manhunter Manhunter 30th Anniversary

[timm525]

+1 on the iTunes and digital media. I think I have a few on Amazon too but mostly iTunes. No longer buy physical dvds. Why have to store it and when it gets fouled, it won’t play. Digital you can watch anywhere nowadays. 

[agent 47]

Since I started this thread discussing Shout! Factory's Blu-ray release of the film I wanted to update that for those who missed out on the Blu-ray or are having trouble finding it this release appears to have already gone out of print. I've heard that a lot of titles Shout licensed from MGM have since gone out of print and the reason might be that Warner Brothers has taken over distribution of MGM's catalog. This might also affect streaming and digital rights as places that might have had it available before might lose the rights to it if Warner Brothers decides they'd prefer to make it exclusive to another platform or such.

[fakespyder]

2 hours ago, RedDragon86 said:

The antagonist in Asian Cut is personified evil, the way he act towards the UK reported after he breaks in his home is so devilish.

Hopkins as Hannibal L imo is too cartoonish and unrealistic as the good Dr. Brian Cox brings it home as the Bundy type and not some sort of caged Count Dracula.

"Fly Fly Fly Clarice" he is so hammy.

I didn't want to derail "the savage episode discussion" but I agree with this statement about Hopkins' Lector. I remember an interview with Hopkins where he said to get into character for Lector he would simply not blink. Now I can't help but notice this in the movies.

I see his version of Lector is more in line with Horror movies than Thrillers.

Brian Cox's Lector felt more grounded in reality. His menace was primarily his intellect. While he was obviously capable of physical savagery, Cox conveys it in innocent sounding questions like"would you like to give me your home phone number?"

Great acting on his and Petersens part. One of my favorite Mann films.

Side-note: I recently purchased a new DVD release of The Keep. I know Mann hates that film but I think it looks and sounds awesome. And this DVD is actually in the proper aspect ratio. Shame it isnt blu ray but hey, you can't have everything

Edited February 13, 2021 by fakespyder

[sdiegolo78]

I watched the directors cut last night. This is the top 3 Micheal Mann's movies. Thief being the absolute best, then Heat (watched it so many times) and manhunter. Personal preference of course. I agree with people saying it has a MV feel to it. Not a bad thing in my opinion, but a compliment.  Getting a familiar feel when I see 'Lombard' D.Farina in it, along with Kim Greist (Brenda from 'Nobody leaves forever'). William Petersen was also great, as good as he was in 'Live and die in LA'.  Soundtrack was brilliant too. It was coincidental to hear 'heartbeat' (first heard in the aforementioned MV episode with K.Greist) at end credits.

[Tom]

vor 8 Minuten schrieb sdiegolo78:

I watched the directors cut last night. This is the top 3 Micheal Mann's movies. Thief being the absolute best, then Heat (watched it so many times) and manhunter. Personal preference of course. I agree with people saying it has a MV feel to it. Not a bad thing in my opinion, but a compliment.  Getting a familiar feel when I see 'Lombard' D.Farina in it, along with Kim Greist (Brenda from 'Nobody leaves forever'). William Petersen was also great, as good as he was in 'Live and die in LA'.  Soundtrack was brilliant too. It was coincidental to hear 'heartbeat' (first heard in the aforementioned MV episode with K.Greist) at end credits.

Manhunter was done in 86 after MV started. Of course MM used some elements of VICE for it too. Mann loved to reuse certain styles.

I remember when I found the Shriekback song in Knock knock who´s there after watching Manhunter and Band of the hand, another movie of MM around that time (he used Shriekback in latter movie).

[sdiegolo78]

Forgot to mention Bill Stromovic among the "MV guest stars" that were in Manhunter....'you are so sly but so am i'....

[fakespyder]

Ok, this has been bugging me for ages and I figure an astute Mann fan will have the answer.

In the opening shot of Manhunter what is this object?

I can't figure it out.

[Dadrian]

Not sure which exact object you’re asking about @RedDragon86. Also I’m probably not an astute fan  , but here’s what all I think I’m seeing:

- the top of a van

- some running lights

- a sunroof or some kind of screen on top?

- an antenna (the old whale tale kind)

Is there something else?

[fakespyder]

If it helps here's the actual scene:

I don't think it is a van. I had assumed it was an interior shot as the next shot cuts to the stairs.

The lights remind me of an old stove.

I watched this again last night and was reminded of how I simply cannot make sense of anything in the first shot.

[RedDragon86]

8 hours ago, fakespyder said:

If it helps here's the actual scene:

I don't think it is a van. I had assumed it was an interior shot as the next shot cuts to the stairs.

The lights remind me of an old stove.

I watched this again last night and was reminded of how I simply cannot make sense of anything in the first shot.

It's Dolarhyde's van before he enters the Jacobi family home. It could easily be one of those things Dadrian suggested, my guess is Michael Mann placed it on top himself for style purposes. 

As you can see the van in another scene has those same 3 lights and the unknown object.

 

 

 

[Dadrian]

11 minutes ago, RedDragon86 said:

unknown object

If you’re talking about the boomerang-looking thing on top it’s a tv antenna. 

[RedDragon86]

5 minutes ago, Dadrian said:

If you’re talking about the boomerang-looking thing on top it’s a tv antenna. 

I think that's what @fakespyder was referring too. 

Did these old dodge vans have these already installed or you would have to fit it yourself?

 

[Dadrian]

2 hours ago, RedDragon86 said:

I think that's what @fakespyder was referring too. 

Did these old dodge vans have these already installed or you would have to fit it yourself?

 

They were usually on luxury vehicles if you saw one. Some of the limos on MV probably had them. I remember seeing them seen them on really nice vans as a kid, but not on work vans. 

[RedDragon86]

1 hour ago, Dadrian said:

They were usually on luxury vehicles if you saw one. Some of the limos on MV probably had them. I remember seeing them seen them on really nice vans as a kid, but not on work vans. 

That reminds me of that scene in "Crocodile Dundee" where the driver throws one at a bad guy

0:51

 

[fakespyder]

I had always thought it was something inside the victim's home and we were looking from the invader's perspective.

But it finally clicked with the shot of the van for comparison. While we have vans here in Oz, we don't have Dodge's and the antennae is not something I've ever seen (or at least noticed) on vehicles here.

I knew you people would be able to explain it to me.

cheers, you Astute guys!

[RedDragon86]

14 hours ago, fakespyder said:

I had always thought it was something inside the victim's home and we were looking from the invader's perspective.

But it finally clicked with the shot of the van for comparison. While we have vans here in Oz, we don't have Dodge's and the antennae is not something I've ever seen (or at least noticed) on vehicles here.

I knew you people would be able to explain it to me.

cheers, you Astute guys!

Thanks to Dadrian I think here is an implied reason why Michael Mann placed a tv antenna on top of the dodge van, which was not common at the time for that type of van to have, according to the little bit of research I did. Could he be watching the home movies in there? not that he needs an TV antenna to watch the home movies but is it possible that he fitted a VCR in there as well.

The sick killer does work at a high-tech company, so he knows his electronics. 

Edited April 11, 2022 by RedDragon86

[Dadrian]

12 minutes ago, RedDragon86 said:

The sick killer does work at a high-tech company, so he knows his electronics. 

You’re too kind! 

[Augusta]

Hahaha, he's right.  I too figure it was a necessary prop, to make the "suspect" look even more detached from the mainstream than any normal folks, electronically.  Something just subtle enough to make him someone who the audience recognizes as a little beyond the "routine" person who works with electronics, yet still be someone who is "ignored" by passerby as simply being an electronics-geek, making him feel confident to waltz calmly into victim's personal spaces.  Manhunter's storytellers were clever.  The common person never realizes, he's way beyond simply an electronic-geek---he's mastered the geek electronics as part of a murderous lifestyle that thankfully the geeks don't all head towards.  

I really like Manhunter.  I felt like it was so acceptably "Miami Vice" without ever looking like it was copying or dishonoring the Crockett and Tubbs' environment.  I thought William Peterson was the ONLY freaking guy in the 80's to make wearing a beard look solid Miami Vice-cool  (not counting Tubbs in Season 4 a year later of course).  

Liked the movie so much, I just REFUSED the "Shadow in the Dark" episode where in just 20 tv minutes Crockett miraculously develops those "get in his mind" skills that clearly according to Manhunter it takes years to cultivate in a suitable investigator.  "Shadow in the Dark" felt like a rip-off attempt to cash in on what made Manhunter such a well put-together movie.  

Shout is occasionally famous for doing some standout DVD commemorative packaging.  I have a copy of their Bruce Lee collection, and the "box" treatment was artistically perfect for the theme of "revered ancient martial arts films".  Not a DVD box at all, more like a Chinese-motif paintbrush book.  And the DVDs were STUFFED to the gills with all the extras they could find.  Let's hope Shout gives Manhunter all it deserves.

If this hasn't been posted by any of you yet, here is a website that's contributing their POV on the 30th anniversary.  
https://consequence.net/2016/08/manhunter-turns-30-how-michael-mann-chased-down-cinematic-dreams/

Ha, I love the way "critics" crit a film with this confident self-assumption that they know what's wrong and what's right about the movie all because they are...Professionals in the job of examining someone's film.  Moonlight and "blue" color don't belong together for an audience, because real moonlight is "not blue"?  Is that so?  Hahahaha, poor stoopid critics.  Poor dumb beasts.  
We the audience know better.

[Robbie C.]

On 4/11/2022 at 6:23 AM, RedDragon86 said:

Thanks to Dadrian I think here is an implied reason why Michael Mann placed a tv antenna on top of the dodge van, which was not common at the time for that type of van to have, according to the little bit of research I did. Could he be watching the home movies in there? not that he needs an TV antenna to watch the home movies but is it possible that he fitted a VCR in there as well.

The sick killer does work at a high-tech company, so he knows his electronics. 

We're also talking the dark ages (relatively speaking), and broadcast TV didn't have the range the digital stuff does now. You'd have to be in pretty specific areas to get reception. I tend to think Mann put it there for looks as you suggested earlier. Or to telegraph the killer had access to resources.