Seconds

Rating:
Summary: SECONDS
Review: A movie that is true to life in how many people probably really feel about their own lives...Very haunting and disturbing...DON'T miss this movie! Rock Hudson gives the performance of a lifetime. DVD has many extras, and well worth the price. Would give 10 stars if possible...

Rating:
Summary: Well Worth Buying
Review: For anyone who's fascinated by overlooked gems, this is the film for you. Disturbing and eery from the opening credits montage to the final ambiguous scene. This is worth picking up to see that Rock Hudson was more than a face and that Frankenheimer was years ahead of his time and one of the truly great directors of the 1960's. This was such a fantastic marriage of bizarre camera work, sterile settings, and a sense of something slightly "off" about the everyday world. It succeeds where countless films and TV shows have failed. Much like what you would expect from one of today's Indy directors taking on an old Rod Serling story. It has a very deliberate pace and is recommended for those that have the patience to appreciate every scene. The director commentary from Frankenheimer is insightful and honest all the way through, giving much credit to cinematographer James Wong How. Highly recommended for anyone that wants to see one of the only examples of good "Sci-Fi" post 50's schlock and pre-70's popcorn-flicks.

Rating:
Summary: The Unexamined Life
Review: About 5 years ago, at my health club, a bunch of us got to talking about movies, and some guy I barely knew grabbed me by both collars of my shirt and said, "You HAVE to see this movie!!! You just HAVE to!!" So OK. So I did. So it's truly brilliant, and on my list of fave flics. This film is one of those "fatal decision" stories, where the character, without due consideration, unwittingly makes that irrevocable and irretrievable committment to alter the course of his life, and in doing so, comes to the horrid realization that the choice made was, in fact, the wrong one, and maybe life before the decision to change wasn't that bad after all. Too late! Frankenheimer does a brilliant job of powerfully conveying that moment of gut-wrenching realization that the character can't go back, can't change his mind. Camera angles are used very effectively to impart a sense of skewed reality that the main character experiences. In all, a gem of a film. Definitely worth a watch. Would pair well as a double feature with Terry Gilliam's "Brazil", or "Me, Myself, and I", starring Rachael Griffis.

Rating:
Summary: Tragedy of a Life Half Lived
Review: Small-view carping aside, Seconds scares, disturbs, and sticks with you decades after you see it. Rock Hudson was never better. (It is said that this was his favorite performance and seeing it, one can understand why.) When I was 12, Seconds scared me for one set of reasons; now, it scares me for a very different set. If you haven't seen it in years, come to it as an adult, and discover one of the best films of the 60s. I think it stands up to any other film of that decade.

Rating:
Summary: Piece of [Garbage]
Review: I am a high school student, and my class recently viewed this travesty of a movie. Along with the worst ending ever, Rock Hudson must have been high when he was TRYING to act in this one. One morale of the movie was "Spend time with your loved ones and enjoy every moment of your life" So, to all who read this review, take the advice of the morale and DO NOT see this movie....

Rating:
Summary: Paranoids...beware; film fans...rejoice!!
Review: Either you like this film or you hate it. I saw it in its initial release back in 1966, and it had a momentous impact. One must realize that in the '60's, everyone was attempting new approaches toward everything; shock value was essential and surrealism was in a neo-phase. "Seconds" is profound, if nothing else. Mr. Frankenheimer is somewhat known for his "trilogy" ("Manchurian Candidate" and "Seven Days in May", along with this, all films about mistrust and alienation.) The fact that, in 1966, he also made "Grand Prix" is somewhat of a mystery; it won an Oscar for it's editing (action scenes) but the narrative itself was a trite and silly soap opera. I liked "Seconds" on many levels. The Oscar nominated photography of James Wong Howe is a bit artsy but creates quite an amount of tension and insecurity. (Note: this was the last year the Academy separated categories for Color or B&W; it lost to "Virginia Woolf?"). I understand this was orignally designed to be a TV episode, but I can't imagine it being stream-lined to a 52 minute show and remain coherent. Also, commercials would've damaged the flow. The screenplay by Lewis John Carlino (a fine and intuitive playwright) was tightly and carefully designed. The incredible intricacies of the plot demanded time to "soak in". The acting is first rate. I've always liked John Randolph, a fine character actor; Will Geer (pre-Grandpa Walton) and Jeff Corey (respected acting coach) have small but pivotal roles. Salome Jens, always great and never used often enough to good advantage, truly shines here. There's only one lead character, and the other half of Randolph's character is covered by Rock Hudson, in a career-turning performance. Many thought he'd get an Oscar. He was truly centered and in control. The final responsibility goes to the late, great John Frankenheimer who wove this bizarre series of events into a believable and very frightening narrative. Jerry Goldsmith was a great film composer in many ways, but I thought he sounded a lot like Les Baxter (the Roger Corman/Poe films). If you watch this film, make sure there are no distractions; keep your mind open and absorb. It's quite a remarkable film.

Rating:
Summary: Seconds - the movie Rock Hudson enjoyed MOST to make
Review: I had been curious about this movie and when I finally got to see it, I enjoyed it very much. It is an unusual story line, one that kept my mind occupied from beginning to end.

Rating:
Summary: Out of tune
Review: "Seconds" is one of those films that is both too long and too short. Conceived as a half-hour episode of the original "Twilight Zone" series, it might be a compelling nightmare, a kind of Borgesian sick joke shot by Fritz Lang on speed. We'd accept the story's heavy-handed sententiousness as a necessity of the short format and revel in the snap with which it was made.

As a feature film, though, it's schematic, a series of sub-philosophical postures enlivened by filmmaking a little too clever for its own good. Not that the idea couldn't work as a feature. The problem is that instead of focusing on the main character's realization that his humdrum life results from a bankruptcy that can be blamed on no one but himself, Frankenheimer and company seem more interested in hanging a phantasmagoric swirl on their skeletal idea.

Why do filmmakers believe the best way to present the paranoid is to dump a lot of "style" in our laps? Master fabulists like Kafka and Borges achieve their effects through language so precise it is *itself* surreal. An arty fable like "Seconds," all tense technique slammed in our faces, ultimately falls flat because the film has not been *structured* visually. When a man can't get on a commuter train without the camera doing whirligigs, jumping around from one bizarre angle to another, there's nothing left for the kicker moments, no real horror when we need it. It's a failure of discrimination, an inability to recognize when the fantastic is appropriate, or better, how the fantastic is best revealed through the utterly mundane.

With the main character's transformation more stated than demonstrated, the action feels dragged out, the technique pasted on to distract from the empty subject. It's a pity, because the story could provide a compelling portrait of a grey man's realization of his mediocrity if the filmmakers had the perspicacity to develop the logic of the situation. Brilliant in stretches, rather frustrating because of the obvious talent involved, watching "Seconds" is a lot like listening to a drunken opera star sing out of tune.

Rating:
Summary: ...Always Ticking!
Review: When first released this film was bombed! Well anyone can see why the film was released in 1956! The height of when America was so "twisted" and still trying to find exactly what we expected of ourselves as Americans. So when Frakenheimer made a film that attacked teh preconceived ideals of beauty, health and self respect no wonder it was ignored. Seconds is a visual masterpiece. Fish eye lens' and over lapping dialogue run a muck as an aging banker arthur Hamilton, decides to reivent himself and his looks but nothing is that simple because as this is done an organization is already in place that will control exactly how your life is run. Of course Hamilton is transformed is not only disgusted with his choice and tries not to correct his prior life but to correct himself. This is what makes this an ecellent film! Hammilton never tries to reconsrtuct his former life that was filled with a wife and family but just to reconsrtuct himself never wanting to fully "complete" himself. He does want to under go another surgery though so he can find some sort of balance-sohe can make himself a little more respectable. But when he returns to the organization he finds that his life and soul are as expandable as he thought of his former life. Haunghting and thrilling to the bitter end "Seconds", leaves the viewer not only thinking about looking past beauty but thinking about why we ever looked at it in the first place! Hudson turns in his best performance for a man who built his career on a preconceived notion of masculine looks he never flinches to show us his being destroyed!

Rating:
Summary: Unsettling, depressing, yet intensely watchable
Review: Underappreciated at the time of it's release and still not half as celebrated as it should be, Seconds has been described as the most "disturbing episode of the Twilight Zone ever made." Well, the plot certainly does sound like one of the mini-morality plays that Rod Serling would have concocted for his show. A middle-aged banker (played by character actor John Randolph, who is heart breakingly real as he attempts to find some way to communicate his ennui with his wife) recieves a late night phone call from "Charlie," an old friend who died a few years back. Except it seems that Charlie didn't die. Instead, Charlie sacrificed his life savings for a chance to be recreated as a new, younger man. As part of his payment, Charlie is now recruiting his friends. Randolph, of course, chooses a second chance at life. With the help of the deceptively friendly Old Man (played by Will Geer in a performance that will give you nightmares by the film's end), Randolph's death is faked and after a great deal of plastic surgery, Randolph emerges as Rock Hudson. Now, this might seem to stretch the film's suspension of disbelief to the breaking point. However, both Randolph and Hudson do a good job of convincing the viewer that they are the same man. Hudson was never a great actor but he gives a truly brilliant performance in this role. After years of playing lightweight roles, Hudson felt that this might be his last chance to truly prove himself as an actor and maybe even when an Academy Award. As such, it is obvious that he truly pushed his talents to its limits with his performance here and, perhaps more importantly, also put his total and complete faith in director John Frankenhiemer. Hence, Hudson never forgets that he is playing an old man in a young man's body and he is totally convincing as he painfully tries to figure out how to be young again. Doubtless, Frankenheimer used Hudson's own awkwardness at such a change-of-pace role to signify his character's awkwardness at being a new man but that doesn't take away from the fact that Rock Hudson -- he of the much-mocked personal life and the almost comedic movie star name -- gives a sincerely touching and powerful performance that shows he never really got the chances he deserved to be something more than just Doris Day's sleazy suitor.

Hudson is given a new life, living as an artist in a "bohemian" beach community. However, he is still an old man with old values and he finds himself isolated and lonely in his new life. When he pursues a romance with a younger free spirit (well-played by Salome Jens), he instead discovers that even the things that are bringing him what little happiness he has are fakes, set up specifically to make his new life easier. All of this comes to a head in a heartbreaking sequence that begins comedic but ultimately turns quite dark and leads the film to its disturbing conclusion. At a party, Hudson gets drunk and finds he can no longer keep quiet about who he is. His careless words lead to him being attacked by the other party goers. Apparently, Hudson was actually drunk during these scenes and his tearful rantings of the pain of being forced to live a double life no doubt carried a lot of meaning for him as well. As a result, the scene is painfully honest. Watching it, one is struck by the raw honesty of Hudson's "performance." The party scene leads to Hudson asking for yet another "second" chance which leads to the film's shocking but inetivable conclusion -- far more darker than anything you'd ever see on the "Twilight Zone."

Director John Frankenhiemer has had a bizarre career, to put it mildly. His work has varied between some of the best genre films of all time to some of the absolute worst and finally over to a few obscure, cult gems like this film. His direction is, at times, a little too flashy. This is obviously a film from the late '60s but Frankenhiemer's need to experiment pays off in that it mirrors Hudson's own confusion at what his life has become. The use of the fish-eyed lens at the film's end has been much commented on and it is a perfect, if unexpected, touch. Seconds is not a happy film but it is one that I would recommend to anyone with an interest in how a good director and a dedicated actor can even make the bleakest of material infinitely watchable.