Director John Frankenheimer suffered a major career setback in 1966 when “Seconds” opened to wildly mixed reviews and then bombed at the box-office.
The dark and experimental movie was just a tad ahead of its time — the following year would bring “Bonnie and Clyde,” “The Graduate” and a whole new wave of challenging Hollywood films.
“Seconds” is a horror fantasy about the ruthless American pursuit of eternal youth and endless “lifestyle” options.
A burned-out middle-aged Scarsdale businessman (John Randolph) is offered a chance for a second life through a mysterious New York company that guarantees a new face (and body) through plastic surgery and then a relocation into a new home and career.
The catch is that there is no going back — a cadaver is used to provide the cover of an accidental death and estate money is secretly transferred to the new “you.”
So, the overweight and balding businessman Randolph goes into surgery and comes out the much younger and trimmer Rock Hudson, who is relocated to an artist’s colony in Malibu (where he falls for Salome Jens, above).
Hudson gives a very powerful and poignant performance, but his casting probably worked against the picture in 1966. The audience for his light 1960s comedies was appalled by the horror of “Seconds” and the “serious” film audience had no interest in a “Rock Hudson movie.”
Frankenheimer wanted to have Laurence Olivier play both halves of the role, but Paramount said the Brit wasn’t a big enough star (!) After both Glenn Ford and Kirk Douglas turned the movie down, Frankenheimer heard Hudson was interested, but only if his participation was limited to the “after” scenes.
“Seconds” has slowly gathered a cult following and critics have come to regard it as one of Frankenheimer’s career high points, just under the peerless “The Manchurian Candidate.”
