Great Scene: “Manhunter”

I think we’d all admit the first time Clarice Starling meets Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs, that was a great scene:

But what about when we all were introduced to Dr. Lecter? That would be in the 1986 movie Manhunter. Written and directed by Michael Mann with a screenplay adapted from the novel “The Red Dragon” by Thomas Harris, here is a plot summary from IMDb:

Will Graham [William Petersen] is a former FBI agent who recently retired to Florida with his wife Molly and their young son. Graham was a ‘profiler’; one who profiles criminal’s behavior and tries to put his mind into the minds of criminals to examine their thoughts while visiting crime scenes. Will is called out of his self-imposed retirement at the request of his former boss Jack Crawford [Dennis Farina] to help the FBI catch an elusive serial killer, known to the press as the ‘Tooth Fairy’, who randomly kills whole families in their houses during nights of the full moon and leaves bite marks on his victims. To try to search for clues to get into the mind of the killer, Will has occasional meetings with Dr. Hannibal Lecktor [Brian Cox], a charismatic but very dangerous imprisoned serial killer that Will captured years earlier which nearly drove him insane from the horrific encounter that nearly cost Will’s life. With some help and hindrance, Will races against the clock before the next full moon when the ‘Tooth Fairy’ will strike again. Elsewhere, a local photographer named Francis Dollarhyde [Tom Noonan], the killer that Will is looking for, struggles to stay undetected while seeing a hope of redemption when be begins a relationship with a blind woman who is not aware of his double life.

Here is the first meeting between Will and Lecktor:

INT. MAXIMUM SECURITY SECTION - DOOR - DAYWe hear three locks opening. The door opens. Graham enters.
An attendant behind Graham closes the door and we hear the
bolts lock again. As Graham is walking towards us, we WIDEN
and TRACK IN. It makes the b.g. disorienting as we get closer
to Graham's face. The CAMERA DROPS as Graham sits in a single
chair. We haven't yet seen what Graham looks at. Now:GRAHAM'S POV: BARRED CELLA 6x10 cage. In the center of the bars separating Graham
from the Occupant is a three-foot-square perspex sheet. The
occupant can't get at someone sitting in front of him. In
the perspex square is a letter -- passing drawer. In the
cell -- laying on his bunk -- is DR. HANNIBAL LECKTOR. He
appears to be asleep. His back is to Graham. He has not
stirred. Then: LECKTOR
That's the same atrocious aftershave
you wore in court three years ago. GRAHAM
I keep getting it for Christmas.CLOSE: LECKTOR'S HEADturns to us. His small eyes drill into Graham's brain.
Lecktor's attitude is professionally psychiatric, as if Graham
is the patient.
LECKTOR
Did you get my card? GRAHAM
I got it. Thank you.GRAHAM'S
struggle will be to keep locked-down inside himself all his
emotional reactions. LECKTOR
And how is Officer Stuart? The one
who was the first to see my basement. GRAHAM
Stuart is fine. LECKTOR
Emotional problems, I hear. He was
a very promising young officer. Do
you ever have any problems, Will? GRAHAM
No. LECKTOR
Of course, you don't.
(pause)
I'm glad you came. My callers are
all professional. Clinical
psychiatrists from cornfield colleges
somewhere. Second-raters, the lot. GRAHAM
Dr. Bloom showed me your article on
surgical addiction in the journal
of Clinical Psychiatry. LECKTOR
And? GRAHAM
Very interesting, even to a layman.Lecktor rolls around and examines the term "layman" in his
head. Then: LECKTOR
A layman.., layman. Interesting
term. So many experts on government
grants. And you say you're a
'layman?' But it was you who caught
me, wasn't it, Will? Do you know
how you did it' GRAHAM
You've read the transcript. It's
all there. LECKTOR
No it's not. Do you know how you
Did it Will? GRAHAM
It's in the transcript. What does
it matter now? LECKTOR
(smiles)
It doesn't matter to me, Will. GRAHAM
I want you to help me, Dr. Lecktor. LECKTOR
Yes, I thought so. GRAHAM
It's about Atlanta and Birmingham. LECKTOR
Yes . GRAHAM
You read about it, I'm sure. LECKTOR
In the papers. I don't rear out the
articles.
(laughs)
I wouldn't want them to think I was
dwelling on anything morbid. You
want to know how he's choosing them,
don't you? GRAHAM
I thought you would have some ideas. LECKTOR
Why should I tell you? GRAHAM
There are things you don't have.
Research materials... I could speak
to the Chief of Staff...? LECKTOR
Chilton? Gruesome, isn't he? He
fumbles at your head like a freshman
pulling at a panty girdle.
(laugh;)
He actually tries to give me a
Thematic and Apperception test.
Hah. Sat there waiting for MF-13 to
come up. It's a card with a woman
in bed and a man in the foreground.
I was supposed to avoid a sexual
interpretation. I laughed in his
face.
(beat)
Never mind, it's boring. GRAHAM
You'll get to see the file on this
case. And there's another reason. LECKTOR
Pray tell. GRAHAM
I thought you might be curious to
find our if you're smarter than
the person I'm looking for. LECKTOR
Then by implication, you think that
you are smarter than me, since you
caught me. GRAHAM
No. I knew that I'm nor smarter
than you are. LECKTOR
Then how did you catch me, Will? GRAHAM
You had disadvantages. LECKTOR
What disadvantage?. GRAHAM
You're insane. LECKTOR
You're very tan, Will.Graham does not answer, If anything happens, there is a
tightening of the musculature repressing his reactions to
Lecktor. LECKTOR
Your hands are rough. They don't
look like a cop s hands anymore.
That shaving lotion is something a
child would select. It has a ship
on the bottle, doesn't it?Another silence. Lecktor's eyes look as if they're drilling
into Graham's head, trying to find out things. Trying to
find a way to hurt Graham. He's very threatening. Then
relaxes: LECKTOR
Don't think you can persuade me with
appeals to my intellectual vanity. GRAHAM
I don't think I'll persuade you.
You'll do it or you won't. Dr.
Bloom is working an it anyway, and
he's the best... LECKTOR
(interrupts)
Do you have the file with you GRAHAM
Yes. LECKTOR
Pictures? GRAHAM
Yes. LECKTOR
let me have them,, and I might
consider it. GRAHAM
No. LECKTOR
Do you dream much, Will? GRAHAM
Good-bye, Dr. Lecktor. LECKTOR
You haven't threatened to take away
my books yet.Graham gets up and starts to walk away. LECKTOR
let me have the file. Then I'll
tell you what I think.Graham stops at the door before he knocks for the attendant.
Then he folds the abridged file tightly into the sliding
tray. Lecktor pulls it through.GRAHAM
sits in the chair. He wants a cigarette. He doesn't take
one. He waits. And he watches. What he sees:GRAHAM'S POV: EXTREME CLOSE PAN THROUGH CELL OP
DR. LECKTORToothbrush, mirror, sink, Sryrofoam cups, soft paper jour-
nals, T-shirts, neatly stacked hospital pads, sneakers with-
no shoelaces, the wall, seatless toilet bowl, etc, etc
All the objects are brilliantly lit with sharp bluish light.
Their edges are sharper and more defined than normal. The
shadows of the bars make hard-edged stripes. It is a high
resolution, highly brilliant sec of images. It feels like a
hyper-perception of reality, a super-realism perceived by the
mind of Graham. It is interrupted when: LECKTOR (O.S.)
There is a very shy boy, Will.GRAHAMsnaps back to the present, looks at Lecktor. LECKTOR
What were the yards like? GRAHAM
Big backyards, fences, some hedges,
why? LECKTOR
Because, my dear Will, if this
Pilgrim imagines he has a
relationship with the full moon,
he might go outside and look at it.
Have you seen blood in moonlight,
Will? It appears quite black. If
one were nude, it would be better
to have outdoor privacy for this
sort of thing. GRAHAM
That's interesting. LECKTOR
It's not 'interesting'. You thought
of it before. GRAHAM
Yes. I'd considered it. LECKTOR
You came here to look at me, Will.
To get the old scent again, didn't
you? GRAHAM
I want your opinion. LECKTOR
I don't have one right now. GRAHAM
When you do have one I'd like to
hear it. LECKTOR
May I keep the file? GRAHAM
I haven't decided yet. LECKTOR
I'll study it, Will. When you get
more files, I'd like to see them,
too. You can call me. When I
have to call my lawyer, they bring
me a telephone. Would you like to
give me your home number?Threat.

GRAHAM
No. LECKTOR
Do you know how you caught me,
Will? GRAHAM
Goodbye, Dr. Lecktor. You can
leave messages for me at the number
on the file.Graham bangs on the door. Locks are starting to be unlocked.
Graham can't wait to get out of here. He wants the locks to
get unlocked faster! LECKTOR
Do you know how you caught me?The door is now open. Graham fights down the impulse to run
through. As Graham -- controlled -- steps out, what he hears
is : LECKTOR (O.S.)
The reason you caught me, Will, is:
we're just alike. You want the
scent? Smell yourself.The DOOR SLAMS shut on Lecktor.

Here is a movie version of the scene:

It’s the same psychological games from Lecktor that we see in Lambs, despite the different spelling of his name.

Manhunter is a really good movie. I also thought that Francis Dollarhyde was even more frightening than Buffalo Bill (but I’m basing that on my experience of reading the books as “The Red Dragon” totally freaked me out).

But the big question is which Lecktor / Lecter do you like better: Cox’s version or Hopkins?

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