Wishes As Horror Story

 Not All Dreams Need To Come True

Seconds (1966) – A middle-aged banker, bored with his life, wishes for a second chance.  When a mysterious company grants him that wish, he discovers things are not what he had expected.

Directed by John Frankenheimer

Starring Rock Hudson, John Randolph, Murray Hamilton, Jeff Corey, Will Geer

Why I Liked It – Tense and a little claustrophobic, Frankenheimer takes you through the looking glass world of middle-aged regrets.

In an interview, John Frankenheimer once called this a movie without an audience.  Given both its serious, intense story, plus a leading man (Hudson) in a role his audience didn’t associate with him, the movie struggled at the box office.  In the years since, it has grown both a following and reputation as an outstanding movie.

Rock Hudson was best known for lighter comic/romantic roles.  Here he plays the “after” version of Arthur Hamilton, a man of middle age in mid-career who is realizing that his life bores him.  Mysterious phone calls from someone claiming to be a dead friend lead him into a secretive company that can change all of that.  The old life ends and a new one begins.  Plus, you get to look like Rock Hudson!  Frankenheimer had to be convinced to cast Hudson, and it pays off.  The contrast between the messy disintegration of Hamilton on the inside of the “Hollywood good looks” perfection of Tony Wilson on the outside plays well in this psychological horror story.  The supporting cast has lots of top quality character actors that anyone who grew up watching television in the ‘60s and ‘70s will recognize, even if the names don’t jump out at you.

If you’re not a native of those decades and their movies, Frankenheimer is a name to note.  He has an excellent touch with psychological thrillers, and an easily identifiable style.  Using quick cuts, unusual angles, and extreme closeups, he builds the uncomfortable tautness these stories require.  Familiar titles for him include the 1962 version of “The Manchurian Candidate”, “Seven Days in May”, “Black Sunday”, plus two favorites of mine “Ronin” and “Grand Prix”.  His career stretched from 1954 to his death in 2002.

I have a couple of niggling issues with the movie.  From a storytelling point of view, the company does a poor job with their clients after the change is made.  It’s more of a “we’ll catch you if /when you fall” rather than helping them integrate into a new persona.  It’s a movie from the 60s, so there’s a fair amount of smoking and drinking.  Two scenes may give some folks pause.  When Arthur (veteran actor and Hollywood blacklist victim, John Randolph) is surgically transformed, Frankenheimer uses footage of an actual nose job.  Plus, there’s a slightly-longer-than-it-really-needed-to-be scene of a bacchanalian wine festival with a fair amount of nudity.  I found something else to look at during the first and focused on watching the character struggle for Hamilton during the second once it became a little repetitive.  Don’t worry if the final shot doesn’t make a lot of sense.  It’s been a point of discussion since the film opened.  The explanation appears to be that the scene that set it up was cut from the final print, leaving us with this strange, distorted view.  I have my own thoughts on the subject, but I’ll let you form your own.

 Bizarrely (to my mind), this movie is listed as “science fiction”.  A stretch in my opinion.

On the whole, a movie that delivers a hard slap of intellectual intensity in its examination of the dangers of wishes that come true.

Rating – *** Worth A Look