Seconds (1966)

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An aging, tired businessman becomes involved with a mysterious corporation which promises to rejuvenate him and totally transform his life, for a price.

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Directed By: John Frankenheimer

Written By: Lewis John Carlino, David Ely

Starring: Rock Hudson, Jeff Corey, Richard Anderson, Will Geer, Murray Hamilton, John Randolph, Frank Campanella, Salome Jens, Wesley Addy, Edgar Stehli, Frances Reid, Barbara Werle

Genres: Drama, Sci-fi, Suspense/Thriller, Mystery

Country: USA

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Seconds belongs to 81 collections

1. 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die (collaborative: moderated by kozan26 - 234 stars)

2. Criterion Collection (collaborative: moderated by caffe - 167 stars)

3. boobs (collaborative: moderated by Pickpocket - 51 stars)

4. Uncanny, Disturbingly Weird Films (collaborative: moderated by paulofilmo - 42 stars)

5. Psychotronic Film and Video Guides (collaborative: moderated by Gregzilla - 40 stars)

6. Fuck my life (collaborative: moderated by Dorkovsky - 38 stars)

7. They Shoot Pictures 1,000 Greatest Films (2010 revision) (collaborative: moderated by MMAlpha - 32 stars)

8. National Film Registry (collaborative: moderated by PeaceAnarchy - 30 stars)

9. Full Female Frontal Nudity (Yes, Bush!) (collaborative: moderated by iceblox - 26 stars)

10. They Shoot Pictures 1,000 Greatest Films (2012 revision) (collaborative: moderated by PeaceAnarchy - 25 stars)

11. Criterion Collection (Blu-ray) (collaborative: moderated by epiphany - 20 stars)

12. They Shoot Pictures' Recommended Viewing (collaborative: moderated by Cinephile - 19 stars)

13. Best of criticker: Drama (collaborative: moderated by avgcrtckr - 18 stars)

14. Intellectual Sci-Fi (collaborative: moderated by BeeDub - 17 stars)

15. Edgar Wright 1000 Favorite Movies (Aug 2016) (collaborative: moderated by Aron Ericson - 17 stars)

16. They Shoot Pictures 1,000 Greatest Films (2013 revision) (collaborative: moderated by rant1229 - 16 stars)

17. 101 Sci-Fi Movies You Must See Before You Die (collaborative: moderated by von krogh - 15 stars)

18. They Shoot Pictures 1,000 Greatest Films (2011 revision) (collaborative: moderated by PeaceAnarchy - 14 stars)

19. Films available in HD (collaborative: moderated by kubricksucks - 13 stars)

20. Doubling The Canon (collaborative - 13 stars)

21. Best of criticker: Sci-fi (collaborative: moderated by avgcrtckr - 11 stars)

22. What Follows Inception? (collaborative: moderated by paulofilmo - 9 stars)

23. Best of criticker: Suspense / Thriller (collaborative: moderated by avgcrtckr - 9 stars)

24. Best of criticker: Mystery (collaborative: moderated by avgcrtckr - 8 stars)

25. Big-time Hollywood science fiction (public: djross - 7 stars)

26. List: Taschen (collaborative: moderated by KasperL - 6 stars)

27. Ekşi Sinema "Alternatif" Top 250 (collaborative - 6 stars)

28. Best of Classic Old Hollywood (pre-70s) (collaborative: moderated by 90sCoffee - 6 stars)

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32. Full Male Frontal Nudity (Yes, Dick!) (collaborative: moderated by iceblox - 4 stars)

33. Wikipedia's list of dystopian films (collaborative: moderated by ND Geek - 4 stars)

34. Average Percentile >70 (collaborative: moderated by peyrin - 4 stars)

35. Djross great movies (public: djross - 4 stars)

36. Booed at Cannes (collaborative: moderated by Ag0stoMesmer - 3 stars)

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38. Djross best science fiction movies (public: djross - 3 stars)

39. Djross science fiction movie of the year (public: djross - 3 stars)

40. Djross masterpieces (public: djross - 3 stars)

41. Criterion Collection (Blu-ray and 4K) (public: PepeCamello - 3 stars)

42. Djross film as art (public: djross - 3 stars)

43. James Wong Howe, Cinematographer (collaborative: moderated by JooJoo - 1 star)

44. Djross 1960s masterpieces (public: djross - 1 star)

45. Jodie's Movie of the Year (public: jgreenwood - 1 star)

46. Djross American masterpieces (public: djross - 1 star)

47. Cinetheque (public: allegreller - 1 star)

48. The Pervert's Guide To Ideology (public: Ag0stoMesmer - 1 star)

49. Timeout 100 Best Sci-Fi Movies (public: Ozancan - 1 star)

50. The Face of Another (public: trippingly - 1 star)

51. toucé (public: rnest - 1 star)

52. Metacosmic and sexorganological cinema (public: djross - 1 star)

53. The Greatest Movies of All Time - Filmweb's Alternative Top 500 (public: Hadleyreis - 1 star)

54. Cannes 1966 Official Selection (collaborative)

55. Jerry Goldsmith (composer) (collaborative: moderated by djross)

56. The Canon podcast (all films) (collaborative: moderated by psim)

57. Ratings (collaborative: moderated by cheapthrills)

58. The Canon podcast (only the Canon) (collaborative: moderated by psim)

59. Cinemateca - Grandes Géneros: Ficção Científica (collaborative: moderated by pmpfe)

60. Next (collaborative: moderated by davidysteph)

61. Age of Aquarius (collaborative: moderated by davidysteph)

62. Djross seen at the cinema (public: djross)

63. Djross 1966 top ten (public: djross)

64. 2C (public: twisp)

65. Shaq Film Club Selections (public: Kazaam)

66. Owned (BD) (public: bizarre_eye)

67. Favorites: Highly recommended (public: KasperL)

68. Movies to See: Science-Fiction (public: Lord Moe)

69. Mr. Hallenbeck's Blu-Ray Collection (public: MrHallenbeck)

70. Jodie's Feature Film of the Year (public: jgreenwood)

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77. Anna BNW (public: Ceekay19)

78. C-1960 (public: cantahta)

79. 1960s Mile High Club (public: Dunstan-xxx)

80. Blu-ray Collection (public: TripEuphoric)

81. Djross the 100 films that define my taste (public: djross)

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All Ratings | With Reviews

Order by:

TCI | Percentile | Date Rated | # Stars (Reviews)

Stars	User	Rating
6	Paxton	69 _56th
If this is your idea of a movie, John Frankenheimer, then I'll have Seconds! (That one just barely beat out: How long it is before I knew that I was going to love this movie? About eleven minutes. Why?)
4	MartinTeller	84 _81st
Excellent paranoid sci-fi thriller. The premise is somewhat similar to The Face of Another, which coincidentally was released the same year. While I think Teshigahara goes to slightly more interesting places with the idea, Frankenheimer manages some intriguing angles as well, especially when he utilizes unusual techniques like the subjective camera. There's a lengthy hippie scene that feels mostly unnecessary, and I saw the ending coming a mile away, but otherwise I have no complaints.
3	Suture Self	10 _96th
Humans will never be satisfied with being human.
3	JooJoo	6 _95th
I watched this on a whim, Rock Hudson in a main role at this late date seemed like something to see. Needless to say, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. Middle age malaise meets a twilight zone/kafka atmosphere to horrifying results. Special note for the last of that marvelous b&w work of James Wong Howe, he pulls out some crazy angles here. One hell of a watch.
3	Mentaculus	94 _94th
A hidden masterpiece, with a heightened expressionism rarely seen in American film, and a plot that mimics more foreign fare (like Teshigahara's The Face of Another). The conflict of personal vs. public identity certainly does not lack subtlety, but it sticks with you long after other thrillers have faded from memory.
2	DavidKahane	78 _60th
A twisty sci-fi/horror flick about the flexibility of identity and the lurking truth that personal reinvention won't necessarily heal wounds of the soul. Frankenheimer directs with a cunning intrusiveness, extracting every last bit of creepiness out of every moment. Rock Hudson may have been a dandy realization of coveted vigorous masculinity (yeah, yeah, I know) circa 1966 but that doesn't mean he's much of an actor. The troubled undercurrents of his role simply seem beyond his capabilities.
2	Nathan S	4 _74th
An unsettling and off kilter imagination which bears resemblance to The Twilight Zone, and may also work as a companion piece to Teshigahara's The Face of Another from the same year. The plotting is trim but the atmosphere is thick, and its consideration of psychospiritual rebirth is related closely to then-emerging new age philosophies (as in the scene where Hudson is baptized in wine by a throng of hippies). Nevertheless, the central thematic conceit of "starting over" is age-old and timeless.
2	PeaceAnarchy	86 _84th
Quite a wonderful psychological horror film. It's very mysterious but not complicated to follow and provides some interesting perspectives on how we value life and experience.
2	alexlma	9 _91st
The best things always happen when it's raining.
2	sellis	95 _96th
It's like Eternal Sunshine meets Face of Another but it's treated like a horror film. Stunning. Vivid fever dream visuals and delicate handling of such complicated logic. And Rock Hudson with a spellbinding performance. This would not work without him. Perhaps the best thriller I've ever seen.
2	lupister	35 _34th
Pretty shallow. It only shows the dude going to a wine orgy throwing a shitty party at his house and that's it, he wants a new life. He says they chose everything for him so he ended up doing all the same mistakes... but it doesn't show him doing anything like that.
2	ratedargh	90 _85th
"Is it easier to go forward when you know you can't go back?" Really well made. It's disorienting from the opening credits and through many extended scenes. It's dark, foreboding, and obvious things won't end well. While it may be apparent how things will turn up, it certainly doesn't hinder the process of getting there, which is absorbing and intoxicating in its hypnotic execution.
2	Yiannos	85 _97th
Aspects of the much criticised middle section recall some of the great European art films of the 60's, but Seconds is an all American nightmare, functioning as a critique of the 'good life' based on success and material acquisition while addressing the universal problem related to the burden of being. Complete renewal is an impossibility because we can't escape our memories accumulated in time, and Howe's brilliant camerawork creates an intense disorienting expression of this despairing state.
2	rcjunk	38 _19th
Would have worked better as a twilight zone episode instead of a full length film.
1	djross	91 _98th
The fourth-best science fiction movie of all time, along with 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY and Tarkovsky's SOLARIS and STALKER. The counter-cultural elements seem sometimes to be disliked, but in my view they fit in perfectly. Best viewed without any knowledge of the narrative or themes. Re-watched October 2013 on Blu-ray: almost all elements are superb (e.g., probably Goldsmith's best score) and work very well together. Really is a one-off masterpiece. Just keep pluggin' away at the dream.
1	Dorkovsky	6 _73rd
I really appreciated its inventiveness, though I kept thinking back to "The Face of Another" which coincidentally came out the same year, and touched on the themes much better. Still, an interesting sci-fi.
1	CinematicESP	87 _75th
A compelling sci-fi concept elevated by a personal story and made unique by its unsettling style.
1	frederic_g54	9 _90th
A clever, well-rounded and stylishly framed sci-fi - one that, albeit a somewhat jarring tonal shift, is unashamed to capitalize on its premise in ways few directors would ever dare. Also the perfect film to show to your disaffected and embittered friends who are fed up with the drudgery of life.
1	KasperL	90 _97th
Jürgen Müller writes in 'Movies of the 60s': "John Frankenheimer meditates on the legend of eternal youth, the power of money, and above all, on the nature of identity." I don't need to add much... only that cinematographer James Wong Howe is an absolute genius.
1	chadisdanger	92 _97th
The only other Frankenheimer I've seen is "The Manchurian Candidate", but based on these two the man clearly knew how to make a cynical, terrifying and savage thriller. Wong Howe's uneasy photography is superb in capturing the uncertainty, madness and horror of the proceedings. It also has a lot to say about ruthless capitalism, identity, and American culture.
1	Optimus_mike	85 _80th
An excellent cerebral sci-fi with great performances and a good message. Also the directing style of the film provided some very interesting shots and is one of the better movies of this era that I have seen.
1	Jerky	50 _46th
Liked half the film but hated half of it as well. Could have done without the hippie bohemian bullshit wine festival as well as some of the annoying cast (especially his lady friend Nora) Things are tied up nicely at the end though, easing my disdain towards the middle portion of the film.
1	glumpy_99	79 _56th
Interesting if not entirely succesful 60s time capsule; dated in many regards, but tale of frustration with one's lot in life has some present-day resonance. Oddly cast Hudson is actually very good, playing against his heartthrob image, but film's strengths are in Frankenheimer's direction, which creates an unsettling, menacing atmosphere from the get-go, a creepy music score, and a matter-of-fact handling of a rather extraordinary sci-fi concept (even more so back in '66). A real curio.
1	Clark Nova	84 _51st
life sucks
1	Ag0stoMesmer	5 _98th
I'd have been satisfied at it's Kafka-esque Twilight zone but the score and visuals raised this even higher. A glorious nightmare.
1	Nepeta	85 _80th
Bold, disturbing, gripping, with some great ideas and a superb ending. Stylistically it is adventurous and though the expressionism didn't always work for me it certainly makes for an eye-catching piece of cinema. Like many of the best pieces of sci-fi it uses the sci-fi elements as a springboard for exploring real-world issues and ideas (in this case relating to personal identity).
1	Pickle_Man	95 _87th
Great episode of the Twilight Zone you got here Mr. Frankenheimer.

Average Percentile 71.47% from 1044 Ratings