Manhunter (1986)

An FBI specialist tracks a serial killer who appears to select his victims at random.

Director:

Michael Mann

Writers:

Thomas Harris (novel), Michael Mann (screenplay)

Stars:

William Petersen, Kim Greist, Joan Allen

1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
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

Storyline

Will Graham is a former FBI agent who recently retired to Florida with his wife Molly and their young son. Graham was a 'profiler'; one who profiles criminal's behavior and tries to put his mind into the minds of criminals to examine their thoughts while visiting crime scenes. Will is called out of his self-imposed retirement at the request of his former boss Jack Crawford to help the FBI catch an elusive serial killer, known to the press as the 'Tooth Fairy', who randomly kills whole families in their houses during nights of the full moon and leaves bite marks on his victims. To try to search for clues to get into the mind of the killer, Will has occasional meetings with Dr. Hannibal Lecktor, a charismatic but very dangerous imprisoned serial killer that Will captured years earlier which nearly drove him insane from the horrific encounter that nearly cost Will's life. With some help and hindrance, Will races against the clock before the next full moon when the 'Tooth Fairy' will ...

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Plot Keywords:

killer | fbi | serial killer | criminal | blind woman | 

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Taglines:

Will Graham Has The Mind Of A Psychopath - Thank God He's On The Right Side Of The Law

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Genres:

Crime | Mystery | Thriller

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

15 August 1986 (USA)

Also Known As:

Red Dragon: The Curse of Hannibal Lecter

Filming Locations:

Atlanta, Georgia, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$15,000,000 (estimated)

Gross:

$8,620,929 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

De Laurentiis Entertainment Group (DEG), Red Dragon Productions S.A.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

119 min 124 min (director's cut)

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) Dolby (35 mm prints)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Brian Cox said in the DVD interview that he based his portrayal of Hannibal Lecter on Scottish serial killer Peter Manuel.

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Goofs

In the end of the movie when Dollarhyde is firing the shotgun, he fires at least 10 rounds. Without a magazine extension, the most rounds he would be able to fire without reloading would be five.

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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.

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Connections

Referenced in 50 Films to See Before You Die (2006)

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Soundtracks

"IN-A-GADDA-DA-VIDA"
Performed by Iron Butterfly
Courtesy of ATLANTIC RECORDING CORP.
by Arrangement with WARNER SPECIAL PRODUCTS
Written by Doug Ingle
Published by COTILLION MUSIC, INC., TEN EAST MUSIC AND IRON BUTTERFLY, INC.

User Reviews

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.