Manhunter Like all good Hollywood folk looking to cash in on a quick buck, Dino De Laurentiis is priming his hack-scribblers to jump on the Lecter bandwagon and re-accomplish Thomas Harris' novel Red Dragon as a feature film. If the recent Hannibal can manage to scare up $165 million at the box-office without any Oscar nods (unlike its decade-older predecessor Silence Of The Lambs, which swept the Academy Awards and only bagged $107 million), then surely more green is waiting in the pasture. And it's a damned shame, too, because Michael Mann's 1986 adaptation Manhunter is still the best of the cycle. Thank God for distributors like Anchor Bay, who actually care about the product they're putting out. Their recent acquisition of Manhunter has resulted in a pristine DVD package which includes the theatrical trailer, a fascinating interview with cinematographer Dante Spinotti, an all-new "making of" featurette with appearances from stars William Peterson, Tom Noonan, Joan Allen and Brian Cox, and 2.35:1 widescreen presentation. FBI Agent Will Graham (Peterson) is pulled out of early retirement by his friend and one-time boss Jack Crawford (Dennis Farina). The agency needs his specialized insight for tracking down a serial killer who has been rubbing out entire families on a lunar cycle. The insidious press has dubbed the villain "The Tooth Fairy" because of his habit of leaving teethmarks on his victims. And Graham's most viable source for insight into catching this menacing whacko is....one of the previous menacing whackos he'd apprehended: Dr. Hannibal Lecter (Cox). The good doctor was once a respected member of the psychiatric field until Graham cottoned onto him as the cannibalistic murderer stalking a local college campus. Nearly killed during his confrontation with Lecter, Graham was advised to retire for both his physical and mental well-being. But his compassion for the victims of this new adversary draw him back into the job, and during his interview session with the jailed Lecter, his frailties nearly betray him. Lecter knows it, too, and does he ever have his way with the poor man. Whereas Anthony Hopkins' Hannibal Lecter is a charmer and beguiler, Cox's interpretation is that of a pit viper. Noonan portrays the Tooth Fairy, actually a photo lab developer named Francis Dollarhyde. There's nothing of consequence in the film that sets him apart from most other cinematic serial killers. He was sexually and emotionally abused as a child; he desires affection and familial connection but ironically can only achieve it via carnage and fantasization; and yes, he wears a creepy-assed mask. Harris' book goes into considerable detail about Dollarhyde's fixation upon a famed painting entitled "The Red Dragon" (hence, the novel's title), but the film's truncation of that element is a good thing; on paper it reads just dandy, but onscreen it would have diffused the focus of the tale. Writer/directer Mann, known at the time for his work on the "Miami Vice" television series, affords a generous portion of the proceedings to FBI procedure and forensics, which make for an utterly intriguing lull in the pacing; you almost don't want those briefing room sequences to end just for something as trivial as a chase scene or a high-tension stake-out. The pieces do fall into place eventually, however, and Graham finds himself doing the very thing he promised his family he wouldn't do: go back into gun-toting action once he discovers the fiend closing in on a new victim. Throughout the film, Mann has saturated the score with serrated guitars and pounding mid-80's rock, but the final confrontation at Dollarhyde's lair is punctuated by the incongruous and nerve-jangling psychedelic twitch of Iron Butterfly's "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida." The staccato imagery during the climactic gunfire is equally disturbing. While Harris' novel ends in a somewhat different fashion, Mann manages to make Red Dragon his own. So why the retitle? During production, the project was intended to be called Red Dragon, but to some involved, it sounded too much like a martial arts picture. The Manhunter rename ensued, and the film went on to gross a paltry $8 million during its theatrical run. Only on video did it begin to receive the acclaim it deserved; renewed interest after Silence Of The Lambs in 1991 didn't hurt, either. Hell, even the Anchor Bay DVD was timed to coincide with this year's Hannibal. As for De Laurentiis, it's a shame he's using the occasion to champion lucre over aesthetic by sullying Manhunter with some half-baked Red Dragon re-adaptation. >>Back<< >>Archive Index<<