Seconds
An unhappy middle-aged banker agrees to a procedure that will fake his death and give him a completely new look and identity; one that comes with its own price.
Critics Sentiment
Tony and Nora attend the grape-stomping bacchanal party
The Company prepares Tony as cadaver for next client
The film crashes from the euphoric bacchanal sequence (8.7) to Tony's final entrapment by The Company (5.2), reflecting his journey from illusory freedom to inevitable doom.
Critics praised Seconds as an innovative and deeply unsettling exploration of identity and spiritual emptiness, with particular acclaim for Hudson's performance and Frankenheimer's disturbing visual style. The film builds from Arthur's mundane despair through Tony's brief California paradise to an inevitably tragic conclusion that reviewers found both depressing and cathartic. While some noted pacing issues and the relentlessly bleak tone, most recognized it as a profound meditation on the impossibility of escaping one's essential character through external transformation.
Full cast
Showing 20 of 30
Rock Hudson
Antiochus 'Tony' Wilson
Salome Jens
Nora Marcus
John Randolph
Arthur Hamilton
Will Geer
Old Man
Jeff Corey
Mr. Ruby
Richard Anderson
Dr. Innes
Murray Hamilton
Charlie Evans
Karl Swenson
Dr. Morris
Khigh Dhiegh
Davalo
Frances Reid
Emily Hamilton
Wesley Addy
John
John Lawrence
Texan
Elisabeth Fraser
Plump Blonde
Dodie Heath
Sue Bushman
Robert Brubaker
Mayberry
Jane Wald
Party Guest
Dorothy Morris
Mrs. Filter
Frank Campanella
Man in Station
Barbara Werle
Secretary
Edgar Stehli
Tailor Shop Presser
Crew
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