Manhunter (1986)

Director:

Michael Mann

Writers:

Thomas Harris (novel)
Michael Mann (screenplay)

Release Date:

15 August 1986 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Horror | 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 | Washington D.C. | Slide Show | Car Accident

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

Color:

Color (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:14 | 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:

The prison where Hannibal Lecter is being incarcerated is the High Museum of Art in Atlanta.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: FBI man Will Graham attempts (sucessfully) to play a 3/4-inch video tape in a VHS machine.

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:

Referenced in Monster Squad Forever! (2007) (V)

Soundtrack:

STRONG AS I AM

Scarier than "Lambs" ...

This movie is basically the prequel to "Silence of the Lambs". It received nowhere near as much attention, nor any Academy Awards, but nonetheless, as a purely scary movie, it is the better of the two. Hannibal Lecter isn't as memorable, nor as well acted, but he's more real, more frightening. Unlike in SOTL, he is a direct threat to the principal good guy, in that he nearly killed FBI agent Will Graham and drove him to near madness. Graham is the man responsible for capturing Lecter, but to do so, he had to get further inside Lecter's head than is safe for sane humans, and throughout the film we fear that he, in pursuit of a new serial killer, is in grave danger of losing his sanity in the process.

To add to the terror, Lecter is playing his mind games, while supposedly helping Graham, he is also secretly in cahoots with the killer, known only as the "tooth fairy". Aside from dealing with the physical and psychological dangers presented by Lecter, Graham must also try to reconstruct the mindset of the killer, and this provides the real drama of this film. He is a man on the edge, he's been through psychological hell thanks to Lecter and wants nothing more than to live in peace with his wife and son, but when his old boss Jack Crawford enlists his help, showing him photos of the murdered families, he cannot refuse. And throughout the entire film we are drawn into his struggle, the battle between his unique genius for seeing into the minds of psychotic serial killers versus his desire to maintain his sanity, protect his family, and simply lead a normal life. As such, Graham is a far more compelling character than was Jodie Foster's Agent Starling. Although this movie has its flaws (chiefly, a "Miami Vice" like reliance on its music soundtrack) it is a genuinely frightening psychological thriller that is definitely more scary than its more famous and critically acclaimed successor.