Seconds (1966)
TOMATOMETER
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AUDIENCE SCORE
Critic Consensus: 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.
Seconds Photos
Movie Info
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Cast
as Antiochus "Tony" Wilson
as Norma Marcus
as Arthur Hamilton
as Boss
as Mr. Ruby
as Dr. Innes
as Charlie Evans
as Dr. Morris
as Davalo
as Girl in Boudoir
as Emily Hamilton
as John
as Texan
as Plump Blonde
as Sue Bushman
as Mayberry
as Mrs. Filter
as Secretary
as Man in Station
as Tailor Shop Presser
as Meat Man
as Nurse
as Girl in Boudoir
as Dayroom Attendant
as Mr. Filter
as Operating Room Doctor
as Young Girl
as Mr. Filter
Critic Reviews for Seconds
All Critics (31) | Top Critics (3) | Fresh (28) | Rotten (3) | DVD (5)
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.
The screenplay ollapses into musty moralizing in the second half, and director John Frankenheimer throws in the towel.
Little wonder it flopped at the time, only to be cherished by a later generation.
The film's greatest strength is its dynamic black and white cinematography courtesy of James Wong Howe, who instills the film with an intense, paranoid feel.
[C]hange comes only before the cradle and after the grave ... consumerism processes identity until it's oversold.
A fun house mirror world that never looks quite right because it never is, and never was.
Audience Reviews for Seconds
A great atmospheric psychological thriller in the vain of Orson Welles' The Trail. Also features the first use of the Snori-Cam (to the best of my knowledge)
Super Reviewer
Bold, highly psychological science fiction that might have gone on to enjoy a cult reputation if 2001 hadn't stolen its thunder two years later. Seconds is nowhere near the auteurial spectacle that Kubrick's magnum opus is, but its premise gracefully avoids Twilight Zone-style moralization by communicating its sensations through aesthetics, not thematic monologuing. The ending is wordy, but it doesn't say half as much as Rock Hudson's blissful surrender at the wine ceremony, or the disorientation and betrayal he feels at a house party. This approach surely works because of the incredible cinematography, way ahead of its time; it keeps a tight focus around the human aspects of the film, locked behind Hudson's head as he goes through the motions of a painfully dull life or fisheyed on some strange faces looming over him. As a visual representation of a character's inner workings, it's very immediate and unabashedly obvious, but perfectly in sync with the film's own unique claustrophobia. A diamond in the rough, if you can hunt it down.
Super Reviewer
This movie's plot reminds me of so many other movies I've seen more recently, I wondered if this was were they got their ideas? I hope not, this movie was terribly boring and slow. I did not like it.
Super Reviewer
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