Manhunter - 1986

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

Screenplay and Directed by Michael Mann

Cast:

• Will Graham – William Petersen
• Molly Graham - Kim Griest
• Reba McClane – Joan Allen
• Dr. Hannibal Lecter – Brian Cox
• Jack Crawford – Dennis Farina
• Francis Dollarhyde – Tom Noonan
• Dr. Frederick Chilton – Benjamin Hendrickson
• Lt. Fisk – Frankie Faison
• Freddy Lounds – Stephen Lang

Story: Will Graham is a former FBI agent who recently retired to Florida with his wife and son. Graham is a 'profiler' of criminal behavior, and tries to think like the killers he profiles in order to capture them. He is called out of his retirement by 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 the full moon and leaves bite marks on his victims. While searching for clues to the Tooth Fairy's identity, Will meets with Dr. Hannibal Lector, an incarcerated serial killer who Will captured years earlier. His early dealings with Lector nearly drove him insane, and almost cost him his life. He discovers secret communciations are being routed in newspaper personal ads between Lector and the Tooth Fairy, and Lector may be behind a plot to kill his family for revenge.

Review: This is the first of four reviews I will do on the movies involving the character Hannibal Lector, the horrifying creation of Thomas Harris who even now ranks among the most terrifying villains imagined. A physician and psychiatrist who not only manipulates and murders his patients, but eats them as well. In this first screen appearance of Dr. Lector, he is little more than a footnote. Most of the film concentrates on the toll taken on Will Graham in his return to the FBI and his pursuit of the Tooth Fairy. The film contains the classic Michael Mann “darkness”, and the action is brisk and to the point. Petersen, Cox, Farina, and Noonan give splendid performances, and the overall feel is better (in my opinion) than “Red Dragon”, the remake of this film. Rated R for violence and language as well as disturbing content and images, this is definitely not a family film.