Frantic Movie

Frantic
Rating:
Run Time: 120 min
MPAA Rating: R
Released: 1988
Directors: Roman Polanski
Genre/Type: Thriller
Psychological Thriller
Producers:
Plot Synopsis by Karl Williams
Following the disastrous Pirates (1986), director Roman Polanski got back on creative track with this finely-wrought thriller that, while failing to impress at the box office, was nevertheless his most critically well-received film of the decade. Harrison Ford stars as Richard Walker, an American doctor who has come to Paris, where he's scheduled to deliver a paper to a medical conference. Richard has brought along his wife Sondra (Betty Buckley), because Paris was the site of their honeymoon 20 years earlier. Sondra picks up the wrong suitcase at the airport, which leads to her kidnapping and an ever-more complicated quest that takes Richard into the seedy and dangerous underworld of European drug smuggling and terrorist arms sales. Along the way, he is rebuffed by skeptical officials at the American Embassy and meets Michelle (Emmanuelle Seigner), a sexy courier who agrees to help him in exchange for the money she's owed for trafficking in narcotics. Playing cleverly on American fears about Europe's Byzantine politics and "decadent" society, Frantic received, from many observers, perhaps the greatest compliment possible for a thriller, comparison to the work of Alfred Hitchcock.

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Highly excited. In a frenzy. Fast paced.
Frantic is a Commodore VIC-20 space shoot-em-up video game published by Imagine Software in 1982. The game involves the player piloting a space ship whilst trying to keep an X and Y axis centered on the enemy, which enters the field of play...
Yes, it is their response to feeling threatened.
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Cast

Actors Character Born
Harrison Ford Dr. Richard Walker Jul 13, 1942 in Chicago, IL
Emmanuelle Seigner Michelle Jun 22, 1966 in Paris, France
Betty Buckley Sondra Walker Jul 3, 1947 in Ft. Worth, TX
John Mahoney Williams Jun 20, 1940 in Manchester, England
Jimmie Ray Weeks Shaap
Yorgo Voyagis The Kidnaper
David Huddleston Peter Sep 17, 1930 in Vinton, VA
Gerard Klein Gaillard
Jacques Ciron Hotel Manager
Dominique Pinon Wino Mar 4, 1955
Thomas M. Pollard Rastafarian
Alexandra Stewart Edie Jun 10, 1939 in Montreal, Quebec
David Jalil Bodyguard
Roch Leibovici Bellboy
Artus de Penguern Waiter
Fonky French Family Houseboat Band
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Back to the topReview

Review by Mike DiBella
A product of his exile years in Paris, Roman Polanski's kidnap thriller rests squarely between the qualitative pillars of his classics (Rosemary's Baby and Chinatown) and the abysmal Pirates. Adopting a slow-hand style reminiscent of Hitchcock, Polanski keeps the action riveting and the suspense tight. Harrison Ford gives a strong performance as the nerve-wracked man at the end of his tether, but apart from a few pernicious Parisians, the supporting cast is missing in action. Polanski's eccentric eye and fastidious attention to detail heighten the surreal nature of what is happening to Ford's character. While the look and feel of the film are unparalleled in '80s suspense cinema, Polanski's wandering and incohesive story line detracts from its caliber. While comparisons to Hitchcock may be a bit far-flung for this film, Polanski's homage to the king of suspense is uncanny. The film's disoriented point of view reflects Polanski's feelings of alienation from America and Hollywood, although being out of touch with Hollywood may have also afforded this film its teetering credibility.
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