The rumour was that he was quite sick for a long time… and then tried to heal himself with prayer (apparently he’s a Christian of the more extreme variety - which was also rubbed people the wrong way on liberal / progressive film sets)
You are spot on though, he’s had some cracking roles. I watched Heat again recently, absolutely amazing. Probably the best shoot out I can think of. My ears are still ringing.
Vincents best roles for mine were the first 2 I saw, in Big Wednesday and The Mechanic. Tombstone a close 3rd.
You can see how Heat influenced so many films since.
I think the The Dark Knight has borrowed a lot from Michael Manns films.
Agree. The shoot out is the highlight of Heat, and it is a high quality film.
There are a few aspects when you think about it.
If there’s one difference Mann films tend to get further into character development.
Yep, Mann himself has said that his films are based in drama rather than action.
I’m not sure if you have seen Manhunter but it is a very different take on the Hannibal Lector character before Silence of the Lambs came out.
Not as good as Silence but still a solid film.
Is that an earlier one
I’m putting collateral on later on.
He got real old and real ugly. Not a bankable face at all
Yeah it’s one of his first films.
It was remade as Red Dragon with Edward Norton.
I’m talking about when he was younger.
He made some big films but never made that leap to leading man.
Doctor mareax (sic) was a career killer but he was pretty good in the doors flick, and wonderland (even though the film itself isn’t as good as it should be)
He’s a bit difficult to work with apparently but then again so am I.
Is he in the top gun sequel
YeH he’s in the sequel
l much prefer Manhunter over Silence of the Lambs.
I enjoyed both.
Manhunter has that funky 80’s vibe with the cool soundtrack.
Some of the scenes a very creepy and stack up very well against Silence.
I found the Tooth Fairy more menacing than Hannibal Lector. William Peterson also did a great job.
The following entry is from my Movie Library. Includes a review from IMDB if l remember correctly.
Stunning movie directorial debut by Mann, that gave rise to the whole psycho – sociopath genre along with the assorted CSI TV spin offs, thus making it hugely influential. This story is based on the pursuit of The Red Dragon, a sociopath, in a prequel to Silence of The Lambs. Peterson has a gift, he is able to think the same way as the sociopaths he pursues. Now he must find the notorious Tooth Fairy, before he strikes again. This one has it all, genuine suspense, slick direction and great performances from an as then mostly unknown cast. This one still ranks amongst Mann’s finest pieces of work. The look and feel of the movie is very much a 1980s style with many stark and sterile interiors.
Spikeopath 17 June 2012
Retired FBI specialist Will Graham is lured back into action to track a serial killer who is killing families, seemingly linked into the lunar cycle. In the process it opens up some old mental wounds that were born out during his last action out in the field…
Before the gargantuan success of Silence of the Lambs, where the name Hannibal the Cannibal moved into pop culture, and before director Michael Mann became a named auteur often referenced with relish by hungry film students; there was Manhunter, Michael Mann’s brilliant adaptation of Thomas Harris’ equally brilliant psychological thriller, Red Dragon. It feels a bit redundant now, years later, writing about Mann’s use of styles to bear out mood and psychological states, his framing devices, his commitment to his craft, but after revisiting the film on Blu-ray, I find myself once again simultaneously invigorated and unnerved by the magnificence of Manhunter. Visually, thematically and narratively it remains a clinical piece of cinema, a probing study of madness that dares to put a serial killer and the man hunting him in the same psychological body, asking us, as well as William Petersen’s FBI agent Will Graham, to empathise with Tom Noonan’s troubled Tooth Fairy killer. Here’s a thing, too, Francis Dolarhyde (The Tooth Fairy) is a functioning member of society, he is quite frankly a man who could be working in a shop near you! This is no reclusive psychopath such as, well, Buffalo Bill, Dolarhyde is presented to us in such a way as we are given insight into this damaged mind, he is fleshed out as a person, we get to know him and his motivational problems.
Dream much, Will?
Mann and his team are not about over the top or camp performances, gore is kept to a premium, the real horror is shown in aftermath sequences, conversations and harmless photographs, but still it’s a nightmarish world. Suspense is wrung out slowly by way of the characterisations. Will has to become the killer, and it’s dangerous, he knows so because he has done it before, when capturing Dr. Hannibal Lecktor. Needing to pick up the scent again, to recover the mindset, Will has to go see the good doctor who has a penchant for fine wines and human offal. These scenes showcase Mann at his deadliest, a bright white cell filmed off kilter, each frame switch showing either Lecktor or Graham behind bars, they are one. When Lecktor taunts Will about them being alike, Mann understands this and visually brings it out. Dolarhyde’s living abode is murky in colour tones and furnished garishly, and with mirrors, paintings and a lunar landscape, yet when Dolarhyde is accompanied by Joan Allen’s blind Reba, where he feels he is finally finding acceptance, this house is seen at ease because of the characterisations. Switch to the finale and it’s a walled monstrosity matching that of a killer tipped back over the edge. Brilliant stuff.
If one does what God does enough times, one will become as God is.
Lecktor, soon to be back as the source material Lecter in the film versions that follow, is actually not in the film that much. Brian Cox (chilling, calculating, frightening and intelligent) as Lecktor gets under ten minutes of screen time, but that’s enough, the character’s presence is felt throughout the picture in a number of ways. The Lecktor angle is very relative to film’s success, but very much it’s one strand of a compelling whole, I realise now that Mann has deliberately kept us wanting more of him visually. Noonan is truly scary, he lived away from the rest of the cast during filming, with Mann’s joyous encouragement, the end result is one of the best and most complex serial killer characterisations ever. Lang scores high as weasel paparazzi, Allen is heart achingly effective without patronising blind people and Farina is a huge presence as Jack Crawford, Will’s friend and boss who coaxes Will back into the fray knowing full well that Will’s mind might not make it back with him. But it’s Petersen’s movie all the way. His subsequent non film career has given ammunition to his knockers that he is no great actor. Rubbish, with this and To Live and Die in L.A. he gave two of the best crime film portrayals of the 80s. He immerses himself in Will Graham, so much so he wasn’t able to shake the character off long after filming had wrapped. There’s a scene in a supermarket where Will is explaining to his son about his dark place, where “the ugliest thoughts in the world” live, a stunning sequence of acting and a showcase for Petersen’s undoubted talents.
Newcomers to the film and Mann’s work in general, could do no worse than spend the ten minutes it takes to watch the Dante Spinotti feature on the disc. Apart from saving me the time to write about Mann’s visual flourishes, it gives one an idea of just how key a director and cinematographer partnership is in a film such as this. The audio is crisp, which keeps alive the perfect in tone soundtrack and eerie scoring strains of Rubini and The Reds. Some say that the music of Manhunter is dated? I say that if it sits at one with the tonal shifts and thematics of a story then that surely can never be viewed as dated. And that’s the case here in Manhunter. The director’s cut is included as part of the package but the transfer is appalling, and for the sake of one cut scene that happens post the Dolarhyde/Graham face off, there’s really not much to the DC version anyway. The theatrical cut is perfect, brilliantly realised on Blu-ray to birth a true visual neo-noir masterpiece. 10/10
I really liked Ghost and the Darkness.
Tom Noonan is very creepy in it.
Not a lot of people have seen it but it’s well worth tracking down.
I haven’t seen it for a while but I might have a flick through kodi and see if it’s on there.
Same, top film
Manhunter is a very good film. Much better then Hannibal but not as good as silence of the lambs. I haven’t seen red dragon
Obviously, people other than you think she can act and is funny.
I’m not one of those who think she can act or is funny.