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Features: DVD, Pan and Scan (TV Format), Scene Access
Harrison Ford and filmmaker Roman Polanski count thrillers among their best work. USA Today's Mike Clark wrote "Frantic teams an imaginatively cast superstar and the greatest living suspense director in fine form." Ford plays an American doctor whose wife (Betty Buckley) suddenly vanishes in Paris. To find her, he navigates a puzzling web of language, locale, lassez-faire cops, triplicate-form bureaucrat, and a defiant, mysterious waif (Emmanuelle Seigner) who knows more than she tells. "It is the spirit of Hitchcock that reigns here"--Michael Wilmington, Los Angeles Times. And the consummate skill of Polanski and Ford that's on dazzling display.
"Frantic is a reminder of how absorbing a good thriller can be. " Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
"Frantic is chock full of Hitchcock. " Desson Howe, Washington Post
Editor's Note
Roman Polanski's FRANTIC is an engaging thriller in the tradition of Alfred Hitchcock. Harrison Ford plays Richard Walker, an American heart surgeon vacationing with his wife, Sondra (Betty Buckley), in Paris, where he is to attend a medical convention. Sondra suddenly and unexpectedly disappears from the couple's hotel room while Richard is taking a shower, and when she doesn't return after several hours, he decides to report the incident. But neither the French police nor the U.S. embassy offers much help or even appears particularly interested in his dilemma. On the brink of despair, Walker decides to embark on an investigation himself, aided by Michelle (Emmanuelle Seigner), a carefree, seductive gamine who is also mixed up in the case, as he discovers after tracing back to her a mysterious piece of switched luggage that he suspects his wife's kidnappers are after. When the mismatched duo finally succeed in tracking down the perpetrators, it becomes apparent that the stakes in this extortion scheme are far higher than they imagined. Ford, cast somewhat against type, gives a credible, low-key performance as the anxious Walker. Polanski also cowrote this suspenseful film, assigning the female lead to his young wife (Seigner).
Plot Summary
An American heart surgeon is confronted with a heartbreaking mystery when he arrives in Paris for a convention and his wife inexplicably vanishes. His search for her leads him into an urban underworld where he forges an alliance with a beautiful young woman who holds the only clue to his wife's whereabouts.
| Features | Region 1 | | Keep Case | | Full Frame - 1.33 |
| Technical Info
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Release Information
|  | Studio: Warner |
| Release Date: 12/7/2004 |
| Running Time: 120 minutes |
| Original Release Date: 1987 | | Catalog ID: 11787 | | UPC: 00085391178729 | | Number of Discs: 1 |
Audio & Video
| | Original Language: English | | Available Audio Tracks: English [CC], English | | Video: Color |
| Cast & Crew
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| | Professional Reviews | New York Times
"...Urgency and personality. [Polanski] has succeeded in picking up the clever, unnerving thread of his earlier career..." 02/26/1988 p.C3Los Angeles Times
"...An elegant, icy thriller....[The film] shows us a brilliant filmmaker using some of the best tricks in his deadly arsenal..." 02/26/1988 p.C1 Leonard Maltin's Movie & Video Guide 5 of 10
[An] American doctor is drawn into espionage, and the underworld, when his wife disappears on the first day of their trip to Paris. Carefully controlled suspense thriller never really cuts loose but keeps its grip thanks to Ford's believable performance. - Leonard Maltin
Chicago Sun-Times 7 of 10
...to watch the opening sequences of Frantic is to be reminded of Polanski's talent. Here is one of the few modern masters of the thriller and the film noir... Frantic is a reminder of how absorbing a good thriller can be. - Roger Ebert
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