First watch: John Frankenheimer’s Seconds (1966). Following Who Killed Teddy Bear? (1965) the previous evening, another outré psychological thriller from the mid-60s. A middle-aged man trapped in a loveless marriage consents to undergo a "Rebirth", offered by a shadowy agency called The Company 1/5🧵 - ThreadSky

jamesewand.bsky.social • 3 days ago

First watch: John Frankenheimer’s Seconds (1966). Following Who Killed Teddy Bear? (1965) the previous evening, another outré psychological thriller from the mid-60s. A middle-aged man trapped in a loveless marriage consents to undergo a "Rebirth", offered by a shadowy agency called The Company 1/5🧵

Comments

idyllopus.bsky.social•3 days ago

Love "Seconds"! Don't know how many times I've seen it. It used to come on late-late night television every so often, which was when I first saw it and was completely unprepared for Rock Hudson in a film like this. So much claustrophobia in one's skin...

jamesewand.bsky.social•3 days ago

Claustrophobia in your own skin sums it up pretty well

barryfreed.bsky.social•3 days ago

The dark side of the American dream. Fantastic film.

jamesewand.bsky.social•3 days ago

Genuinely disturbing and actually quite sad! Remarkable movie

thexclaim6.bsky.social•3 days ago

Really glad you enjoyed it. Read the book last year and it’s also pretty great

jamesewand.bsky.social•3 days ago

Brilliant. I'd be intrigued to read that

cathode-ray-tube.bsky.social•3 days ago

A masterpiece. Hudson is a revelation.

mgcroadster.bsky.social•3 days ago

Yes, it's spine-tingling stuff. Hudson recognised so much of himself, it's his performance of a lifetime.

jamesewand.bsky.social•3 days ago

He's great in this. You really get the sense of him being Arthur trapped in Tony's body, which is no mean feat

cathode-ray-tube.bsky.social•3 days ago

And very much a reflection of how he hid his own self in plain sight whilst on the Hollywood treadmill. Fascinating.

jamesewand.bsky.social•3 days ago

It gives the film an extra poignancy, I felt

jamesewand.bsky.social•3 days ago

The company fakes Arthur death on his behalf and gives him plastic surgery, and he wakes up as “Tony Wilson” (Rock Hudson). But will he be able to enjoy his new life as a painter? Will The Company allow him to go back to his old life? A surreal nightmare awaits, with an underlying melancholy. 2/5

jamesewand.bsky.social•3 days ago

The fingerprints of this film are all over the place, from Jacob’s Ladder and Eternal Sunshine to Abre los ojos/Vanilla Sky and Face / Off, while it shares some affinities with contemporaneous late noirs like Sam Fuller’s Shock Corridor (1963). 3/5

jamesewand.bsky.social•3 days ago

With expressionistic photography from James Wong Howe and surprising full-frontal nudity during a Wicker Man-esque scene of bacchanalian revelry (that was originally cut from the US version), it is the kind of film that challenges the narrative of what American cinema was doing in the mid-‘60s. 4/5

jamesewand.bsky.social•3 days ago

Rock Hudson was not first choice but is cleverly cast here as a man trapped in roles prescribed for him (first by society, then by The Company). Although his sexuality was an open secret in Hollywood, it was kept secret from the public for most of his career. 5/5

eggsbened.bsky.social•3 days ago

It has long fascinated me that the (necessarily as he saw it) closeted Hudson would take on this role.

jamesewand.bsky.social•3 days ago

yes, it seems he really pushed to get the part (as he was often typecast in romantic roles). I think he saw something personal in it (as he did for All that Heaven Allows)

steadytiger.bsky.social•3 days ago

Love Seconds, but haven't seen it since the 90s. Since then I've become a big Rock Hudson fan through his Sirk films and rom-coms. Must give this another look soon. Frankenheimer was absolutely on fire on the 60s

jamesewand.bsky.social•3 days ago

The 60s were a liminal zone for American cinema: some really wild, experimental stuff in there amid all the stodge