Manhunter (film)

Will Graham is a former FBI criminal profiler who has retired following a mental breakdown after being attacked by a cannibalistic serial killer, Dr. Hannibal Lecktor, whom he captured. Graham is approached at his Florida home by his former FBI superior Jack Crawford, who is seeking help with a new serial killer case. Promising his wife that he will do nothing more than find evidence and not risk physical harm, Graham agrees to visit the most recent crime scene in Atlanta, where he tries to enter the mindset of the killer, dubbed the Tooth Fairy by the police for the bite marks left on his victims.

Having found the killer's fingerprints, Graham meets with Crawford, and they are accosted by tabloid journalist Freddy Lounds. Graham pays a visit to Lecktor, a former psychiatrist, in his cell and asks for his insight into the killer's motivations. Lecktor agrees to look at the case file. Later, Lecktor obtains Graham's home address by deceit while ostensibly making a phone call to his attorney.

Graham travels to the first crime scene in Birmingham, Alabama. He is contacted by Crawford, who patches Graham through to Frederick Chilton, Lecktor's warden, who has found a note in Lecktor's personal effects. They realize it is from the Tooth Fairy, expressing admiration for Lecktor and an interest in Graham. Crawford brings Graham to Washington, where a missing section of the note is analyzed to determine what Lecktor removed. They discover an instruction to communicate through the personals section of the National Tattler, Lounds's newspaper.

The FBI intends to plant a fake advertisement to replace Lecktor's, but without the proper book code the Tooth Fairy will know it is fake. They let the advertisement run as it is, and Graham organizes an interview with Lounds, giving a false and derogatory profile of the Tooth Fairy to incite him. After a sting operation fails to catch the killer, Lounds is kidnapped by the Tooth Fairy. Lounds is forced to tape-record a statement before being set on fire in a wheelchair, his flaming body rolled into the parking garage of the National Tattler as a warning.

The FBI decodes Lecktor's coded message to the Tooth Fairy: it is Graham's home address with an instruction to kill Graham and his family. Graham rushes home to find his family safe but terrified. After the FBI moves Graham's family to a safe house, he explains to his son Kevin why he retired previously.

At his job in a St. Louis film lab, Francis Dollarhyde—the Tooth Fairy—approaches a blind co-worker, Reba McClane, and offers her a ride home. They go to Dollarhyde's home, where Reba is oblivious to the fact that Dollarhyde is watching home-movie footage of his planned next victims. The following night, Graham realizes the Tooth Fairy's murders are driven by a desire for acceptance. Meanwhile, Dollarhyde watches as Reba is escorted home by another co-worker. He murders the man and abducts Reba.

Searching for a connection between the murdered families, Graham realizes that the killer must have seen their home movies; he brought bolt cutters to a home with a padlock in a home video. Graham and Crawford identify the lab in St. Louis where the films were processed. After determining which employees have seen these films, he and Crawford travel with a police escort to Dollarhyde's home. Inside, Dollarhyde prepares to kill Reba with a piece of glass. Seeing that Dollarhyde has someone with him, Graham lunges through a window. He is subdued by Dollarhyde, who retrieves a shotgun and shoots two police officers and injures Crawford. Wounded in the firefight, Dollarhyde returns to the kitchen, where he is killed by Graham. Graham, Reba, and Crawford are tended to by paramedics and Graham returns home to his family.

• William Petersen as FBI Agent Will Graham. Richard Gere, Mel Gibson and Paul Newman were considered for the role, but Mann cast Petersen after seeing footage from To Live and Die in L.A.[4] Petersen spent time with officers of the Chicago Police Department researching for his role. Additionally, Petersen had a small role as a bouncer in Mann's 1981 film Thief.[5]
• Tom Noonan as Francis Dollarhyde, whose name is spelled differently from the novel's "Dolarhyde." Noonan credits his ability to improvise during rehearsals for his casting.[4] He took up bodybuilding to prepare physically for the part.[6] He began preparation for his role by studying other serial killers, but quickly rejected this approach.[7] While shooting the film, Noonan remained in character at all times, keeping away from cast members playing his pursuers.[4][7]
• Dennis Farina as FBI Agent Jack Crawford. Farina had already worked with Mann before, making his acting debut in the 1981 film Thief[4] before starring in Crime Story[8] and in several episodes of Miami Vice.[9][10][11] Farina had already read the novel Red Dragon, and was called to audition at the same time as Brian Cox.[12]
• Brian Cox as Dr. Hannibal Lecktor. Actors John Lithgow, Mandy Patinkin, and Brian Dennehy, and director William Friedkin were also considered for the part of Lecktor,[4] whose name was changed from the novel's "Lecter."[13] Cox based his performance on Scottish serial killer Peter Manuel.[7] Cox was asked to audition with his back turned to the casting agents, as they felt they needed to focus on the power of his voice when considering him for the part.[14]
• Kim Greist as Molly Graham. Greist has previously worked with Mann on an episode of Miami Vice.[15]
• Joan Allen as Reba McClane. In preparation for her role, Allen spent time with the New York Institute for the Blind, learning to walk through New York blindfolded.[7] She had previously worked with co-star William Petersen on stage, in the 1980 Steppenwolf Theatre Company production of Balm in Gilead.[16]
• Stephen Lang as Freddy Lounds. Lang had previously starred in Band of the Hand, on which Mann was executive producer. He went on to appear in the Mann-produced Crime Story with Farina[8] and in Mann's 2009 film Public Enemies.

Manhunter's soundtrack "dominates the film,"[27] with music that is "explicitly diegetic the entire way."[28] Steve Rybin has commented that the music is not intended to correlate with the intensity of the action portrayed alongside it, but rather to signify when the viewer should react with a "degree of aesthetic distance" from the film, or be "suture[d] into the diegetic world" more closely.[29] The soundtrack album was released in limited quantities in 1986, on MCA Records (#6182). It was not, however, released on compact disc at the time, but only on cassette tape and vinyl record.[30] On 19 March 2007, a two-CD set titled Music from the Films of Michael Mann was released, featuring four tracks from Manhunter: The Prime Movers' "Strong As I Am," Iron Butterfly's "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida," Shriekback's "This Big Hush," and Red 7's "Heartbeat."[31] In March 2010, Intrada Records announced that they were releasing the Manhunter soundtrack on CD for the first time, with an extra track, "Jogger's Stakeout" by The Reds.[32]

The Reds were contacted about contributing to the film's soundtrack after submitting their music for possible use on Miami Vice. They recorded their score over a period of two months, in studios in Los Angeles and New York City. They recorded 28 minutes of music for the film; however, several cues were replaced later with music by Shriekback and Michel Rubini. "Comfortably Numb" by Pink Floyd and "I Had Too Much to Dream (Last Night)" by The Electric Prunes have both been cited by The Reds' vocalist Rick Shaffer as influences on the film's soundtrack.[33] Mann selected "Strong as I Am" by The Prime Movers for the film and later funded the filming of a music video for the song's release as a single.[34]

Music in the film's screen credits which are not listed above were never included until the release of the double LP on Waxwork Records[35] in July 2018:

The use of heavily tinted scenes was a deliberate technique to evoke different moods in the audience. Top: Will and Molly Graham are lit with Spinotti's "romantic blue." Bottom: Francis Dollarhyde sits in "subversive" green.[23]

Visually, Manhunter is driven by strong color cues and the use of tints,[36] including the hallmark blue of Mann's work.[37] Dante Spinotti has noted that these visual cues were meant to evoke different moods based on the tone of the scenes in which they were used: cool blue tones were used for the scenes shared between Will Graham and his wife Molly, and unsettling greens and magentas were used for the scenes with the killer Francis Dollarhyde.[23] Steven Rybin has observed that "blue is associated with Molly, sex, and the Graham family home," while green denotes "searching and discovery," pointing out the color of Graham's shirt when the investigation begins and the green tone of the interior shots in the Atlanta police station.[29] John Muir suggests that this helps identify the character of Graham with the "goodness" of the natural world, and Dollarhyde with the city, "where sickness thrives."[36] This strongly stylized approach drew criticism from reviewers at first,[38] but has since been seen as a hallmark of the film and viewed more positively.[4][39]

Academic studies of the film tend to draw attention to the relationship between the characters of Graham and Dollarhyde, noting, for example, that the film "chooses to emphasize the novel's symbiotic relationships between Graham, Lecter [sic] and Dolarhyde [sic] by visual techniques and screen acting where subtlety plays a key role."[40] In his book Hearths of Darkness: The Family in the American Horror Film, Tony Williams praises the depth of the film's characterizations, calling Dollarhyde a "victim of society" and his portrayal "undermining convenient barriers between monster and human."[41] Philip L. Simpson echoes this sentiment in his book Psycho Paths: Tracking the Serial Killer through Contemporary American Film, calling Manhunter a "profoundly ambiguous and destabilizing film" which creates "uncomfortable affinities between protagonist and antagonist."[42] Mark T. Conard's The Philosophy of Film Noir follows this same idea, claiming that the film presents the notion that "what it takes to catch a serial killer is tantamount to being one."[43]

On its release, Manhunter was met with mixed reviews.[57] At first, it was seen as too stylish, owing largely to Mann's 1980s trademark use of pastel colors, art-deco architecture and glass brick.[58][38][59] A common criticism in the initial reviews was that the film overemphasized the music and stylistic visuals.[5] Petersen's skill as a lead actor was also called into question.[58][38][59] Particularly critical of the film's stylistic approach was The New York Times, which called attention to Mann's "taste for overkill," branding his stylized approach as "hokey" and little more than "gimmicks."[38] Chicago Tribune writer Dave Kehr remarked that Mann "believes in style so much that he has very little belief left over for the characters or situations of his film, which suffers accordingly," adding that the film's focus on style serves to "drain any notion of credibility" from its plot.[58]

Sheila Benson of the Los Angeles Times was critical of the film's visuals and soundtrack, comparing it unfavourably with Miami Vice and describing it as a "chic, well-cast wasteland" that "delivers very little."[59][60] The film's stylistic similarity to Miami Vice was also pointed out by Film Threat's Dave Beuscher, who felt it was the chief reason for the film's poor box office results.[61] Writing for the San Francisco Chronicle, Steve Winn derided the film, claiming its lack of a strong lead role caused it to "fall apart like the shattered mirrors that figure in the crimes."[60] Time was more favorable in its review, praising the "intelligent camerabatics" and "bold, controlled color scheme."[62] Leonard Maltin gave the film three stars, calling it "gripping all the way through and surprisingly nonexploitive," although adding that "the holes start to show through" if looked for "too carefully."[63] Manhunter was, however, nominated for the 1987 Edgar Award for Best Motion Picture.[64]

Modern appreciation of the film has seen its standing among critics improve. Salon.com called Mann's original the best of the Lecter series,[65] and Slate magazine described it as "mesmerizing," positing that it directly inspired television series such as Millennium and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, though calling attention to its "Miami-Vice-like overreliance on synthesized sludge."[66] The Independent called it "the most aestheticised film of the 1980s," and noted its "chilly integrity."[67] British television channel and production company Film4 called it "the most refined screen adaptation of Harris' books," although they found the film's contemporary soundtrack "dated."[68] Sky Movies echoed this sentiment, summing up their review by saying "although it still remains a classic, the film has dated slightly."[69] Retrospective reviews tend to be less critical of the stylized visuals: the BBC's Ali Barclay called the film "a truly suspenseful, stylish thriller," awarding it four out of five stars,[70] and Nathan Ditum described it in Total Film as "complex, disturbing and super-stylish," adding that the 2002 remake could not compete with it.[71] Empire editor Mark Dinning gave the film five stars out of five, praising the "subtlety" of the acting and the "neon angst" of the visuals.[39] Television channel Bravo named Dollarhyde's interrogation of Freddy Lounds as one of its 30 Even Scarier Movie Moments in 2007,[72] and Noonan's portrayal of Dollarhyde was praised by Simon Abrams of UGO Networks as "a highlight of his career."[73]

Despite the low gross on its initial release, Manhunter grew in popularity by the 2000s and has been mentioned in several books and lists of cult films.[74][75][76] These reappraisals often cite the success of Silence of the Lambs and its sequels as the reason for the increased interest in Manhunter, while still favoring the earlier film over its successors.[75][76] Telling of this resurgence in appreciation are the film's ratings on review aggregation sites such as Metacritic or Rotten Tomatoes. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 94% of 47 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 8/10. The website's consensus reads: "Michael Mann introduces audiences to Hannibal Lecter for the first time in Manhunter, a modish thriller that fleshes out Thomas Harris' heinous creations with an elegant, chilling detachment."[77] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 75 out of 100, based on 22 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[78]

Manhunter's focus on the use of forensic science in a criminal investigation has been cited as a major influence on several films and television series that have come after it[36][66]—most notably CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,[79] also featuring William Petersen, which was "inspired, or at least influenced" by the forensics scenes in Manhunter.[80] Petersen's sympathetic portrayal of profiler Will Graham has also been noted as helping to influence a "shift in the image of the pop-culture FBI agent" that would continue throughout the 1980s and 1990s.[81] The film has also been noted as a thematic precursor to the series Millennium, John Doe, Profiler,[66] and The X-Files,[42] and to films such as Copycat, Switchback,[36] The Bone Collector, Seven and Fallen.[13]

The Silence of the Lambs, a film adaptation of Harris' next Lecter novel, was released in 1991. However, none of the cast of Manhunter reprise their roles in the later film, although actors Frankie Faison and Dan Butler appear in both films as different and unrelated characters. The Silence of the Lambs earned several awards and accolades, including the Academy Award for Best Picture. It is one of only three films to have won the Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor and Actress, and Best Screenplay.[82] The Silence of the Lambs was followed in turn by a sequel, two prequels and two television series: Hannibal, Red Dragon, Hannibal Rising, and CBS's Clarice, plus an NBC television series, Hannibal.

Of these later films, Red Dragon (2002), adapted from the same novel as Manhunter, was released to a generally positive critical reception and successful box office receipts, making $209,196,298 on a $78 million budget.[83] Based on 2000s reviews, Red Dragon currently has a 68% rating from 183 reviews at Rotten Tomatoes,[84] and a 60% rating based on 36 reviews on Metacritic.[85] Manhunter's cinematographer Dante Spinotti also served as the director of photography on this version.[86]

• The Great Red Dragon Paintings
• Offender profiling in popular culture
• List of films featuring home invasions

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