WEBVTT - Weirdhouse Cinema Rewind: Seconds 0:00:04.440 --> 0:00:08.440 Hey, welcome to Weird House Cinema rewind. This is Rob Lamb. 0:00:08.480 --> 0:00:10.760 We're on a bit of a summer break here, so 0:00:10.800 --> 0:00:13.800 we have some extra weird House Cinema rewinds for you. 0:00:14.520 --> 0:00:18.040 This one is going to be coverage of John Frankenheimer's 0:00:18.200 --> 0:00:23.360 nineteen sixty six psychological horror film Seconds, starring Rock Hudson, 0:00:23.640 --> 0:00:28.360 with cinematography by the legendary James Wong Hoo. Originally published 0:00:28.560 --> 0:00:32.239 six nine, twenty twenty three. Oh, you're gonna enjoy this one. 0:00:32.360 --> 0:00:35.360 It's it's darker and deeper than you might expect. 0:00:38.080 --> 0:00:43.839 Welcome to Stuff to Blow your mind, A production of iHeartRadio. 0:00:48.240 --> 0:00:50.519 Hey you welcome to Weird House Cinema. My name is 0:00:50.600 --> 0:00:51.560 Rob Lamb. 0:00:51.560 --> 0:00:54.600 And I am Joe McCormick. And today on the show, 0:00:54.600 --> 0:00:57.760 we're going to be talking about a movie from nineteen 0:00:58.120 --> 0:01:03.560 sixty six, a film called Seconds, directed by John Frankenheimer. 0:01:03.920 --> 0:01:05.240 And I was trying to think. I was trying to 0:01:05.280 --> 0:01:07.280 think what to call it. Would you call this a 0:01:07.480 --> 0:01:13.120 science fiction thriller or a philosophical horror thriller? This really 0:01:13.160 --> 0:01:15.039 does defy genres in a way. 0:01:15.400 --> 0:01:17.319 It really does. I mean, you can see there are 0:01:17.360 --> 0:01:22.040 elements of conspiracy drama, the conspiracy thriller. There there are 0:01:22.040 --> 0:01:24.839 elements of sci fi and horror, but it's not really 0:01:24.880 --> 0:01:29.240 any of those things. It is deeply psychological in many respects, 0:01:29.400 --> 0:01:33.120 so you might say it's psychological ab or c. But 0:01:33.959 --> 0:01:36.320 any attempt to pin this film down is going to 0:01:36.440 --> 0:01:38.039 miss something crucial, I think. 0:01:38.400 --> 0:01:40.720 So I'm really excited to talk about this movie. I'm 0:01:40.760 --> 0:01:44.560 honestly astounded how interesting I found it. But I do 0:01:44.640 --> 0:01:47.080 want to issue a sort of dual warning here at 0:01:47.080 --> 0:01:50.480 the top. First of all, about the podcast episode, This 0:01:50.520 --> 0:01:54.120 film has some i would say extremely powerful twists and 0:01:54.200 --> 0:01:57.040 surprises in it, and in order to talk about the 0:01:57.040 --> 0:01:59.919 movie in detail, we have to sort of reveal those surprises, 0:02:00.040 --> 0:02:03.120 including the ending, a little later in our conversation. So 0:02:03.200 --> 0:02:06.040 if you want to watch it spoiler free and preserve 0:02:06.120 --> 0:02:10.080 your surprise, you should do that before listening. But secondary warning, 0:02:10.400 --> 0:02:12.840 before you go off to do that, I also have 0:02:12.919 --> 0:02:16.120 to say I was absolutely floored by the ending of 0:02:16.120 --> 0:02:19.160 this movie. And I don't usually feel the need to 0:02:19.240 --> 0:02:23.080 issue like warnings just about a movie having disturbing content 0:02:23.280 --> 0:02:26.720 or being really unsettling, But you know, we cover a 0:02:26.720 --> 0:02:29.600 lot of weird horror and stuff but this one was, like, 0:02:30.080 --> 0:02:32.160 it shook me so hard that I feel like I 0:02:32.160 --> 0:02:35.560 should give people a bit of a heads up, especially 0:02:35.600 --> 0:02:38.200 because I think you're not really expecting it given the context. 0:02:38.200 --> 0:02:41.440 This movie is from nineteen sixty six. It's shot in 0:02:41.480 --> 0:02:45.320 black and white. The cinematography is amazing. It looks like 0:02:45.360 --> 0:02:47.799 a film from a little bit earlier, Like it looks 0:02:47.840 --> 0:02:51.519 like it could be a really well shot, interesting looking 0:02:51.520 --> 0:02:54.799 film from the fifties. It stars Rock Hudson's that really 0:02:54.880 --> 0:02:56.600 also makes it feel like, I don't know, one of 0:02:56.600 --> 0:03:00.920 these kind of romantic comedy movies from the fifties or something. 0:03:01.520 --> 0:03:03.600 But I think, especially given all that context, I was 0:03:03.680 --> 0:03:08.519 just not prepared for the raw horror and desperate bleakness 0:03:08.960 --> 0:03:11.320 achieved by the end of this film. So if you 0:03:11.440 --> 0:03:13.040 watch it, prepared to be shaken. 0:03:13.360 --> 0:03:13.600 Yeah. 0:03:13.600 --> 0:03:17.239 This movie is a sixties film that looks in many 0:03:17.280 --> 0:03:20.720 respects like a nineteen fifties movie, but ultimately has the 0:03:20.760 --> 0:03:23.320 feel of a seventies or even eighties film in terms 0:03:23.360 --> 0:03:24.919 of its impact. 0:03:25.320 --> 0:03:27.360 I guess I could worry that on the other end, 0:03:27.360 --> 0:03:29.800 I might be kind of diminishing the dramatic effect by 0:03:29.840 --> 0:03:32.680 giving this warning, but so be it. I was shocked 0:03:32.680 --> 0:03:34.840 by the ending, and I was kind of like walking 0:03:34.880 --> 0:03:37.600 around the house feeling a pit in my stomach afterwards. So, 0:03:38.760 --> 0:03:40.520 you know, if people were going to go off and 0:03:40.560 --> 0:03:41.760 watch this, be prepared. 0:03:42.280 --> 0:03:42.640 Yeah. 0:03:43.000 --> 0:03:45.960 I was finishing watching this movie after my son came 0:03:46.000 --> 0:03:48.480 back from summer camp, and I was like watching it 0:03:48.520 --> 0:03:51.440 in the living room but with headphones in, and right 0:03:51.480 --> 0:03:53.960 as everything was going down, and I was like prepared 0:03:53.960 --> 0:03:57.280 to jump up and like like pause the movies from 0:03:57.400 --> 0:04:01.240 entering the room just because I was like, this is to. 0:04:01.280 --> 0:04:04.080 To start exactly right after I finished, I was going 0:04:04.160 --> 0:04:07.920 to go play with my baby. And it's just I mean, 0:04:08.000 --> 0:04:09.720 I guess that's a good thing to do, actually, because 0:04:10.080 --> 0:04:11.480 I want to say but on the other hand, I 0:04:11.520 --> 0:04:14.320 don't want to scare people off too much because I 0:04:14.320 --> 0:04:17.600 think Seconds is a phenomenal film. I had never seen 0:04:17.640 --> 0:04:19.559 it before we watched it this week for the show. 0:04:20.440 --> 0:04:24.560 I understand it received I think a very polarized reaction 0:04:24.680 --> 0:04:27.360 from critics back when it was first released. I think 0:04:27.400 --> 0:04:30.360 some thought it was a kind of strange masterpiece. Others 0:04:30.440 --> 0:04:35.080 thought it was cold and even reprehensible. And I didn't 0:04:35.080 --> 0:04:38.719 fully understand this division in opinion while I was watching it. 0:04:38.839 --> 0:04:41.760 Until the ending and then it made sense. But I 0:04:41.800 --> 0:04:44.679 think I would side more with the supporters. In my opinion. 0:04:45.080 --> 0:04:49.680 Seconds is a piercing, fascinating look at the nature of desire. 0:04:49.800 --> 0:04:53.320 This is a film about what it means to want 0:04:53.440 --> 0:04:57.480 things and to want something different for your life, and 0:04:57.520 --> 0:05:03.520 it explores the really complex, troubling, hidden architecture underneath the 0:05:03.600 --> 0:05:06.479 visible edifice of all those desires. Yeah. 0:05:06.560 --> 0:05:08.960 Yeah, I won't say anything more about the ending until 0:05:09.000 --> 0:05:10.839 we get to it, but I will say it's not 0:05:10.880 --> 0:05:13.240 a gut punch ending. It's not one of those undeserved 0:05:13.279 --> 0:05:17.240 gut punch endings anyway. I think it's as you were, 0:05:17.760 --> 0:05:20.880 as you're there on the floor holding your stomach, you 0:05:20.960 --> 0:05:25.520 realize no, that gut punch was warranted. Yeah, and is 0:05:25.560 --> 0:05:28.960 supported by the film. Now, one thing that I think 0:05:29.000 --> 0:05:31.640 is interesting to point out, and this is purely accidental, 0:05:32.080 --> 0:05:35.320 but I think Seconds is in many ways an interesting 0:05:35.320 --> 0:05:39.120 companion piece to The Incredible Shrinking Man from nineteen fifty 0:05:39.160 --> 0:05:42.599 seven that we recently talked about on the show. They 0:05:42.640 --> 0:05:46.640 both deal with themes of mid century midlife crisis and 0:05:46.880 --> 0:05:52.520 fantastic treatments of desired or undesired change. In The Incredible 0:05:52.560 --> 0:05:56.480 shrinking man. Our protagonist is literally diminished and ultimately reaches 0:05:56.480 --> 0:06:00.840 a point of acceptance and ultimately even transcendence. Seconds, however, 0:06:01.640 --> 0:06:04.479 deals with the siren song of escape and liberation from 0:06:04.480 --> 0:06:07.960 one's own life, and is ultimately a far darker tale. 0:06:08.279 --> 0:06:11.800 Agree one hundred percent. These are both excellent movies and 0:06:12.400 --> 0:06:16.480 offer really interesting philosophical counterpoints to one another. 0:06:17.080 --> 0:06:22.120 My elevator pitch is feature length Twilight Zone midlife Crisis. Yeah, 0:06:22.160 --> 0:06:25.200 all right, let's go ahead and hear the audio from 0:06:25.240 --> 0:06:26.160 the trailer. 0:06:52.480 --> 0:07:05.359 Old Bizarre Terrify rock Hudson in an astonishing change of 0:07:05.400 --> 0:07:16.440 pace stars in Seconds. Rock Hudson as a second freed 0:07:16.480 --> 0:07:33.080 from all responsibilities, now ready to taste new pleasures. Rock 0:07:33.120 --> 0:07:36.120 Hudson as a man who buys for himself a totally 0:07:36.160 --> 0:07:40.760 new life, a chance to begin again every man's dream 0:07:40.880 --> 0:07:46.600 since time began. As soon as these people leave, I'm 0:07:46.600 --> 0:07:50.320 going to attack you. I want you to know that 0:07:51.280 --> 0:07:55.120 I'm counting on it. Rock Hudson as a man who 0:07:55.160 --> 0:07:58.679 lives the nightmare of being a second. 0:07:59.280 --> 0:08:06.040 If you like that, Hey John, Hey John, Hey John, 0:08:06.280 --> 0:08:07.720 Why are they're stirring at me like that? 0:08:09.200 --> 0:08:09.600 They know. 0:08:11.520 --> 0:08:14.200 They know what they're like? 0:08:14.240 --> 0:08:18.280 You Reborn. 0:08:19.240 --> 0:08:46.480 All right, Now, if you're eager to go out and 0:08:46.480 --> 0:08:48.960 see this one for the for yourself before we discuss 0:08:49.000 --> 0:08:51.240 it any further, and this would be a good place 0:08:51.280 --> 0:08:54.160 to do that, because after after this, you know, we're 0:08:54.200 --> 0:08:56.360 going to start getting into the characters and into the plot, 0:08:56.480 --> 0:08:58.520 and even in discussing the characters, we're gonna spoil a 0:08:58.520 --> 0:09:01.000 few things for you. So yeah, go out and see 0:09:01.000 --> 0:09:04.480 it if you're interested. It's widely available on digital and 0:09:04.559 --> 0:09:06.280 it was released on Blu Ray as part of the 0:09:06.280 --> 0:09:11.560 Criterion Collection. So yeah, it's a film that, despite it's 0:09:11.600 --> 0:09:16.160 seeming mixed reviews when it came out, or mixed reception 0:09:17.160 --> 0:09:20.760 critically and so forth, it has developed a cult following 0:09:20.960 --> 0:09:24.400 over the decades, and I think is largely very well 0:09:24.480 --> 0:09:26.040 received and admired today. 0:09:26.480 --> 0:09:29.600 Yes, I think it really aged into proper acclaim. 0:09:30.559 --> 0:09:32.840 Yeah, all right, well, let's talk about some of the 0:09:32.840 --> 0:09:36.000 folks involved in making this picture. Starting at the top, 0:09:36.120 --> 0:09:39.120 I mentioned that this is a John Frankenheimer film. He 0:09:39.200 --> 0:09:42.560 directed it. Frankenheimer lived nineteen thirty three two thousand and two, 0:09:43.120 --> 0:09:45.720 started out in TV in the mid fifties and directed 0:09:45.760 --> 0:09:50.120 twenty six episodes of Climax exclamation point. He made his 0:09:50.240 --> 0:09:53.880 film directorial debut with nineteen fifty seven's The Young Stranger, 0:09:53.960 --> 0:09:57.120 a drama starring Kim Hunter. In the sixties, though, he 0:09:57.200 --> 0:10:00.160 really came into his own first with The Young Savage, 0:10:00.280 --> 0:10:03.600 a nineteen sixty one street gang flick starring Burt Lancaster 0:10:04.240 --> 0:10:07.400 as a district attorney, not as a troubled youth, I 0:10:07.440 --> 0:10:09.679 should say, because I don't know Burt Lancaster ever was 0:10:09.720 --> 0:10:12.040 a youth. He also did a trio of films in 0:10:12.120 --> 0:10:16.120 nineteen sixty two, All Fall Down with Warren Beatty, Birdman 0:10:16.200 --> 0:10:20.479 of Alcatraz with Lancaster and Carl Malden, and The Manchurian 0:10:20.559 --> 0:10:26.079 Candidate starring Frank Sinatra and Angela Lansberry. That is probably 0:10:26.160 --> 0:10:27.720 one of his more famous films. 0:10:28.400 --> 0:10:31.160 Well, it's a very different kind of genre and subject matter. 0:10:31.200 --> 0:10:34.920 I would say one thing that is shared in common 0:10:35.000 --> 0:10:41.880 between Manchurian Candidate and Seconds is the atmosphere of secretiveness 0:10:41.920 --> 0:10:44.840 and paranoia that is conjured in both films. 0:10:45.320 --> 0:10:50.240 Yeah. Yeah, This after this came nineteen sixty four, seven 0:10:50.280 --> 0:10:54.000 Days in May. This is about a military coup taking 0:10:54.040 --> 0:10:57.079 place in the United States, which I think also has 0:10:57.120 --> 0:10:59.960 similar strains. You know obviously of conspiracy and so forth 0:11:00.040 --> 0:11:02.400 in Paranoia, and then a film called The Train, which 0:11:02.440 --> 0:11:04.320 I think is maybe a little less on the intrigue 0:11:04.320 --> 0:11:09.000 and conspiracy spectrum. And then comes the movie Seconds. Frankenheimer 0:11:09.040 --> 0:11:11.080 continued work steadily throughout the rest of his life, and 0:11:11.200 --> 0:11:15.040 some of the standouts include seventy five's The French Connection two, 0:11:15.280 --> 0:11:18.559 nineteen seventy seven's Black Sunday. This was the first film 0:11:18.559 --> 0:11:22.240 adaptation of a Thomas Harris novel. The nineteen seventy nine 0:11:22.360 --> 0:11:26.400 mutant Bear movie Prophecy, which we've mentioned a few times 0:11:26.400 --> 0:11:28.800 on the show before. 0:11:28.679 --> 0:11:29.920 Seems to come up frequently. 0:11:30.000 --> 0:11:33.280 Yeah, yeah, yeah, I mean it's it's a mutant bear movie, 0:11:33.280 --> 0:11:36.679 directed by John Frankenheimer. I still haven't seen it all 0:11:36.679 --> 0:11:38.160 the way. I started watching it and then realized it 0:11:38.400 --> 0:11:41.480 it was maybe too serious for what I had in 0:11:41.520 --> 0:11:45.280 mind for myself. He directed the nineteen eighty two John 0:11:45.440 --> 0:11:49.480 Salis scripted action movie The Challenge, starring Scott glenn In 0:11:49.520 --> 0:11:53.360 Toshiro Mafuni nineteen ninety four is The Burning Season starring 0:11:53.440 --> 0:11:57.160 Raal Julia. He of course stepped in to replace Richard 0:11:57.160 --> 0:12:00.719 Stanley on nineteen ninety six as the Island of Doctor Moreau, 0:12:00.880 --> 0:12:04.480 and then he also directed nineteen ninety eight's Ronan, which 0:12:04.520 --> 0:12:08.920 is a pretty entertaining espionage thriller. As I recall, it's 0:12:08.920 --> 0:12:12.320 got a really solid cast and some excellent vehicular stunts. 0:12:12.640 --> 0:12:14.640 I think that's one of those movies I saw when 0:12:15.280 --> 0:12:17.640 you know, I was like too young to understand the 0:12:17.679 --> 0:12:20.280 plot at all, but I do remember, like Robert de 0:12:20.360 --> 0:12:23.160 Niro and Sean Bean and still in Scars Guard. 0:12:23.640 --> 0:12:26.120 Yeah, even you don't have to understand the plot of Ronan. Really, 0:12:26.160 --> 0:12:29.960 it's just, you know, various spy types are encountering each 0:12:29.960 --> 0:12:32.720 other as saying cryptic things, and then stuff gets blown 0:12:32.800 --> 0:12:35.720 up and so forth, all right. The screenplay for this 0:12:35.720 --> 0:12:39.360 film was written by Lewis John Carlino, who lived nineteen 0:12:39.400 --> 0:12:43.040 thirty two through twenty twenty American screenwriter and director. He'd 0:12:43.040 --> 0:12:46.440 written for TV previously, but this was his first feature 0:12:46.440 --> 0:12:50.000 screenplay credit, but certainly not the last. His later screenplays 0:12:50.000 --> 0:12:53.440 include nineteen seventy twos of the Mechanic and nineteen seventy 0:12:53.520 --> 0:12:56.920 nine's The Great Santini starring Robert Devall. This was based 0:12:56.960 --> 0:13:01.400 on the Pat Conroy novel, and Carlino also directed film 0:13:01.520 --> 0:13:04.240 Now this film, Seconds is based on the novel by 0:13:04.440 --> 0:13:09.040 David Ealy born nineteen twenty seven. The only other adaptation 0:13:09.120 --> 0:13:11.320 of his work that I ran across as a nineteen 0:13:11.360 --> 0:13:15.000 seventy one segment on Night Gallery titled The Academy starring 0:13:15.000 --> 0:13:17.920 Pat Boone. I think I've seen this one because I 0:13:17.960 --> 0:13:20.439 think it's season one, but I don't remember it at all. 0:13:21.160 --> 0:13:23.880 Seconds was a nineteen sixty three novel, and his other 0:13:24.280 --> 0:13:27.480 works include sixty eight Timeout and nineteen ninety two is 0:13:27.520 --> 0:13:30.560 a journal of the flood year. All right, getting into 0:13:30.920 --> 0:13:33.760 the cast here, and yes, there're gonna be some spoilers, 0:13:33.760 --> 0:13:36.680 as we discussed, like who each of these people is playing. 0:13:37.240 --> 0:13:41.240 We have this character named Arthur Hamilton. He's the initial 0:13:41.480 --> 0:13:45.480 incarnation of our protagonist, a successful man who's deeply uncomfortable 0:13:45.480 --> 0:13:49.640 in his own life and completely bottled up emotionally. It is, 0:13:49.679 --> 0:13:53.080 in my opinion, just a really great performance by the actor. 0:13:53.360 --> 0:13:56.800 John Randolph, who lived nineteen fifteen through two thousand and four. 0:13:57.120 --> 0:14:00.640 Agree that the cast is excellent across the I think 0:14:01.200 --> 0:14:04.439 really everybody who gets speaking roles in this is very good. 0:14:05.120 --> 0:14:09.040 But the two actors playing the protagonist are I think 0:14:09.080 --> 0:14:11.160 should be singled out for really high praise. 0:14:11.679 --> 0:14:14.800 Yeah, yeah, I mean, obviously a performance doesn't exist in isolation. 0:14:15.440 --> 0:14:19.680 Randolph's performance here is accentuated by great direction, great cinematography. 0:14:20.080 --> 0:14:22.880 But man, it really all comes together in this very 0:14:23.000 --> 0:14:27.960 uncomfortable and at times like really surprisingly raw, like emotionally raw, 0:14:28.120 --> 0:14:30.760 and also just paranoia inducing performance. 0:14:31.160 --> 0:14:31.600 Yeah. 0:14:31.760 --> 0:14:31.880 So. 0:14:32.000 --> 0:14:35.840 Randolph was born Emmanuel Hirsch Cohen and was active on 0:14:35.920 --> 0:14:38.440 Broadway as far back as nineteen thirty eight according to 0:14:38.480 --> 0:14:42.080 the Internet Broadway Database, and his earliest TV and film 0:14:42.080 --> 0:14:45.360 credits go back to forty eight and forty nine. But 0:14:45.800 --> 0:14:49.480 he and his wife Sarah Cunningham were both blacklisted around 0:14:49.480 --> 0:14:51.960 that time, and in nineteen fifty five they were both 0:14:52.000 --> 0:14:55.200 called to testify before the House and American Activities Committee. 0:14:55.320 --> 0:14:58.120 As such, Randolph was forced to work outside of Hollywood 0:14:58.440 --> 0:15:01.520 and New York film televis in radio for a good 0:15:01.560 --> 0:15:02.560 fifteen years. 0:15:02.960 --> 0:15:05.000 Man, I feel like Huac has been coming up a 0:15:05.040 --> 0:15:08.400 lot in Weird House episodes recently. That's not by design. 0:15:08.480 --> 0:15:09.480 It just happens to. 0:15:09.440 --> 0:15:12.560 Me, It just it just happens. It seems like it's 0:15:12.560 --> 0:15:15.920 a case of watching, you know, meaningful films with talented 0:15:15.920 --> 0:15:18.600 folks in them from this time period. It just it 0:15:18.800 --> 0:15:21.840 ended up impacting so many people, either the Blacklist or 0:15:21.840 --> 0:15:26.400 the Gray List or the ramifications of those lists. So anyway, Yeah, 0:15:25.960 --> 0:15:28.920 he continued working in New York theater. I don't think 0:15:28.960 --> 0:15:32.320 that was like directly impacted. It may have been indirectly. 0:15:32.800 --> 0:15:36.080 But his TV and film credits are pretty lackluster up 0:15:36.160 --> 0:15:39.800 until the mid sixties, and this film Seconds was his 0:15:39.840 --> 0:15:43.920 first real film role coming out of that Blacklist period. Now, 0:15:43.960 --> 0:15:46.360 after Seconds, he did a lot more TV work, including 0:15:46.440 --> 0:15:50.120 Night Gallery, and played the chairman in two Planet of 0:15:50.120 --> 0:15:52.840 the Apes movies, Escape in Conquest at seventy one and 0:15:52.880 --> 0:15:56.240 seventy two. He was in Serpico in seventy three, the 0:15:56.240 --> 0:15:59.440 al Pacino cop movie. He was in the seventy six 0:15:59.600 --> 0:16:02.760 King Car film Heaven Can Wait in seventy eight, Pritzy's 0:16:02.760 --> 0:16:07.120 Honor in eighty five. Oh, I didn't recognize him at 0:16:07.120 --> 0:16:09.480 all from this, but he was in National Lampoon's Christmas 0:16:09.560 --> 0:16:12.600 Vacation in eighty nine playing Clark Griswold. 0:16:13.680 --> 0:16:15.480 No memory of that, though, I've seen that movie. 0:16:15.960 --> 0:16:19.320 Yeah, it was in You've Got Mail in ninety eight, 0:16:19.640 --> 0:16:26.040 and he played the original Frank Costanza on Seinfeld. I 0:16:26.080 --> 0:16:28.440 either didn't know or had forgotten that this was ever 0:16:28.520 --> 0:16:31.120 a case of someone else ever having played the plot 0:16:31.240 --> 0:16:35.080 before Jerry Stiller and I couldn't find a clear answer. 0:16:35.120 --> 0:16:37.120 It seems like it might have been just scheduling issues 0:16:37.120 --> 0:16:39.520 that the reason they ended up replacing him as playing 0:16:39.520 --> 0:16:42.240 Frank Costanza, but it also may have been a desire 0:16:42.280 --> 0:16:45.040 to go in a new direction with the character. I'm 0:16:45.040 --> 0:16:49.280 not sure. I can't really imagine him being Frank Costanza 0:16:49.320 --> 0:16:52.000 long term on the show. Likewise, I can't imagine Jerry 0:16:52.000 --> 0:16:54.360 Stiller playing this role in this movie. 0:16:54.520 --> 0:16:57.040 So you know, I really want to give credit to 0:16:57.120 --> 0:16:59.600 Randolph in this role because he's very good, and in 0:16:59.640 --> 0:17:02.640 many ways it's a thankless kind of performance because he 0:17:02.920 --> 0:17:07.359 it's very complex and he's pitch perfect in it. But 0:17:07.840 --> 0:17:11.040 it's a role where he doesn't really get to branch 0:17:11.119 --> 0:17:15.000 out and like offer much emotion, because like the whole 0:17:15.040 --> 0:17:18.200 point is that his character is kind of like unfulfilled 0:17:18.240 --> 0:17:21.960 and unfulfilling. He's just sitting there, like containing all of 0:17:22.000 --> 0:17:26.320 his disappointment within himself and not really getting to express it. 0:17:26.760 --> 0:17:30.520 And this character does have an arc where he goes 0:17:30.560 --> 0:17:33.959 other places, but as we're about to reveal in a minute, 0:17:34.000 --> 0:17:36.080 this actor doesn't get to be there for that. 0:17:37.040 --> 0:17:39.919 Yeah. I think the key thing is that as a 0:17:40.080 --> 0:17:44.800 vessel containing these complex emotions that are just straining to 0:17:44.880 --> 0:17:48.080 leak out, like you can see that, you can observe that, 0:17:48.119 --> 0:17:50.760 you can feel that in its performance, and it's not 0:17:51.160 --> 0:17:53.280 it's not a situation where you just have to imagine, 0:17:53.320 --> 0:17:56.000 you know, purely imagine what's going on inside, like you 0:17:56.040 --> 0:18:01.919 can see the gears turning. So excellent performance. Yeah, absolutely, 0:18:02.440 --> 0:18:04.280 And you know, I don't think i'd really seen much 0:18:04.280 --> 0:18:07.720 of his work before outside of obviously Christmas Vacation, which 0:18:08.400 --> 0:18:11.199 you know, it is perfectly fine. I've seen it a 0:18:11.240 --> 0:18:15.080 million times, but not really a showcase for his work, 0:18:15.320 --> 0:18:20.960 all right. Playing author Hamilton's wife, Emily Hamilton is Francis Reid, 0:18:20.960 --> 0:18:24.400 who lived nineteen fourteen through twenty ten. American actor, best 0:18:24.440 --> 0:18:27.560 known in film for her role here, but she also 0:18:27.640 --> 0:18:31.800 acted in nineteen seventy one's The Andromeda Strain soap opera. Fans, however, 0:18:31.840 --> 0:18:35.800 might recognize her from This Is Correct, three three hundred 0:18:35.840 --> 0:18:38.720 and ninety three episodes of Days of Our Lives, in 0:18:38.800 --> 0:18:42.160 which she played Alice Horton from nineteen sixty five through 0:18:42.160 --> 0:18:43.399 two thousand and seven. 0:18:43.680 --> 0:18:46.120 How is that even possible? I don't know. 0:18:46.280 --> 0:18:48.720 It just it sounds astounding, But I guess they just 0:18:48.800 --> 0:18:51.000 really cranked these out. I mean this was like a 0:18:51.080 --> 0:18:52.760 daily show, right. 0:18:53.160 --> 0:18:55.280 That's a sound. I had no idea that show ran 0:18:55.320 --> 0:18:58.280 that long. But also I want to say Francis Reid 0:18:58.480 --> 0:19:01.720 extremely good in this movie in a similarly thankless kind 0:19:01.720 --> 0:19:06.800 of role to to John Randolph here, that she you know, 0:19:06.880 --> 0:19:10.919 she plays a character whose complexity is a lot in 0:19:11.000 --> 0:19:14.240 what she doesn't get to say and doesn't get too emote. 0:19:14.440 --> 0:19:17.440 Absolutely yeah. So I think it's also a solid performance. 0:19:17.440 --> 0:19:19.200 And there's there's kind of a part one in part 0:19:19.200 --> 0:19:22.120 two of it that I think equals thinks out really well. 0:19:30.280 --> 0:19:32.480 All right, the next character we're going to discuss here 0:19:32.640 --> 0:19:36.119 has a different name. It's Antiochus Wilson or Wilson as 0:19:36.119 --> 0:19:41.360 he's mostly referred to. This is the reborn Arthur Hamilton. 0:19:41.720 --> 0:19:45.199 So this is we'll explain, this is the character he becomes. 0:19:45.480 --> 0:19:51.080 He is reborn as this person through like surgical reconstruction 0:19:51.560 --> 0:19:54.440 and through fraudulent documents and so forth. There's a whole 0:19:54.520 --> 0:19:58.640 organization we'll get to that, but basically, one character becomes 0:19:58.760 --> 0:20:01.400 this other take on the Carre and a new actor 0:20:01.880 --> 0:20:05.439 takes over the role. That actor is Rock Hudson, who 0:20:05.520 --> 0:20:07.880 lived nineteen twenty five through nineteen eighty five. 0:20:08.280 --> 0:20:10.800 I'm not super well versed on Rock Hudson's career, but 0:20:10.800 --> 0:20:13.399 from what I understand, this was a major departure for 0:20:13.480 --> 0:20:18.560 him that he had mostly done much lighter movies. You know, 0:20:18.600 --> 0:20:21.200 he's known as that, like, he's a handsome guy. He's 0:20:21.240 --> 0:20:24.600 there to like be like the fun, good looking guy 0:20:24.680 --> 0:20:27.840 in like a romance or romantic comedy or something to 0:20:27.920 --> 0:20:33.520 be in a in a dark, brooding, philosophical science fiction 0:20:33.640 --> 0:20:36.160 film like this. I don't think he'd really done anything 0:20:36.240 --> 0:20:37.080 like this, had he? 0:20:37.320 --> 0:20:39.000 No, No, I was looking around. I don't think he'd 0:20:39.040 --> 0:20:41.800 ever done anything that you could classify as horror or 0:20:41.800 --> 0:20:45.440 science fiction or certainly fantasy. And you know, part of that, 0:20:45.480 --> 0:20:48.520 as we've discussed highly successful actors or directors or what 0:20:48.600 --> 0:20:50.960 have you of the day, they generally didn't have to 0:20:51.040 --> 0:20:54.240 do that. It's such an inversion of what we have today, 0:20:54.320 --> 0:20:58.399 where the biggest actors around are you know, almost inevitably, 0:20:58.440 --> 0:21:01.199 with some notable exceptions of it, there no, any of 0:21:01.200 --> 0:21:03.200 these generalities are not going to be one hundred percent, 0:21:03.240 --> 0:21:05.600 but you know, it's not surprising to see someone who's 0:21:05.640 --> 0:21:09.280 won multiple Oscars show up in a Marvel movie or 0:21:09.359 --> 0:21:11.919 in you know, whatever the or Star Wars or what 0:21:12.040 --> 0:21:14.600 have you. But back in the day, you know, as 0:21:14.600 --> 0:21:18.080 we've discussed on these various genre pictures, they were lower 0:21:18.160 --> 0:21:22.199 down on the pecking order, and so yeah, it's not 0:21:22.320 --> 0:21:24.720 surprising to find a situation where rockets and had never 0:21:24.760 --> 0:21:27.240 been in a movie that had robots or aliens or 0:21:27.280 --> 0:21:30.760 even you know, the sort of ultimately kind of light, 0:21:31.160 --> 0:21:34.480 sophisticated sci fi, you know, kind of more Twilight Zone 0:21:34.640 --> 0:21:38.480 ish elements that you find in this picture. Like you said, 0:21:38.520 --> 0:21:41.000 he was, I mean he was a nineteen fifties leading 0:21:41.040 --> 0:21:43.560 man perhaps, I mean not just a he was kind 0:21:43.560 --> 0:21:46.879 of the nineteen fifties leading man. He's the top build 0:21:46.880 --> 0:21:49.480 actor in this film. And he was easily one of 0:21:49.520 --> 0:21:51.800 the biggest, if not biggest movie stars off his era. 0:21:53.359 --> 0:21:57.280 His main film roles were stuff like his biggest pictures anyway, 0:21:57.280 --> 0:21:59.600 from the fifties were stuff like All That Heaven Allows 0:22:00.680 --> 0:22:03.040 Written on the Wind and Pillar Talk. These are all 0:22:03.080 --> 0:22:04.800 movies where you look at you can pull him up 0:22:04.840 --> 0:22:07.919 now on the database of your choice, and all the 0:22:07.920 --> 0:22:12.640 posters prominently feature his character romantically embracing the lead actress. 0:22:12.960 --> 0:22:16.800 That is not the case with Seconds. No, so so yeah, 0:22:16.840 --> 0:22:19.119 going into that, this was a departure. And I'm to 0:22:19.200 --> 0:22:22.080 understand he was not Frankenheimer's first choice for the role. 0:22:22.880 --> 0:22:26.639 Apparently Frankenheimer considered Rock Hudson to you know, to be 0:22:26.680 --> 0:22:30.359 maybe a lighter weight actor. Ultimately, you know, he's the 0:22:30.600 --> 0:22:33.040 he's the rom com guy, he's the heart throb guy. 0:22:33.320 --> 0:22:36.080 He's like, I need somebody like a Bert Lancaster. But 0:22:36.200 --> 0:22:40.080 ultimately he gets sold on Rock Hudson, like his agent says, 0:22:40.119 --> 0:22:42.439 you know, no, Hudson can do this. He's excited for 0:22:42.480 --> 0:22:45.879 this role. And and in thees, so Frankenheimer was proved 0:22:45.920 --> 0:22:49.320 wrong and has admitted as such. And and I know, 0:22:49.320 --> 0:22:53.080 I absolutely agree. I think Hudson's performance in this is great. 0:22:53.119 --> 0:22:56.359 I think he perfectly captures this sense of the reborn 0:22:56.800 --> 0:22:57.480 in Seconds. 0:22:58.000 --> 0:23:01.240 Fully agree. I wouldn't want anybody else in this role. 0:23:01.480 --> 0:23:02.560 I think he's fantastic. 0:23:03.119 --> 0:23:06.440 Yeah, he's like, he's playing a character that's outwardly strong 0:23:06.600 --> 0:23:11.080 and confident, you know, a complete transformation from his previous incarnation. 0:23:11.600 --> 0:23:15.560 But inside, you know, there's still this uncertainty, there's perhaps 0:23:15.640 --> 0:23:18.760 this sense of inadequacy, and you can see all of 0:23:18.760 --> 0:23:22.120 that happening. You know, it just was I was worried, 0:23:22.240 --> 0:23:27.120 honestly because the first performance of this character, John Randolph's 0:23:27.119 --> 0:23:30.440 performance is so strong. I was like, even not being 0:23:30.440 --> 0:23:32.639 that familiar with Rock Hudson's work, I was like, I 0:23:32.640 --> 0:23:34.199 don't know if Hudson's going to really be able to 0:23:34.200 --> 0:23:35.560 pull this off, or we're going to feel it's going 0:23:35.600 --> 0:23:39.040 to feel unequal. But I really think that he pulls 0:23:39.040 --> 0:23:42.320 off a great performance here, and yeah, I can't imagine 0:23:42.359 --> 0:23:45.320