In Praise of Seconds
How appropriate that lost classic Seconds, an unclassifiable movie about a man having a second crack at life, gets a second chance at finding an audience this month as it comes to UK DVD for the first time
Heard the one about Brian Wilson and the film Seconds? According to his autobiography, the Beach Boys’ chief songwriter arrived late for a screening of the film, and was greeted with the onscreen dialogue, “Come in, Mr. Wilson.” Overworked, using LSD, and in a fragile mental state, Wilson was so terrified by the experience, he abandoned recording the Smile album and only returned to the project decades later.
It’s taken a similar length of time for John Frankenheimer’s film to be appreciated for the modern masterpiece it is. The final part of the director’s ‘paranoia trilogy’ – after The Manchurian Candidate and Seven Days in May – Seconds was booed at the 1966 Cannes film festival and a box office failure; subsequently it's been barely seen since its release.
Blending elements of horror and science-fiction, the film is a chilling examination of a mid-life crisis, and a scalding attack on the emptiness of modern life. That it starred chiselled beefcake Rock Hudson must have made audiences doubly confused. This month, Seconds finally gets a British DVD release on Eureka’s Masters of Cinema imprint. It will also screen at HOME for three performances.
Frankenheimer’s film is the very definition of that troublesome phrase, 'ahead of its time.' Jason Wood, artistic director of film at HOME, agrees: “It presents a very pessimistic view of life and society, and this must have been very unpalatable on release. I also feel that those who admired Rock Hudson for his comedies may have been shocked. Those that didn’t admire him at all possibly found the idea of him in a very serious work a stretch too far.” Seconds is a film Wood previously programmed when he worked in London, and one he was keen to share with Manchester audiences. “I wanted to screen Seconds at HOME because it is stimulating, and I have seen how our audiences like to be stimulated.”
Imagine if Death of a Salesman had been written by Philip K. Dick, and you’re still only halfway to appreciating the disorientating strangeness of Seconds. Arthur Hamilton (John Randolph) is a burned out banker who feels disconnected from life. Through a friend he thought dead, Hamilton is approached by a secret organisation known as The Company, and offered a second tilt at happiness. For a price, The Company will stage a bogus death, and give Hamilton a new face and identity. After cosmetic surgery, he’s reborn as Tony Wilson (and played by Rock Hudson). He may have changed on the outside but inside Hamilton/Wilson feels just as empty as he did before. Is he allowed to go back to The Company for thirds? “I think that now people are more cognisant of the emptiness of modern life”, says Wood. “We recognise that things are pretty bleak, and likely to get bleaker.”
“I think that now people are more cognisant of the emptiness of modern life. We recognise that things are pretty bleak, and likely to get bleaker” – Jason Wood
Frankenheimer was a director with a fierce intelligence and a distinctly European sensibility, and with Seconds he was at his most daringly artistic. He believed his strongest suit was a kind of semi-documentary realism, and this is apparent in several scenes – most notably the sequence where Arthur and his wife attempt to make love, realise that all passion is gone, and simply stop. “I think Frankenheimer is highly regarded,” says Wood. “I have heard Mark Kermode praise him, and I think as the esteem with which American cinema of the late 60s and 70s is held continues to rise, then his name as a director will live on.”
Another vérité moment occurs during a party scene, where Frankenheimer got his star drunk for real. Hudson started crying and couldn’t stop. There are other instances in the film where he clearly goes beyond acting. “I think the film shows a depth and complexity that perhaps only Douglas Sirk managed to draw out of him,” suggests Wood. “There is also a sense that the film was something of a metaphor for Hudson’s own life [the actor was gay, and kept his sexuallity a secret throughout his Hollywood career]; that sense of being foreign to himself, and uncomfortable in his own skin.”
Which brings us to the ending. Oh my God, the ending. Frankenheimer’s film contains possibly the most uncompromising denouement of any film in Hollywood history. To say more would spoil your fun. Ahead of its time no more, Seconds has finally found a place to live in bleak, empty and disorientating 2015.
Seconds is released on DVD and Blu-ray by Eureka Entertainment as part of their Masters of Cinema series
Seconds screens at HOME, Manchester, 4, 6 and 7 Oct