Seconds

1966

Action / Sci-Fi / Thriller

24
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 87% · 61 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 87% · 5K ratings
IMDb Rating 7.6/10 10 24577 24.6K

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Plot summary

An unhappy middle-aged banker agrees to a procedure that will fake his death and give him a completely new look and identity; one that comes with its own price.

Director

John Frankenheimer Photo
John Frankenheimer

Top cast

Michael Masters Photo
Michael Masters as Orderly
Salome Jens Photo
Salome Jens as Nora Marcus
John Randolph Photo
John Randolph as Arthur Hamilton
Jane Wald Photo
Jane Wald as Party Guest
720p.BluRay 1080p.BluRay
886.51 MB
1268*720
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 46 min
Seeds 5
1.69 GB
1888*1072
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 46 min
Seeds 29

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by babblon26 8 / 10

Convincing, noiresque, nightmare of modernity. Superlative camera work and probably Rock Hudson's best performance.

Just had to add a note of admiration for this greatly overlooked masterpiece of modern angst. I saw it when a student in Glasgow in 1969. That is probably why it has stayed to haunt me - possibly to the grave. Beyond that, I really don't know.I'm no film critic but like several of the cinema cognoscenti, I was surprised Rock had a movie like this in him. Probably his best. The camera work takes you right in. You don't remember willingly suspending disbelief. It is as plausible and convincing as a good nightmare. Bleak, black and white, terse like John Boorman's Point Blank. Round about the same time as Blow Up appeared. Also a surprisingly mature performance from David Hemmings, matched the mood of powerlessness and fatalism that pervades Seconds.A little further off it recalled the Incredible Shrinking Man. The same mood of fatalism pervades but from a different perspective. In the latter, the isolated individual is redeemed by some metaphysical union with the universe. In Seconds the isolated, narcissistic self implodes.John Frankenheimer's modern Frankenstein. Or another parallel universemight be Dorian Grey. It is a multi layered movie.
Reviewed by gbheron 8 / 10

Unnerving and Claustrophobic

SECONDS decries the dehumanization of the middle class. The protagonist is a successful banker, though successful at banking, in late middle age finds his life devoid of purpose. Given an opportunity to completely start his life over he jumps at the chance even though it means he must "die" and be reborn in a new body.Filmed in black and white SECONDS has that unsettling jumpy-jangly editing and sound track I associate with 50s film noir. It keeps the viewer off balance and out of kilter, like the banker who slides slowly, effortlessly into a more ominous dehumanized existence than the one he left. An oddly (but successfully) cast Rock Hudson gives a great performance as the 'reborn' banker. Recommended when in the mood for something different.
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