WEBVTT - Weirdhouse Cinema: Seconds 0:00:03.040 --> 0:00:08.800 Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio. 0:00:13.200 --> 0:00:15.520 Hey you welcome to Weird House Cinema. My name is 0:00:15.600 --> 0:00:16.520 Rob Lamb. 0:00:16.520 --> 0:00:19.560 And I am Joe McCormick. And today on the show, 0:00:19.560 --> 0:00:22.759 we're going to be talking about a movie from nineteen 0:00:23.120 --> 0:00:28.520 sixty six, a film called Seconds, directed by John Frankenheimer. 0:00:28.920 --> 0:00:30.240 And I was trying to think. I was trying to 0:00:30.240 --> 0:00:32.199 think what to call it. Would you call this a 0:00:32.440 --> 0:00:38.120 science fiction thriller or a philosophical horror thriller? This really 0:00:38.159 --> 0:00:40.000 does defy genres in a way. 0:00:40.360 --> 0:00:42.320 It really does. I mean, you can see there are 0:00:42.320 --> 0:00:47.000 elements of conspiracy drama, the conspiracy thriller. There, there are 0:00:47.040 --> 0:00:49.800 elements of sci fi and horror, but it's not really 0:00:49.840 --> 0:00:54.200 any of those things. It is deeply psychological in many respects. 0:00:54.400 --> 0:00:58.120 So you might say it's psychological ab or c. But 0:00:58.920 --> 0:01:02.640 any attempt to pin this down is gonna miss something crucial, 0:01:02.680 --> 0:01:03.080 I think. 0:01:03.360 --> 0:01:05.720 So I'm really excited to talk about this movie. I'm 0:01:05.720 --> 0:01:09.520 honestly astounded how interesting I found it. But I do 0:01:09.600 --> 0:01:12.040 want to issue a sort of dual warning here at 0:01:12.080 --> 0:01:15.399 the top. First of all, about the podcast episode. This 0:01:15.520 --> 0:01:19.080 film has some I would say extremely powerful twists and 0:01:19.200 --> 0:01:22.000 surprises in it, and in order to talk about the 0:01:22.040 --> 0:01:24.959 movie in detail, we have to sort of reveal those surprises, 0:01:25.000 --> 0:01:28.120 including the ending, a little later in our conversation. So 0:01:28.200 --> 0:01:31.000 if you want to watch it spoiler free and preserve 0:01:31.080 --> 0:01:34.640 your surprise, you should do that before listening. But secondary 0:01:34.680 --> 0:01:37.680 warning before you go off to do that. I also 0:01:37.720 --> 0:01:40.920 have to say I was absolutely floored by the ending 0:01:41.000 --> 0:01:44.040 of this movie. And I don't usually feel the need 0:01:44.080 --> 0:01:47.440 to issue like warnings just about a movie having disturbing 0:01:47.520 --> 0:01:51.600 content or being really unsettling, but you know, we cover 0:01:51.640 --> 0:01:54.560 a lot of weird horror and stuff, but this one was, like, 0:01:55.040 --> 0:01:57.120 it shook me so hard that I feel like I 0:01:57.160 --> 0:02:00.600 should give people a bit of a heads up, especially 0:02:00.600 --> 0:02:03.120 because I think you're not really expecting it given the context. 0:02:03.200 --> 0:02:06.400 This movie is from nineteen sixty six. It's shot in 0:02:06.440 --> 0:02:10.280 black and white. The cinematography is amazing. It looks like 0:02:10.320 --> 0:02:12.760 a film from a little bit earlier, Like it looks 0:02:12.800 --> 0:02:16.480 like it could be a really well shot, interesting looking 0:02:16.520 --> 0:02:19.840 film from the fifties. It stars Rock Hudson's that really 0:02:19.880 --> 0:02:21.560 also makes it feel like, I don't know, one of 0:02:21.600 --> 0:02:25.920 these kind of romantic comedy movies from the fifties or something, 0:02:26.520 --> 0:02:28.560 But I think, especially given all that context, I was 0:02:28.639 --> 0:02:33.480 just not prepared for the raw horror and desperate bleakness 0:02:33.919 --> 0:02:36.320 achieved by the end of this film. So if you 0:02:36.400 --> 0:02:38.040 watch it, prepared to be shaken. 0:02:38.320 --> 0:02:38.560 Yeah. 0:02:38.600 --> 0:02:42.239 This movie is a sixties film that looks in many 0:02:42.240 --> 0:02:45.680 respects like a nineteen fifties movie, but ultimately has the 0:02:45.720 --> 0:02:48.320 feel of a seventies or even eighties film in terms 0:02:48.320 --> 0:02:49.880 of its impact. 0:02:50.280 --> 0:02:52.320 I guess I could worry that on the other end, 0:02:52.360 --> 0:02:54.800 I might be kind of diminishing the dramatic effect by 0:02:54.800 --> 0:02:57.640 giving this warning, but so be it. I was shocked 0:02:57.680 --> 0:02:59.760 by the ending, and I was kind of like walking 0:02:59.760 --> 0:03:02.480 around the house feeling a pit in my stomach afterwards. 0:03:02.560 --> 0:03:05.239 So so you know, if people were going to go 0:03:05.280 --> 0:03:06.720 off and watch this, be prepared. 0:03:07.280 --> 0:03:07.680 Yeah. 0:03:08.000 --> 0:03:10.919 I was finishing watching this movie after my son came 0:03:10.960 --> 0:03:13.320 back from from summer camp, and I was like watching 0:03:13.360 --> 0:03:15.960 it in the living room but with headphones in, and 0:03:16.240 --> 0:03:18.240 right as everything was going down, and I was I 0:03:18.280 --> 0:03:20.880 was like prepared to jump up and like like pause 0:03:20.919 --> 0:03:24.720 the movies from entering the room just because I was like, 0:03:25.200 --> 0:03:26.600 this is too this is to to start. 0:03:27.320 --> 0:03:29.320 Exactly right after I finished, I was going to go 0:03:29.360 --> 0:03:33.440 play with my baby, and I mean, I guess that's 0:03:33.440 --> 0:03:35.640 a good thing to do, actually, because I want to say. 0:03:35.680 --> 0:03:37.120 But on the other hand, I don't want to scare 0:03:37.120 --> 0:03:40.560 people off too much because I think Seconds is a 0:03:40.640 --> 0:03:43.480 phenomenal film. I had never seen it before we watched 0:03:43.480 --> 0:03:47.640 it this week for the show. I understand it received 0:03:47.640 --> 0:03:50.680 I think a very polarized reaction from critics back when 0:03:50.680 --> 0:03:53.080 it was first released. I think some thought it was 0:03:53.120 --> 0:03:57.160 a kind of strange masterpiece. Others thought it was cold 0:03:57.240 --> 0:04:01.800 and even reprehensible. And I didn't fully understand this division 0:04:01.920 --> 0:04:04.760 in opinion while I was watching it until the ending, 0:04:04.840 --> 0:04:07.280 and then it made sense. But I think I would 0:04:07.280 --> 0:04:10.800 side more with the supporters. In my opinion. Seconds is 0:04:10.840 --> 0:04:14.960 a piercing, fascinating look at the nature of desire. This 0:04:15.000 --> 0:04:18.839 is a film about what it means to want things 0:04:19.080 --> 0:04:22.599 and to want something different for your life, and it 0:04:22.640 --> 0:04:28.960 explores the really complex, troubling, hidden architecture underneath the visible 0:04:29.080 --> 0:04:30.640 edifice of all those desires. 0:04:31.200 --> 0:04:31.440 Yeah. 0:04:31.520 --> 0:04:33.960 Yeah, I won't say anything more about the ending until 0:04:33.960 --> 0:04:35.800 we get to it, but I will say it's not 0:04:35.880 --> 0:04:38.240 a gut punch ending. It's not one of those undeserved 0:04:38.240 --> 0:04:42.200 gut punch indings anyway, I think it's as you were. 0:04:42.760 --> 0:04:45.880 As you're there on the floor holding your stomach, you 0:04:45.920 --> 0:04:50.520 realize no, that gut punch was warranted, Yeah, and is 0:04:50.560 --> 0:04:53.880 supported by the film. Now, one thing that I think 0:04:53.960 --> 0:04:57.159 is interesting to point out. This is purely accidental, but 0:04:57.560 --> 0:05:00.840 I think Seconds is in many ways an inter companion 0:05:00.880 --> 0:05:04.440 piece to The Incredible Shrinking Man from nineteen fifty seven 0:05:05.000 --> 0:05:07.880 that we've recently talked about on the show. They both 0:05:07.920 --> 0:05:12.560 deal with themes of mid century midlife crisis and fantastic 0:05:12.680 --> 0:05:18.159 treatments of desired or undesired change. In The Incredible Shrinking Man, 0:05:18.200 --> 0:05:21.800 our protagonist is literally diminished and ultimately reaches a point 0:05:21.800 --> 0:05:27.159 of acceptance and ultimately even transcendence. Seconds, however, deals with 0:05:27.200 --> 0:05:30.359 the siren song of escape and liberation from one's own life, 0:05:30.440 --> 0:05:32.919 and is ultimately a far darker tale. 0:05:33.240 --> 0:05:36.840 Agree one hundred percent. These are both excellent movies and 0:05:37.400 --> 0:05:41.480 offer really interesting philosophical counterpoints to one another. 0:05:42.040 --> 0:05:45.760 My elevator pitch is feature length twilight zone midlife crisis. 0:05:47.120 --> 0:05:50.159 All right, let's go ahead and hear the audio from 0:05:50.200 --> 0:05:50.719 the trailer. 0:06:12.920 --> 0:06:25.440 A bold, bizarre, terrifying. 0:06:27.960 --> 0:06:33.400 Rock Hudson in an astonishing change of pace stars in seconds. 0:06:38.480 --> 0:06:43.640 Rock Hudson as a second freed from all responsibilities, now 0:06:43.680 --> 0:06:59.440 ready to taste new pleasures. Rock Hudson as a man 0:06:59.480 --> 0:07:02.800 who buys for himself a totally new life, a chance 0:07:02.839 --> 0:07:06.839 to begin again every man's dream since time began. 0:07:08.440 --> 0:07:12.480 As soon as these people leave, I'm going to attack you. 0:07:13.760 --> 0:07:17.400 I want you to know that I'm counting on it. 0:07:18.160 --> 0:07:21.160 Rock Hudson as a man who lives the nightmare of 0:07:21.240 --> 0:07:24.320 being a second stirring Have. 0:07:24.440 --> 0:07:31.640 You liked that? Hey, John, John, John? Why are they 0:07:31.680 --> 0:07:39.160 stirring me like that? They know? He O what they're like? 0:07:39.240 --> 0:07:47.480 You reborn? 0:08:09.840 --> 0:08:11.480 All right? Now, if you're eager to go out and 0:08:11.480 --> 0:08:14.600 see this film for yourself before we discuss it any further, 0:08:14.640 --> 0:08:16.680 and this would be a good place to do that 0:08:16.840 --> 0:08:19.880 because after this, you know, we're going to start getting 0:08:19.920 --> 0:08:21.920 into the characters and into the plot, and even in 0:08:21.920 --> 0:08:23.960 discussing the characters, we're going to spoil a few things 0:08:23.960 --> 0:08:26.160 for you. So yeah, go out and see it if 0:08:26.160 --> 0:08:29.760 you're interested. It's widely available on digital and it was 0:08:29.800 --> 0:08:32.280 released on Blu Ray as part of the Criterion collection. 0:08:32.760 --> 0:08:37.800 So yeah, it's a film that, despite it's seeming mixed 0:08:39.160 --> 0:08:42.720 reviews when it came out, or mixed reception critically, and 0:08:42.760 --> 0:08:46.920 so forth. It has developed a cult following over the decades, 0:08:47.280 --> 0:08:51.040 and I think is largely very well received and admired today. 0:08:51.440 --> 0:08:54.559 Yes, I think it really aged into proper acclaim. 0:08:55.520 --> 0:08:57.800 Yeah, all right, Well, let's talk about some of the 0:08:57.800 --> 0:09:01.000 folks involved in making this picture. Starting at the top, 0:09:01.120 --> 0:09:04.080 I mentioned that this is a John Frankenheimer film. He 0:09:04.160 --> 0:09:07.880 directed it. Frankenheimer lived nineteen thirty through two thousand and two. 0:09:08.080 --> 0:09:10.680 Started out in TV in the mid fifties and directed 0:09:10.760 --> 0:09:15.160 twenty six episodes of Climax exclamation Point. He made his 0:09:15.200 --> 0:09:18.880 film directorial debut with nineteen fifty seven's The Young Stranger, 0:09:18.920 --> 0:09:22.120 a drama starring Kim Hunter. In the sixties, though, he 0:09:22.160 --> 0:09:25.199 really came into his own first with The Young Savages, 0:09:25.240 --> 0:09:28.559 a nineteen sixty one street gang flick starring Burt Lancaster 0:09:29.200 --> 0:09:32.360 as a district attorney, not as a troubled youth, I 0:09:32.400 --> 0:09:34.680 should say, because I don't know Burt Lancaster ever was 0:09:34.679 --> 0:09:37.040 a youth. He also did a trio of films in 0:09:37.120 --> 0:09:41.080 nineteen sixty two, All Fall Down with Warren Beatty, Birdman 0:09:41.200 --> 0:09:45.439 of Alcatraz, with Lancaster and Carl Malden and The Manchurian 0:09:45.520 --> 0:09:51.040 Candidate starring Frank Sinatra and Angela Lansberry. That is probably 0:09:51.120 --> 0:09:52.880 one of his more famous films. 0:09:53.360 --> 0:09:56.160 Well, it's a very different kind of genre and subject matter. 0:09:56.160 --> 0:09:59.800 I would say one thing that is shared in common 0:10:00.000 --> 0:10:06.880 between Manchurian Candidate and Seconds is the atmosphere of secretiveness 0:10:06.880 --> 0:10:09.840 and paranoia that is conjured in both films. 0:10:10.280 --> 0:10:14.920 Yeah. Yeah, this after This came nineteen sixty four to 0:10:15.000 --> 0:10:18.360 seven Days in May. This is about a military coup 0:10:18.679 --> 0:10:21.800 taking place in the United States, which I think also 0:10:21.880 --> 0:10:24.640 has similar strains you know, obviously of conspiracy and so 0:10:24.679 --> 0:10:27.120 forth in paranoia. And then a film called The Train, 0:10:27.200 --> 0:10:28.800 which I think is maybe a little less on the 0:10:28.840 --> 0:10:32.640 intrigue and conspiracy spectrum. And then comes the movie Seconds. 0:10:33.360 --> 0:10:35.959 Frankenheimer continued to work steadily throughout the rest of his life, 0:10:35.960 --> 0:10:38.920 and some of the standouts include seventy five's The French 0:10:38.920 --> 0:10:42.880 Connection two, nineteen seventy seven's Black Sunday. This was the 0:10:42.920 --> 0:10:46.640 first film adaptation of a Thomas Harris novel. The nineteen 0:10:46.679 --> 0:10:50.720 seventy nine Mutant Bear movie Prophecy, which we've we've mentioned 0:10:50.760 --> 0:10:53.760 a few times on the show before. 0:10:53.640 --> 0:10:54.880 Seems to come up frequently. 0:10:55.000 --> 0:10:58.240 Yeah, yeah, yeah, I mean it's it's a Mutant Bear movie, 0:10:58.280 --> 0:11:01.640 directed by John Frankenheimer. I still haven't seen it all 0:11:01.679 --> 0:11:03.160 the way. I started watching it and then realized it 0:11:03.400 --> 0:11:06.440 it was maybe too serious for what I had in 0:11:06.520 --> 0:11:10.280 mind for myself. He directed the nineteen eighty two John 0:11:10.400 --> 0:11:14.440 Salis scripted action movie The Challenge, starring Scott glenn In 0:11:14.480 --> 0:11:18.360 Toshiro Mafuni. Nineteen ninety four is The Burning Season starring 0:11:18.440 --> 0:11:22.120 Raal Julia. He of course stepped in to replace Richard 0:11:22.160 --> 0:11:25.720 Stanley on nineteen ninety six is The Island of Doctor Moreau. 0:11:25.880 --> 0:11:29.480 And then he also directed nineteen ninety eight's Ronan, which 0:11:29.520 --> 0:11:33.880 is a pretty entertaining espionage thriller. As I recall, it's 0:11:33.880 --> 0:11:37.280 got a really solid cast and some excellent vehicular stunts. 0:11:37.600 --> 0:11:39.640 I think that's one of those movies I saw when 0:11:40.280 --> 0:11:42.640 you know, I was like too young to understand the 0:11:42.679 --> 0:11:45.280 plot at all, but I do remember, like Robert de 0:11:45.360 --> 0:11:48.120 Niro and Sean Bean and still in Scars Guard. 0:11:48.640 --> 0:11:51.080 Yeah, even you don't have to understand the plot of Ronan. Really, 0:11:51.120 --> 0:11:54.960 it's just, you know, various spy types are encountering each 0:11:54.960 --> 0:11:57.880 other saying cryptic things, and then stuff gets blown up 0:11:57.920 --> 0:12:00.960 and so forth. All Right. This greenplay for this film 0:12:00.960 --> 0:12:04.640 was written by Lewis John Carlino, who lived nineteen thirty 0:12:04.640 --> 0:12:08.360 two through twenty twenty American screenwriter and director. He'd written 0:12:08.360 --> 0:12:12.400 for TV previously, but this was his first feature screenplay credit, 0:12:12.800 --> 0:12:15.680 but certainly not the last. His later screenplays include nineteen 0:12:15.679 --> 0:12:19.000 seventy twos of the Mechanic and nineteen seventy nine's The 0:12:19.040 --> 0:12:22.079 Great Santini starring Robert Devall. This was based on the 0:12:22.120 --> 0:12:26.680 Pat conroy novel, and Carlino also directed that film. Now 0:12:26.840 --> 0:12:29.800 this film, Seconds is based on the novel by David 0:12:29.920 --> 0:12:34.200 Ealy born nineteen twenty seven. The only other adaptation of 0:12:34.240 --> 0:12:36.680 his work that I ran across as a nineteen seventy 0:12:36.679 --> 0:12:40.720 one segment on Night Gallery titled The Academy starring Pat Boone. 0:12:41.360 --> 0:12:43.240 I think I've seen this one because I think it's 0:12:43.240 --> 0:12:46.560 season one, but I don't remember it at all. Seconds 0:12:46.640 --> 0:12:49.640 was a nineteen sixty three novel, and his other works 0:12:49.640 --> 0:12:52.560 include sixty eight Time Out and nineteen ninety twos A 0:12:52.679 --> 0:12:56.079 Journal of the Flood Year, all Right, Getting into the 0:12:56.120 --> 0:12:58.760 cast here and Yes, There are gonna be some spoilers 0:12:58.760 --> 0:13:01.160 as we discussed, like who who each of these people 0:13:01.240 --> 0:13:05.360 is playing. We have this character named Arthur Hamilton. He's 0:13:05.440 --> 0:13:09.440 the initial incarnation of our protagonist, a successful man who's 0:13:09.480 --> 0:13:14.040 deeply uncomfortable in his own life and completely bottled up emotionally. 0:13:14.360 --> 0:13:16.760 It is, in my opinion, just a really great performance 0:13:16.840 --> 0:13:20.640 by the actor. John Randolph, who lived nineteen fifteen through 0:13:20.679 --> 0:13:21.840 two thousand and four. 0:13:22.080 --> 0:13:25.440 Agree that the cast is excellent across the board. I 0:13:25.480 --> 0:13:28.880 think really everybody who gets speaking roles in this is 0:13:28.960 --> 0:13:33.440 very good, But the two actors playing the protagonist are 0:13:33.760 --> 0:13:36.160 I think should be singled out for really high praise. 0:13:36.679 --> 0:13:39.760 Yeah, yeah, I mean, obviously a performance doesn't exist in isolation. 0:13:40.400 --> 0:13:44.640 Randolph's performance here is accentuated by great direction, great cinematography. 0:13:45.040 --> 0:13:47.880 But man, it really all comes together in this very 0:13:47.960 --> 0:13:52.960 uncomfortable and at times like really surprisingly raw, like emotionally raw, 0:13:53.120 --> 0:13:55.760 and also just paranoia inducing performance. 0:13:56.160 --> 0:13:56.559 Yeah. 0:13:56.760 --> 0:13:56.880 So. 0:13:56.960 --> 0:14:00.800 Randolph was born Emmanuel Hirsch Cohen and was active on 0:14:00.880 --> 0:14:03.400 Broadway as far back as nineteen thirty eight according to 0:14:03.440 --> 0:14:07.000 the Internet Broadway Database, and his earliest TV and film 0:14:07.080 --> 0:14:10.360 credits go back to forty eight and forty nine, but 0:14:10.760 --> 0:14:14.400 he and his wife Sarah Cunningham were both blacklisted around 0:14:14.440 --> 0:14:16.920 that time, and in nineteen fifty five they were both 0:14:16.960 --> 0:14:20.160 called to testify before the House and American Activities Committee. 0:14:20.320 --> 0:14:23.120 As such, Randolph was forced to work outside of Hollywood 0:14:23.440 --> 0:14:26.480 and New York film, television and radio for a good 0:14:26.560 --> 0:14:27.520 fifteen years. 0:14:27.960 --> 0:14:30.000 Man, I feel like Huak has been coming up a 0:14:30.000 --> 0:14:33.360 lot in Weird House episodes recently. That's not by design, 0:14:33.440 --> 0:14:34.640 It just happens. 0:14:34.280 --> 0:14:37.600 To me, It just happens. It seems like it's a 0:14:37.640 --> 0:14:41.520 case of watching meaningful films with talented folks in them 0:14:41.600 --> 0:14:45.760 from this time period just ended up impacting so many people, 0:14:45.840 --> 0:14:48.680 either the Blacklist or the Gray List or the ramifications 0:14:48.720 --> 0:14:52.480 of those lists. So anyway, Yeah, he continued working in 0:14:52.480 --> 0:14:55.960 New York theater. I don't think that was like directly impacted. 0:14:56.040 --> 0:14:58.960 It may have been indirectly, but his TV and film 0:14:58.960 --> 0:15:02.760 credits are pretty bluster up until the mid sixties, and 0:15:02.840 --> 0:15:06.360 this film Seconds was his first real film role coming 0:15:06.400 --> 0:15:09.880 out of that blacklist period. Now, after Seconds, he did 0:15:09.880 --> 0:15:13.120 a lot more TV work, including Night Gallery, and played 0:15:13.400 --> 0:15:16.320 the chairman in two Planet of the Apes movies, Escape 0:15:16.360 --> 0:15:19.320 in Conquest. At seventy one and seventy two. He was 0:15:19.360 --> 0:15:23.080 in Serpico in seventy three, the al Pacino cop movie. 0:15:23.360 --> 0:15:26.160 He was in the seventy six King Kong film Heaven 0:15:26.200 --> 0:15:29.520 Can Waite in seventy eight, Pritzy's Honor in eighty five. Oh, 0:15:30.160 --> 0:15:32.920 I didn't recognize him at all from this, but he 0:15:32.960 --> 0:15:36.600 was in National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation in eighty nine playing 0:15:36.640 --> 0:15:39.960 Clark griswold sor no memory of that, though I've seen 0:15:40.000 --> 0:15:43.200 that movie. Yeah, he was in You've Got Mail in 0:15:43.760 --> 0:15:48.720 ninety eight, and he played the original Frank Costanza on Seinfeld. 0:15:50.360 --> 0:15:53.040 I either didn't know or had forgotten that this was 0:15:53.200 --> 0:15:55.720 ever a case of someone else ever having played the 0:15:55.760 --> 0:15:59.880 plot for Jerry Stiller, and I couldn't find a clear an. 0:16:00.120 --> 0:16:02.080 It seems like it might have been just scheduling issues 0:16:02.120 --> 0:16:04.480 that the reason they ended up replacing him as playing 0:16:04.520 --> 0:16:07.240 Frank Castanza, but it also may have been a desire 0:16:07.240 --> 0:16:10.000 to go in a new direction with the character. I'm 0:16:10.000 --> 0:16:13.720 not sure. I can't can't really imagine him being Frank 0:16:13.720 --> 0:16:15.960 is Stanza long term on the show. Likewise, I can't 0:16:15.960 --> 0:16:19.320 imagine Jerry Stiller playing this role in this movie. 0:16:19.480 --> 0:16:22.000 So you know, I really want to give credit to 0:16:22.080 --> 0:16:24.600 Randolph in this role because he's very good, and in 0:16:24.640 --> 0:16:27.600 many ways it's a thankless kind of performance because he 0:16:27.880 --> 0:16:32.360 it's very complex and he's pitch perfect in it, but 0:16:32.840 --> 0:16:36.040 it's a role where he doesn't really get to branch 0:16:36.080 --> 0:16:39.960 out and like offer much emotion because like the whole 0:16:40.000 --> 0:16:43.160 point is that his character is kind of like unfulfilled 0:16:43.200 --> 0:16:46.920 and unfulfilling. He's just sitting there like containing all of 0:16:46.960 --> 0:16:51.280 his disappointment within himself and not really getting to express it. 0:16:51.720 --> 0:16:55.520 And this character does have an arc where he goes 0:16:55.560 --> 0:16:58.920 other places, but as we're about to reveal in a minute, 0:16:58.960 --> 0:17:01.080 this actor doesn't get to be there for that. 0:17:02.000 --> 0:17:04.920 Yeah, I think the key thing is that as a 0:17:05.040 --> 0:17:09.800 vessel containing these complex emotions that are just straining to 0:17:09.880 --> 0:17:13.040 leak out, Like you can see that, you can observe that, 0:17:13.080 --> 0:17:15.600 you can feel that in its performance, and it's not 0:17:16.119 --> 0:17:18.200 it's not a situation where you just have to imagine, 0:17:18.320 --> 0:17:20.960 you know, purely imagine what's going on inside, like you 0:17:21.000 --> 0:17:26.960 can see the gears turning. So excellent performance. Yeah, absolutely, 0:17:27.400 --> 0:17:29.239 And you know, I don't think i'd really seen much 0:17:29.280 --> 0:17:32.720 of his work before outside of obviously Christmas vacation, which 0:17:33.359 --> 0:17:36.879 you know is perfectly fine. I've seen it a million times, 0:17:36.880 --> 0:17:40.640 but not really a showcase for his work, all right. 0:17:40.720 --> 0:17:46.080 Playing author Hamilton's wife Emily Hamilton is Francis Reid, who 0:17:46.160 --> 0:17:49.640 lived nineteen fourteen through twenty ten. American actor, best known 0:17:49.720 --> 0:17:52.880 in film for her role here, but she also acted 0:17:52.920 --> 0:17:56.760 in nineteen seventy one's The Andromeda Strain soap opera. Fans, however, 0:17:56.840 --> 0:18:00.800 might recognize her from this is correct three three hundred 0:18:00.840 --> 0:18:03.720 and ninety three episodes of Days of Our Lives, on 0:18:03.800 --> 0:18:07.120 which she played Alice Horton from nineteen sixty five through 0:18:07.160 --> 0:18:08.359 two thousand and seven. 0:18:08.640 --> 0:18:11.080 How is that even possible? I don't know. 0:18:11.240 --> 0:18:13.680 It just it sounds astounding, But I guess they just 0:18:13.760 --> 0:18:16.000 really cranked these out. I mean, this was like a 0:18:16.080 --> 0:18:17.679 daily show, right. 0:18:18.119 --> 0:18:20.720 That sound I had no idea that show ran that long. 0:18:21.200 --> 0:18:24.200 But also I want to say Francis Reid extremely good 0:18:24.240 --> 0:18:27.120 in this movie in a similarly thankless kind of role 0:18:27.240 --> 0:18:31.919 to to John Randolph here, that she you know, she 0:18:32.000 --> 0:18:36.040 plays a character whose complexity is a lot in what 0:18:36.160 --> 0:18:39.200 she doesn't get to say and doesn't get too emote. 0:18:39.400 --> 0:18:42.399 Absolutely yeah, So I think it's also a solid performance, 0:18:42.440 --> 0:18:44.160 and there's there's kind of a part one in part 0:18:44.200 --> 0:18:47.120 two of it that I think equals things out really well. 0:18:55.240 --> 0:18:57.440 All Right, the next character we're going to discuss here 0:18:57.640 --> 0:19:01.080 has a different name. It's Antiochus Wilson or Wilson as 0:19:01.080 --> 0:19:06.359 he's mostly referred to. This is the reborn author Hamilton. 0:19:06.720 --> 0:19:10.200 So this is we'll explain, this is the character he becomes. 0:19:10.480 --> 0:19:16.040 He is reborn as this person through like surgical reconstruction 0:19:16.520 --> 0:19:19.440 and through fraudulent documents and so forth. There's a whole 0:19:19.520 --> 0:19:23.600 organization we'll get to that, but basically, one character becomes 0:19:23.720 --> 0:19:26.360 this other take on the character, and a new actor 0:19:26.880 --> 0:19:30.480 takes over the role. That actor is Rock Hudson, who 0:19:30.480 --> 0:19:32.840 lived nineteen twenty five through nineteen eighty five. 0:19:33.240 --> 0:19:35.760 I'm not super well versed on Rock Hudson's career, but 0:19:35.800 --> 0:19:38.359 from what I understand, this was a major departure for 0:19:38.480 --> 0:19:43.520 him that he had mostly done much lighter movies. You know, 0:19:43.600 --> 0:19:46.160 he's known as that, like, he's a handsome guy. He's 0:19:46.240 --> 0:19:49.560 there to like be like the fun, good looking guy 0:19:49.680 --> 0:19:52.800 in like a romance or romantic comedy or something to 0:19:52.880 --> 0:19:58.520 be in a in a dark, brooding, philosophical science fiction 0:19:58.640 --> 0:20:00.720 film like this. I don't think think he'd really done 0:20:00.720 --> 0:20:02.000 anything like this, had he? 0:20:02.320 --> 0:20:04.000 No, No, I was looking around. I don't think he'd 0:20:04.000 --> 0:20:06.760 ever done anything that you could classify as horror or 0:20:06.800 --> 0:20:10.359 science fiction or certainly fantasy. And you know, part of 0:20:10.359 --> 0:20:13.359 that is we've discussed highly successful actors or directors or 0:20:13.400 --> 0:20:15.760 what have you of the day, they generally didn't have 0:20:15.840 --> 0:20:18.600 to do that. It's such an inversion of what we 0:20:18.680 --> 0:20:22.439 have today, where the biggest actors around are you know, 0:20:22.480 --> 0:20:26.080 almost inevitably, with some notable exceptions. Obviously there's no any 0:20:26.119 --> 0:20:28.160 of these generalities are not going to be one hundred percent. 0:20:28.240 --> 0:20:30.600 But you know, it's not surprising to see someone who's 0:20:30.600 --> 0:20:34.280 won multiple Oscars show up in a Marvel movie or 0:20:34.320 --> 0:20:36.919 in you know, whatever the or Star Wars or what 0:20:37.000 --> 0:20:39.560 have you. But back in the day, you know, as 0:20:39.560 --> 0:20:43.040 we've discussed on these various genre pictures, they were lower 0:20:43.160 --> 0:20:47.199 down on the pecking order, and so yeah, it's not 0:20:47.280 --> 0:20:49.680 surprising to find a situation for Rockets and had never 0:20:49.720 --> 0:20:52.199 been in a movie that had robots or aliens or 0:20:52.240 --> 0:20:55.760 even you know, the sort of ultimately kind of light 0:20:56.119 --> 0:20:59.439 sophisticated sci fi, you know, kind of more Twilight Zone 0:20:59.600 --> 0:21:03.080 ish l elements that you find in this picture. Like 0:21:03.119 --> 0:21:05.200 you said he was, I mean, he was a nineteen 0:21:05.240 --> 0:21:08.159 fifties leading man, perhaps, I mean not just a he 0:21:08.240 --> 0:21:11.280 was kind of the nineteen fifties leading man. He's the 0:21:11.320 --> 0:21:14.200 top build actor in this film, and he was easily 0:21:14.240 --> 0:21:16.360 one of the biggest, if not biggest movie stars off 0:21:16.359 --> 0:21:21.239 his era. His main film roles were stuff like his 0:21:21.240 --> 0:21:23.560 biggest pictures anyway from the fifties were stuff like All 0:21:23.600 --> 0:21:27.280 That Heaven Allows, Giant Written on the Wind, and Pillar Talk. 0:21:27.520 --> 0:21:29.240 These are all movies where you look at you can 0:21:29.240 --> 0:21:31.840 pull them up now on the database of your choice. 0:21:32.119 --> 0:21:36.719 And all the posters prominently feature his character romantically embracing 0:21:36.760 --> 0:21:40.040 the lead actress. That is not the case with Seconds No. 0:21:40.960 --> 0:21:43.760 So yeah, going into that, this was a departure, and 0:21:43.800 --> 0:21:46.639 I'm to understand he was not Frankenheimer's first choice for 0:21:46.720 --> 0:21:51.359 the role. Apparently Frankenheimer considered rock Hudson to, you know, 0:21:51.400 --> 0:21:54.840 to be maybe a lighter weight actor. Ultimately, you know, 0:21:55.600 --> 0:21:58.000 he's the rom com guy, he's the heart throb guy. 0:21:58.320 --> 0:22:00.359 He's like, I need somebody like a Bert Land caster. 0:22:00.960 --> 0:22:04.159 But ultimately he gets sold on rock Hudson, Like his 0:22:04.200 --> 0:22:06.880 agent says, you know, no, Hudson can do this. He's 0:22:06.920 --> 0:22:10.560 excited for this role and and in thees so Frankenheimers 0:22:10.600 --> 0:22:14.280 proved wrong and has admitted to such, and and I know, 0:22:14.320 --> 0:22:18.040 I absolutely agree. I think Hudson's performance in this is great. 0:22:18.080 --> 0:22:21.359 I think he perfectly captures this sense of the reborn 0:22:21.760 --> 0:22:22.440 in seconds. 0:22:23.000 --> 0:22:26.240 Fully agree. I wouldn't want anybody else in this role. 0:22:26.280 --> 0:22:27.520 I think he's fantastic. 0:22:28.119 --> 0:22:31.440 Yeah, he's like he's playing a character that's outwardly strong 0:22:31.600 --> 0:22:36.040 and confident, you know, a complete transformation from his previous incarnation, 0:22:36.600 --> 0:22:40.600 but inside, you know there's still this uncertainty, there's perhaps 0:22:40.600 --> 0:22:43.720 this sense of inadequacy, and you can see all of 0:22:43.760 --> 0:22:44.400 that happening. 0:22:44.480 --> 0:22:44.679 You know. 0:22:44.800 --> 0:22:48.800 It just was I was worried, honestly because the first 0:22:49.320 --> 0:22:53.240 performance of this character, John Randolph's performance is so strong. 0:22:53.359 --> 0:22:56.360 I was like, even not being that familiar with Rock 0:22:56.400 --> 0:22:58.400 Hudson's work, I was like, I don't know, I Hudson's 0:22:58.400 --> 0:23:00.280 going to really be able to pull this off. Feel 0:23:00.320 --> 0:23:03.320 it's going to feel unequal, But I really think that 0:23:03.560 --> 0:23:06.679 he pulls off a great performance here, And yeah, I 0:23:06.680 --> 0:23:10.080 can't imagine it being any different now. Hudson would go 0:23:10.160 --> 0:23:12.520 on to appear in two more films you could qualify 0:23:12.520 --> 0:23:16.080 as science fiction nineteen seventy six is Embryo and nineteen 0:23:16.119 --> 0:23:19.879 eighties The Martian Chronicles, and the various other films. I 0:23:19.880 --> 0:23:22.480 think he's in an avalanche movie that was covered on 0:23:22.640 --> 0:23:25.199 Mystery Science Theater at some point late in his career. 0:23:26.680 --> 0:23:29.320 Much has been written about Hudson's personal life, as he 0:23:29.440 --> 0:23:31.760