Manhunter

Retired, FBI agent, Will Graham (William L. Petersen) is visited in his Florida home by his former head, Jack Crawford (Dennis Farina).

Prior to his retirement Graham was one of the best agents for tracking down serial killers. In possession of an ability to 'enter the mind' of the killer using a form of empathy, Graham was able to stop the murderous rampage of various 'serial' killers including the notorious 'Hannibal the Cannibal' (Brian Cox - Hannibal Lecter, herein spelt Hannibal Lecktor). But as a by-product of that encounter Graham had retired - both physically and mentally scarred.

In Crawford's hands are the photographs of 2 dead families. A serial killer, dubbed the 'Tooth Fairy' (Tom Noonan), is on the loose targeting families. He's working on a lunar cycle so the FBI have until the next full moon to stop him before he kills again. But to do this, Graham must re-enter the mind of a killer and in order to jump-start the process his first stop is... Hannibal Lecktor.

The movie was adapted from the novel 'Red Dragon' by Thomas Harris and written/directed by Michael Mann (the man behind Miami Vice). The wardrobe is pure 80's Miami Vice. The style - lot's of neon and garish colours oftentimes sharply contrasted with sleek modernism.

Indeed one of the accusations sometimes levelled at it is that it's an episode of Miami Vice transferred to the big screen.

But to do that would be a terrible, terrible injustice. At the core of this film is the haunted Will Graham - played to perfection by Petersen. Hannibal Lecktor, whilst only having a few minutes of screen time is awesome. Ably supported by Noonan, Farina, Greist et al. this is a combination of great acting/style and story combined and that's a combination that doesn't come along very often

Re-titled to Manhunter by the producer, Dino De Laurentiis, the film opened to so-so box office and over the years has become widely acknowledged as a true classic.