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The Bargain Nexus - Seconds (1966)
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List Price: $9.95
Our Price: $12.95
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Manufacturer: Paramount
Starring: Rock Hudson, Salome Jens, John Randolph, Will Geer, Jeff Corey
Directed By: John Frankenheimer
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Binding: VHS Tape
EAN: 9786304410493
Format: Black & White
ISBN: 0792144090
Label: Paramount
Manufacturer: Paramount
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Paramount
Release Date: 2001-05-29
Running Time: 100
Studio: Paramount
Theatrical Release Date: 1966-10-05
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: rose from the ozarks
Comment: I remember seeing this movie when I was 14 yrs old. It had a great impact on me(of coures at 14, in the 1960s you'd have to be practically dead, not to be influenced by what was going on in San Fransico). I still think about it from time to time and happened to catch it on tv the other night. The only thing that no one seems to mention, is that John Randolph didn't have much of a choice to stay the way he was. He was blackmailed by the "company" showing a black and white film of him rapeing a young woman. Still it was a great performance by Rock Hudson and the other actors or course. I would watch it again from time to time, if I would allow myself to pay that much for a movie. Thank goodness for cable. Great movie.
Customer Rating:
Summary: One Of The Most Disturbing Horror Movies Ever
Comment: The director John Frankenheimer made "Seconds" during his 1960's hot streak that also included The Manchurian Candidate (Special Edition) and Seven Days in May. "Seconds" is quite simply one of the most disturbing horror films ever made. It has a perfectly constructed script that keeps piling on the surprises and shocks to a nightmarish crescendo. There has seldom been a movie that so well evokes the atmosphere of Kafka. Mix in a frighteningly acute portrait of the psychological and social discontents that were beginning to make themselves felt in that decade (and still pack a punch.) The plot is impossible to describe without giving away too much. It's nominally science fiction, but with a much darker feel. Just say that a weary, defeated, middle-aged businessman played by John Randolph is offered a Faustian second chance at life, and is surgically reborn as the handsome, youthful Rock Hudson. This is a great performance by Hudson, who picks right up from Randolph's character and makes us believe in the sad, confused guy behind the dashing facade. Hudson seemingly now has everything necessary to make a fresh start, but some nasty details keep intruding on his "paradise." There's amazing, disorienting black and white photography by James Wong Howe. Also some deeply creepy, masterful music by Jerry Goldsmith. And one has to make a special mention of Will Geer, who plays the "old man", the mysterious head of the shadowy corporation who appears at the beginning and end of the movie with two hair-raising, unsettling speeches that will haunt you. Fans of David Lynch and Mulholland Dr.and Lost Highway will eat this movie up. I think of it as the emotional equivalent of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2-Disc Ultimate Edition). It deals with some of our deepest fears about life and existence, and doesn't pull any punches. You should see this movie immediately if you haven't already.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A completely unique and shattering classic. . .
Comment: SECONDS refers to time, to second chances, to going back for another helping. It the absolute best performance by Rock Hudson, and a must-see for fans of Science Fiction and Horror. Its central idea, that of being able to completely change your life for another, is one that almost every human being seriously considers at least once. Can this be done? It is plastic surgery taken to the extreme, and when you read every day of people as young as ten or eleven having nose jobs, breast augumentation, chin work, liposuction and so on, SECONDS is not farfetched at all. It is too frighteningly real.
John Frankenheimer and the brilliant Cinematographer James Wong Howe composed SECONDS as an extremely unreal reality, using wide-angle lenses and deep focus black and white photography to take us into a world that is inviting and terrifying. Jerry Goldsmith's gothic score adds to the uneasiness, and Lewis John Carlino's screenplay is pitch perfect.
I won't spoil the plot at all, but you MUST see SECONDS from the beginning, and pay close attention to detail. Everything in the film is there for a reason, and it all adds up to a masterpiece. Read some of the other reviews here on Amazon to get a fuller picture.
Frankenheimer made many fine films in his career (and just a few duds), but SECONDS stands head and shoulders above all as the pinnacle of his work. The film was a disaster at the box office when it was initially released in 1966, and as Frankenheimer mentions in his commentary, it was because the Rock Hudson fans didn't "get" him in this kind of film, and the people who would have appreciated SECONDS could not imagine Rock in this role. Darned if you do, darned if you don't. But casting against type is one of the things that makes SECONDS work so well. And, again, it is the finest performance Hudson ever gave, worthy of an Academy Award.
See SECONDS. It will surprise, shock and stun you. It will leave you with enough food for years of thought. See it with friends and discuss it forever afterward. And take a moment to thank God that you are who you are, with all your faults and brilliances. You are unique, the sum of your life experiences, your family, your friends. Don't throw it all away for SECONDS.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Ahead Of It's Time
Comment: This movie never received the recognition it deserved, as Rock Hudson never received the recognition he deserved for the phenomenal performance he gave as a middle aged man given a second chance to create the life he believes he wants. It's a Faustian tale that cautions the viewer to "be careful what you wish for, for you just might get it". I read the book before I ever saw the movie, and was not one bit disappointed in the film. It follows the book pretty much to the letter. John Randolph is transformed into Rock Hudson through a series of plastic surgeries and leaves behind his former life (and wife and career) to begin again as an artist in a southern California community. What the character doesn't realize is that although the exterior may change, you still take with you the core of who you are. The movie received terrible reviews when it was released, primarily because I think people wanted the Rock Hudson they knew of the Doris Day light comedies. He plays very much against type and the movie is heavy all the way through. I won't spoil the plot and give away too much, other than the fact that I never forgot this film though I saw it some thirty years ago and it never compromises or cheapens itself with a pat ending. There is one very slow segment in the film that lasts about ten minutes and could have been edited out, but it's still a five star film. It's pure science fiction without the special effects, but not at all unrealistic. It's a shame that neither Rock Hudson nor John Frankenheimer, who directed it, didn't live to see this become a cult classic that is very much appreciated nearly 40 years later.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Seconds
Comment: Boasting one of Hudson's finest screen performances, this bizarre tale of self-transformation gets the paranoiac treatment from Frankenheimer, a veteran of political thrillers, and ace cameraman James Wong Howe, whose evocative camerawork adds to the sense of unease. Hamilton is as much a victim of his own desire to be someone else as he is of creepy company founder "The Old Man" (Will Geer), and Hudson portrays his character's naiveté beautifully. Strong support from Jens, Randolph, and Addy, the butler who's uncomfortably keen on coaxing Hamilton to let loose and indulge himself, round out a superb cast. In this age of Botox and TV makeovers, "Seconds" is a disturbing reminder that the fountain of youth is really a poison well.
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Editorial Reviews:
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Rock Hudson stars in this unsettling look at second chances. Banker Arthur Hamilton (John Randolph) lives a comfortable, stifling life until he is contacted by a mysterious caller offering "what every middle-aged man wants: complete freedom." Hamilton, with the help of an enigmatic corporation, fakes his own death and starts over in his new swinging-bachelor persona (now played by Rock Hudson). A change of life, though, is not just a change of scenery, and Seconds, for all its thriller aspects, contains some sad and disturbing meditations on the way we make our own prisons. Director John Frankenheimer uses skewed angles, bizarre close-ups, and fisheye lenses to underscore the film's off-kilter tension, and Rock Hudson gives a performance that is light-years removed from Pillow Talk. Well worth watching twice. --Ali Davis
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