Manhunter (1986) - Perhaps the best criminal profiling picture ever

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The very 80s, somewhat cheap and hokey-looking poster for Michael Mann's Manhunter

In order to apprehend a grisly serial killer known as the Tooth Fairy, FBI criminal profiler Will Graham searches out help from the superiorly intelligent, twisted psychologist/serial killer Hannibal Lecter, who nearly killed him during their chase in the past.

The first Hannibal Lecter film, (spelled 'Lecktor' in it for some reason), is really, really good, especially for anyone with a penchant for 1980s styles on film.
The carefully designed color schemes and score by Michel Rubini (who also scored Tony Scott's vampire masterpiece from 1983, The Hunger), are VERY 80s. - But cool still today, and this very much because of director Michael Mann (Heat (1995)) and talented cinematographer Dante Spinotti's (Red Dragon (2002)) keen eyes for interesting photography.
Manhunter adapts Thomas Harris' (The Silence of the Lambs (1988)) novel Red Dragon (1981), which was later adapted again as Brett Ratner's Red Dragon (2002) probably Ratner's only really good movie. The two films are very different in style, and are both very good in each their own way: Where Ratner focuses on the horrific savagery of the Tooth Fairy murderer and some back-story of Lecter's bloody capture by the lead, Will Graham, and makes an intensely entertaining and frightening horror thriller with a stellar cast, Mann instead focus on forensic and investigative details, Graham's strained marriage and the psychological work needed for him to catch the crazed serial killer. Mann's is the sophisticated thriller in comparison, and perhaps the best film about criminal profiling ever made.
The cast of Manhunter is simply excellent: Future CSI-star William Petersen (CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2000-15)) is intense and believable as the titular manhunter; Kim Greist (Brazil (1985)) is very believable and charismatic as his compromising wife; Brian Cox (L.I.E. (2001)) does well (as could be expected) in the role that Anthony Hopkins (Hitchcock (2012)) made his and became iconic for in Jonathan Demme's masterpiece, The Silence of the Lambs (1991); Joan Allen (The Notebook (2004)) is good as blind victim Reba, (played wonderfully by Emily Watson in Ratner's version); Dennis Farina (Snatch (2000)) is a fine believer in Graham at the Bureau; and finally Tom Noonan (The House of the Devil (2009)) is alright without being exceptional as the evil Francis Dollarhyde, (Ralph Fiennes is essentially scarier as the Tooth Fairy in Red Dragon in my opinion.) Dollarhyde is decidedly not played as a monster in Manhunter, and he even has some compensating romantic scenes that are therefore quite chilling.
The first half of Manhunter could actually do with some more sensationalizing of its material, (the pace is a bit slow), but writer-director Mann refused to indulge that. There are also quite a lot of cuts midway through shots, (a technical objection), which probably had to do with the shoot being 'guerilla filmmaking', as I understand from different cast and crew interviews.
They all did really great work anyway. Manhunter is a re-established serial killer classic.
In the Hannibal Lecter franchise, the finest will always be masterful The Silence of the Lambs, with Manhunter and Red Dragon as equally good penultimates. Ridley Scott's Hannibal (2001) is overrated and has many flaws, among them an erratic visual side. Prequel Hannibal Rising (2007) is disappointing. But with the new NBC TV series Hannibal (2013-), with Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen playing Lecter, it seems that the fascination with the character is not about to fade yet.
Manhunter was overlooked and became a box office failure in 1986 (for some undoubtedly unfair reasons), but it has since crawled its way up and achieved widespread recognition.

Related posts:

Michael Mann: Collateral (2004) - Great, urban, digital age thriller from Mann in his right element
The Hannibal Lecter franchise: Hannibal Rising (2007) - Harris returns famed cannibal in sub-par origins flick

Watch the trailer for the film here

Cost: 15 mil. $
Box office: 8.6 mil. $ (North America only)
= Huge flop (some uncertainty but returned at least 0.57 times the cost)
[Manhunter was released 15 August and runs 120 minutes. Shooting took place in Atlanta, Georgia, Florida, Missouri, North Carolina, Chicago, Illinois and in Washington DC, ending in September 1985. The film opened #8 to a 2.2 mil. $ first weekend in North America. Internal problems at production company and distributor De Laurentiis Entertainment Group pushed the UK premiere into '87, with wide release there not until '89. The film played in relatively few markets and didn't open until '88 and '89 in many of them. The world total is not publicized online, so shoot me a comment if you find it anywhere. Mann returned with an episode of Crime Story (1987, TV-series), L.A. Takedown (1989, TV movie) and theatrically with The Last of the Mohicans (1992). Petersen returned in Long Gone (1987, TV movie) and theatrically in Amazing Grace and Chuck (1987). Manhunter is fresh at 94 % with a 7.8/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Manhunter?