- Frantic (film)
Infobox Film | name = Frantic
caption = "Frantic" movie poster
director =Roman Polanski
producer =Tim Hampton Thom Mount
writer = Roman PolanskiGérard Brach
starring =Harrison Ford Betty Buckley John Mahoney Alexandra Stewart
introducingEmmanuelle Seigner
music =Ennio Morricone
cinematography =Witold Sobocinski
editing =Sam O'Steen
distributor =Warner Bros.
released =February 26 ,1988
runtime = 120 minutes
language = English, French
budget =
imdb_id = 0095174"Frantic" is a noted 1988
thriller film directed byRoman Polanski and starringHarrison Ford .Synopsis
Harrison Ford plays Dr. Richard Walker, a surgeon visiting
Paris with his wife for a medical conference. At their hotel his wife is unable to open her suitcase and Walker tells her she has picked up the wrong one at the airport. While Walker is taking a shower his wife mysteriously disappears from their hotel room. Stilljet-lag ged, he searches for her in the hotel with the help of a polite but mostly indifferent staff, then wanders outside to look further on his own. A street person overhears him in a cafe and tells Walker he saw his wife being forced into a car. Walker is sceptical until he finds his wife's ID bracelet on the cobblestones. He contacts the US embassy and the Paris police but their responses arebureaucratic and there is little hope anyone will look for her. As Walker carries on the search himself (with input from a very sympathetic but wary desk clerk at the hotel) he stumbles onto amurder scene and then the streetwise young woman (Emmanuelle Seigner ) who mistakenly picked up his wife's suitcase at the airport. It turns out that she is a career smuggler but does not know for whom she is working, and thus reluctantly helps Walker. This begins his frantic attempt, with the young woman's help, to learn what was in the switched suitcase and trade whatever it was for his wife's life.It turns out that hidden within a small replica of the
Statue of Liberty is akrytron , a small switch capable of detonating nuclear devices. The film ends with a confrontation on theRiver Seine where the terrorists hand Walker his wife back. However, a firefight ensues between the terrorists and other agents, and Michele is killed in the crossfire. Angry and upset, Walker throws the krytron into the river.The French locations and
Ennio Morricone 's musical score create much of the film's atmosphere.Grace Jones ' recording of "I've Seen That Face Before (Libertango) " is heard at key moments in the film.Reception
"Frantic" was a critical success and moderately successful at the box office. The film received "Two Thumbs Up" from
Gene Siskel andRoger Ebert on the TV show "Siskel & Ebert and The Movies" [ [http://bventertainment.go.com/tv/buenavista/ebertandroeper/index2.html?sec=1&subsec=2739] - "Siskel & Ebert and The Movies" review] Pat Collins ofWWOR TV called it "Polanski's best film ever." ["Frantic" DVD, Warner Brothers, 1998, ISBN 0-7907-3855-4]Cultural references
"Frantic" was mentioned in the
Barenaked Ladies ' song "One Week " and also referenced inMos Def 's "Ms. Fat Booty" from "Black on Both Sides ". The song "Frantic" by Aqueduct has both a "Roman Polanski Version" and an instrumental "Harrison Ford Version".References
External links
*imdb title|id=0095174|title=Frantic
*rottentomatoes|id=1007832-frantic|title=Frantic
* [http://movies.yahoo.com/shop?d=hv&id=1800067680&cf=info "Frantic"] atYahoo! Movies
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