaptation of RED DRAGON.

In popular fiction (i.e. Mass Marketed paperback books that you can (could) buy at any grocery store, sears, and/or 7/11, I can't think of a time where Law Enforcement sought advice from a convicted killer to catch a killer-at-large. Yes, Law Enforcement consulted Ted Bundy about the elusive Green River Killer-but in terms of dramatizing such a maneuver, MANHUNTER is a masterpiece.

Even though now MANHUNTER is considered a classic and a masterpiece in "Horror/Thriller," Back Then (in 1986), MANHUNTER was "schlepped-through" the theaters and then released onto KEY VIDEO (here in America).

-nobody gave a crap about MANHUNTER Back Then because MANHUNTER didn't STAND-OUT when compared to other films at the time (and come to think of it, the 1986-7 "season of Films" with BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA, KING KONG LIVES, THE PRINCE OF DARKNESS, TOP GUN, FRIDAY THE 13TH Part VI-Jason Lives; Cobra with Sylvester Stallone; Texas Chain Saw Massacre 2 was kind of "down" compared to films in 1984-5 like TERMINATOR, BREAKFAST CLUB, FRIGHT NIGHT, RETURN OF The LIVING DEAD, THE KARATE KID, BEVERLY HILLS COP, etc).

Well look: MANHUNTER was financed and released by DEG (The DeLaurentiis Entertainment Group) that also ended-up going bankrupt the same season after KING KONG LIVES. . . ("The DEG Debacle" screwed-up Dino DeLaurentiis that he couldn't get the money to release EVIL DEAD 2 and after Dino financed EVIL DEAD 3, Universal Studios ended-up buying EVIL DEAD 3 from Mr. Laurentiis, re-cutting it and releasing EVIL DEAD 3 under the title ARMY OF DARKNESS because UNIVERSAL elected to forgo any "Evil Dead-Affiliation" (especially since Universal didn't own the rights to the first two EVIL DEAD films in the first place).

MANHUNTER, being released by DEG, didn't get have a good promotional campaign, DEG re-cut Michael Mann's original edit and William Peterson (at the time [of 1986]) was only known for TO LIVE AND DIE IN LA and Dennis Farina and Kim Griest were TV-stars (mainly). And, because MANHUNTER was made "outside of Hollywood" there wasn't much "noise" made by HOLLYWOOD linking Michael Mann to the Ever so-popular MIAMI VICE at the time.

With no major stars, and an "un-Hollywood" production studio that was about to file Chapter 11 with the IRS, MANHUNTER, despite its Greatness sank out of sight and into "KEY VIDEO" and Karl-LORIMAR VIDEO obscurity (Key Video was a clandestine subsidiary of 20th Century Fox that released Dario Argento's Inferno and karl-Lorimar (spelling) released RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD PART II in theatrically and on video).

Essentially, MANHUNTER is an A-List "Silence of the Lambs-caliber movie" made by a "Roger Corman-type" filmmaker Dino DeLaurentiis "The Guy Who Made MANDINGO, ORCA-THE KILLER WHALE, and the Jessica Lange KING KONG" (movies that aren't very "A-LIST" ilk) .

MANHUNTER in the hands of DINO Di Laurentiis is like BEN HUR being produced by Sam Arkoff and directed by Roger Corman for American International Pictures. If BEN HUR were produced by AIP (American International Pictures), BEN HUR would have been "un-noticed" like MANHUNTER.

. . . and then when MANHUNTER aired on CBS-TV it was entitled THE CURSE OF THE RED DRAGON . . . and then MANHUNTER is filmed in 2:35.1 aspect ratio, so Back Then, if you didn't see it during its initial 6-week run, you'd also miss-out on the AMAZING "Michael Mann-brand Cinematography :" the scene where Graham is running down the circular flight of stairs away from Hannibal Lecter's office is "All-Jumbled" on video and looks BEAUTIFUL on the ANCHOR BAY DVD in its "Panavision-scope.".

THEN CAME SILENCE OF THE LAMBS . . . .

. . . now; for 5 or 6 years NOBODY talked about MANHUNTER,.

NOBODY mentioned MANHUNTER,.

NOBODY remembered MANHUNTER (accept only "me and my" girlfriend at the time knew or cared about MANHUNTER between the dormant-years of 1986 and 1991).

In 1991, SILENCE OF THE LAMBS which, unlike MANHUNTER, WAS INDEED A "HOLLYWOOD-MOVIE: HOLLYWOOD STARS: Anthony Hopkins, Jodie Foster, Scott Glenn/Hollywood Director: Johnathan Demme).

Excellent press-agents: Orion wouldn't "ALLOW" SILENCE OF THE LAMBS to be referred to as a HORROR MOVIE and even "barred" FANGORIA MAGAZINE from doing a pre-release feature on it.

Even I was "caught by surprise" with SILENCE OF THE LAMBS in 1991; on opening-night, I said, "This movie isn't original at all, its almost exactly like MANHUNTER!".

And, because MANHUNTER was "invisible" to the public eye, SILENCE OF THE LAMBS "got" all the accolades for being so "original" while MANHUNTER sat on the shelves in the Big Red "ERROL'S VIDEO" cases collecting dust.

--- MUCH LATER . . .

After HANNIBAL LECTER is a total Household name thanks to SILENCE OF THE LAMBS --Even THOUGH HANNIBAL LECTER was in MANHUNTER, the only "HANNIBAL LECTER" that was legitimate was the HANNIBAL LECTER in SILENCE OF THE LAMBS-Thomas Harris authored HANNIBAL (continuing the relationship between Clarice and Lecter [because bringing back Will Graham would mean making Hollywood unable to cast Jodie Foster]).

So, BECAUSE OF BULLSHIT PUBLIC OPINION and PUBLICITY, not only is MANHUNTER TOTALLY FORGOTTEN ABOUT but the WILL GRAHAM character is "FORGOTTEN ABOUT" too (because in the Public's Mind "Hannibal Lecter Got His Start in Silence of the Lambs" because "No One Remembers MANHUNTER" . . .

--.

HOLLYWOOD goes-ahead to cash in on "Clarice and Hannibal" by adapting HANNIBAL to the screen (but [THANK GOD] Jodie Foster and Jonathan Demme are more interested in the crafts of their respective acting and directing professions and opt-out of "Doing Hannibal 'For the Money'").

DINO DiLaurentiis seems to be able to "SMELL THE MONEY " of Hannibal Lecter and quickly decides to re-film the novel RED DRAGON to which he still owns the right.

Dino knew that MANHUNTER was a "forgotten property," and with Anthony Hopkins, who 'd [in the 1990s] become as intertwined with Hannibal Lecter as Boris Karloff became intertwined with The Monster, cast as HANNIBAL LECTER and a strong supporting cast.

From his own lips (on the DVD-interview), Dino DiLaurentiis said he hired Bret Ratner because Brett Ratner "came cheap" as a director.

BRETT RATNER, it seems, studied every frame of MANHUNTER and Vicariously re-made Michael Mann's MANHUNTER as RED DRAGON (notice how at the end of MANHUNTER the credits-crawl with Will Grahm and his family standing on the shore watching a sale-boat in the distance [the song HEARTBEAT by Peter Gabriel and Red 7 is heard over the end-credits].

In RED DRAGON, Brett Ratner ends his film with Graham and family actually sailing on the sailboat.

So of course, RED DRAGON IS BETTER THAN MANHUNTER . . . BRETT RATNER (Fuckin') COPIED MANHUNTER and built upon work that had already been masterfully done.

The only reason BRETT RATNER was successful with RED DRAGON is because he COPIED MANHUNTER!

MANHUNTER RULES!!!!!

And I'm ELATED to see all of the various soundtracks TRUE and LOYAL fans have put together of MANHUNTER, the latest soundtrack is ALL THE MUSIC from the original MANHUNTER movie soundtrack LP and the music from the LP's sources . . . introducing each cue is memorable dialog from MANHUNTER.

Looking at the 6 or 7 different MANHUNTER soundtracks, I'm VERY HAPPY MANHUNTER is lauded and respected by fans worldwide.

--Like, on NPR (National Public Radio), People Magazine, Entertainment Weekly, Newsweek, and Time YOU'LL never know anything about MANHUNTER . . . yet thanks to THE INTERNET everyone can appreciate MANHUNTER regardless if NPR mentions MANHUNTER or not . . .

Notice NPR will only mention something if NPR thinks its "Country-club" listening audience will have heard of it. And MANHUNTER has never been ligament-ly recognized as being the first Hannibal Lector Movie.

AND Thomas Harris should tell us what ever became of Will Graham . . . maybe Clarice Starling and Will Graham can cross-paths at some point.

. . . with HOLLYWOOD'S intelligence: Clarice will be played by Angeline Jolie and Will Grahm will be played by Brad Pitt should another "Hannibal Lecter Book" be made into another "Hannibal Lecter Movie.".

HOLLYWOOD misses the point: Even though Michael Bay has a reported history of abusing actresses, HOLLYWOOD issues press-releases DAMNING Megan Fox for saying she had to quit TRANSFORMERS 3 due to duress (sexual harassment and verbal abuse).

And, even STEVEN SPIELBERG "jumped-in" the "let's SMEAR MEGAN FOX BANDWAGON" today on The Wrap dot com at least.

I took Steven Spielberg OFF of my Favorite Directors list here on R-T, because just as Spielberg "jabbed" Megan Fox today, Steven Spielberg told the press that Karen Allen was a horrible actor to work with in 1981.

Dude, Steven Spielberg makes wonderful movies !!!! But if Steven Spielberg is continually guilty of using the media to shape public opinion towards a person he likes or dislikes than he's no good-regardless of the Superior Quality of his Movies.