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MOVIES / ON DVD / SECONDS
Seconds

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Seconds (1966)

88%
N/A
78%
N/A
N/A
N/A
88 %
Reviews Counted: 24 Fresh: 21  Rotten:3 Average Rating: 8/10
 
Consensus: A compellingly paranoid take on the legend of Faust. Featuring dazzling, disorienting cinematography from the great James Wong Howe and a strong lead performance by Rock Hudson, Seconds is a compellingly paranoid take on the legend of Faust. more
 
Runtime: 1 hr 47 mins
Synopsis:
John Frankenheimer's chilling vision of middle-aged malaise concerns 50ish banker, Arthur Hamilton (John Randolph). Bored with his wife and comfortably retired life, Arthur happens to run into Charlie Evans (Murray Hamilton), an old friend he believed to be dead. He gives Arthur a tip on a... [More]
John Frankenheimer's chilling vision of middle-aged malaise concerns 50ish banker, Arthur Hamilton (John Randolph). Bored with his wife and comfortably retired life, Arthur happens to run into Charlie Evans (Murray Hamilton), an old friend he believed to be dead. He gives Arthur a tip on a secret organization called The Company, run by the Old Man (Will Geer). For a hefty fee, they offer to provide the old with entirely new, vigorous bodies, through a mysterious form of plastic surgery, and with completely new identities. Arthur signs on and finds himself transformed into the much younger Anitochus "Tony" Wilson (Rock Hudson). After a suitably middle-aged corpse has been burned to cover his disappearance, Tony is relocated to an idyllic Malibu beach community, where he already has a reputation as an artist. He begins a relationship with the vivacious Norma Marcus (Salome Jens) and is happy for a time, before discovering that she's one of The Company's employees. As he peels back the layers from his other neighbors, he begins to realize that nothing is as it seems. This incisive twist on the Faust legend, a mordant commentary on the American obsession with youth, features Hudson in what is possibly his finest performance, as a man cast in a part he despises. Hudson's sense of irony, then necessarily private, is now public. The great cinematographer James Wong Howe creates a sense of quiet horror through a skillful variation of lenses. [Less]

Genre: Horror/Suspense

Starring: Rock Hudson, John Randolph, Salome Jens, Will Geer, Richard Anderson

Director: John Frankenheimer
Screenwriter: Lewis John Carlino
Producer: Edward Lewis
Composer: Jerry Goldsmith

DVD Info

Release:

Jan 8, 2002

[DVD Details]

DVD Features:

  • Region 1
  • Keep Case
  • Widescreen

Audio:

  • Dolby Digital Mono - English
  • Dolby Digital Mono - French

Additional Release Material:

  • Audio Commentary - 1. John Frankenheimer - Director
  • Trailer - 1. Original Theatrical

Interactive Features:

  • Interactive Menus
  • Scene Selection

Buy It On DVD

Reviews

 
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1 - 20 (sorted by date)
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Ratings Image

Creepy, Twilight Zone-type tale starring Rock Hudson, directed by John Frankenheimer.

| Comment
03/02/08 06:59 PM
Steve Crum
Video-Reviewmaster.com
Ratings Image

US suburbia boredom is treated in an original manner in this cross between a sci-fi opus, a thriller, a suspense pic and a parable on certain aspects of American middle-class life.

Full Review | Comment
09/23/07 11:55 PM
Variety Staff
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image

The film features a surprisingly good performance by Rock Hudson, an impeccable supporting cast and stunning cinematography by screen veteran James Wong Howe.

Full Review | Comment
05/29/07 05:44 PM
TV Guide's Movie Guide
Ratings Image

The screenplay ollapses into musty moralizing in the second half, and director John Frankenheimer throws in the towel.

Full Review | Comment
05/29/07 05:43 PM
Dave Kehr
Chicago Reader
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image

Little wonder it flopped at the time, only to be cherished by a later generation.

Full Review | Comment
02/09/06 03:17 AM
Trevor Johnston
Time Out
Ratings Image

No review available.

| Comment
09/28/05 09:09 AM
Chuck O'Leary
Fantastica Daily
Ratings Image

No review available.

| Comment
06/26/05 12:42 PM
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com
Ratings Image

No review available.

| Comment
05/03/05 04:03 PM
Jonathan R. Perry
Tyler Morning Telegraph (Texas)
Ratings Image

Frankenheimer directed, but cinematographer James Wong Howe set the tone and provided whatever's memorable. Which isn't much.

| Comment
06/26/04 03:17 PM
Jake Euker
F5 (Wichita, KS)
Ratings Image

Never has Oscar Wilde's caveat about being careful what you wish for been so chillingly portrayed.

Full Review | Comment
05/23/04 11:31 AM
Ken Hanke
Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
Ratings Image

Features some great technical credits, with rich black-and-white cinematography and deep-focus from James Wong Howe.

Full Review | Comment
03/09/04 05:00 PM
James O'Ehley
Sci-Fi Movie Page
Ratings Image

No review available.

| Comment
02/27/04 08:21 AM
Daniel M. Kimmel
Worcester Telegram & Gazette
Ratings Image

No review available.

| Comment
01/01/04 07:36 PM
Michael Dequina
Mr. Brown's Movies
Ratings Image

Gets under your skin like a nightmare.

Full Review | Comment
12/12/03 10:18 PM
Dennis Schwartz
Ozus' World Movie Reviews
Ratings Image

No review available.

| Comment
10/02/03 06:27 PM
Jules Brenner
Cinema Signals
Ratings Image

Criminally underseen sci-fi masterpiece.

| Comment
06/02/03 09:16 PM
Kevin N. Laforest
Montreal Film Journal
Ratings Image

No review available.

| Comment
02/19/03 08:05 PM
Rob Blackwelder
SPLICEDWire
Ratings Image

Doomed to remain a '60s curiosity.

Full Review | Comment
02/10/03 05:46 PM
David Nusair
Reel Film Reviews
Ratings Image

An ultimately terrifying thriller ... featuring Rock Hudson's lone great performance.

| Comment
09/27/02 07:51 AM
Jon Niccum
Lawrence Journal-World
Ratings Image

Slow moving at times, but when it picks up speed, it is as tense as anything Frankenheimer has done.

| Comment
08/04/02 09:36 PM
Mike Pinsky
Daily-Reviews
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