Seconds (1966)

Described by many, as one of the most underappreciated films of the sixties, John Frankenheimer’s 1966 mystery drama Seconds, is the third entry in the director’s unofficial ‘paranoia trilogy’.

It’s the story of Arthur Hamilton (John Randolph), a downbeat middle-aged man who is approached by a sinister organisation known simply as ‘the company’ with the opportunity to fake his own death and undergo a radical surgical procedure to give him a new look and identity, and let go of his past.

After being drugged, Arthur wakes and is shown a film in which he rapes a young girl, obviously whilst still drugged. From this moment on, and with the video intended as blackmail, there is no way back.

After surgery, he awakens to his new identity as the handsome Tony Wilson (Rock Hudson), a much younger-looking man.

With his new beachside home, a personal servant, and a beautiful love interest, it seems the decision to throw away his previous life was justified.

It is not long, however, before complications arise with catastrophic consequences.

Hudson delivers an incredible performance, and the unsettling camera angles, distressing close-ups, and surreal, psychedelic settings make Seconds a scintillating and thought-provoking film, and one of the great black-and-white pictures of the late 1960s.

Jerry Goldsmith also created one of the most unsettling scores ever used in a psychodrama, creating a surreal mood from the opening credits to the paranoid ending.

Arthur Hamilton
John Randolph
Antiochus ‘Tony’ Wilson
Rock Hudson
Nora Marcus
Salome Jens
Mr Ruby
Jeff Corey
Dr Innes
Richard Anderson
Charlie Evans
Murray Hamilton
Dr Morris
Karl Swenson
Davalo
Khigh Dhiegh
Emily Hamilton
Frances Reid
John
Wesley Addy
Sue Bushman
Dody Heath
Mayberry
Robert Brubaker
Mrs Filter
Dorothy Morris

Director
John Frankenheimer