History Film / Manhunter

* AdaptationalNiceGuy: Reba's supervisor at the photo lab is shown to be professional and polite in his two brief scenes, in contrast to his portrayal as a lecherous, leering sleaze in the novel. This was probably done to make his murder by Dollarhyde seem even more arbitrary and pointless, as opposed to the killing of an AssholeVictim.

* ThatManIsDead: Francis, thinking she was unfaithful to him, tells Reba "Francis is gone forever", before attempting to murder her.

* MadDoctor: Lektor is a world-famous psychiatrist who happens to be a convicted SerialKiller. He might be stuck in an insane asylum, but that doesn't stop him from writing for psychiatric journals.

* EvilMentor: Lektor clearly considers himself to be this to Graham, repeatedly goading and coaxing him to admit and accept the darker impulses within him and that they're NotSoDifferent. Graham is justifiably repulsed by this.

* NotSoDifferent: Lektor tells this to Graham. What's scary is that he seems to be right.

The first FilmOfTheBook of the Thomas Harris novel ''Literature/RedDragon'', this 1986 film, written and directed by Creator/MichaelMann for the [[Creator/DinoDeLaurentiis De Laurentiis Entertainment Group]], features Hannibal Lektor (note the spelling) [[ThePeteBest as played by]] Creator/BrianCox. Like in ''Film/TheSilenceOfTheLambs'', he is used to help an FBI investigator. His name is Will Graham and he is trying to find a serial killer known as Francis Dollarhyde, nicknamed "The Tooth Fairy". As he tries to find the serial killer, Graham's personal demons start to haunt him, affecting his work and his relationships.

A box office flop on release, despite critical approval. It has become a CultClassic for many Hannibal fans. The lead investigator is played by Creator/WilliamPetersen, feeling at times like an extended audition for his ''Series/{{CSI}}'' role.

The film relied on heavily-tinted scenes and overpowering music. The use of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida"]] is very unsettling to anyone who has not seen its use in ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' ("Remember when we used to make out to this hymn?"), and the look of the film is very much TheEighties.

Later [[{{Remake}} re-made]] as ''Film/RedDragon'', this time featuring Creator/AnthonyHopkins as Lecter.

Not to be confused with {{Creator/Sierra}}'s [[VideoGame/{{Manhunter}} series of adventure games with the same name]], or the [[Comicbook/{{Manhunter}} comic]] of the same name. It should also not be confused with [[VideoGame/{{Manhunt}} the similarly titled horror/killer video game]] produced by Rockstar Games, even though both feature actor Brian Cox.

The first FilmOfTheBook of the Thomas Harris novel ''Literature/RedDragon'', this 1986 film, written and directed by Creator/MichaelMann for the [[Creator/DinoDeLaurentiis De Laurentiis Entertainment Group]], features Hannibal Lektor (note the spelling) [[ThePeteBest as played by]] Creator/BrianCox. Like in ''Film/TheSilenceOfTheLambs'', he is used to help an FBI investigator. His name is Will Graham and he is trying to find a serial killer known as Francis Dolarhyde, nicknamed "The Tooth Fairy". As he tries to find the serial killer, Graham's personal demons start to haunt him, affecting his work and his relationships.

** Dolarhyde's obsession with the red dragon painting and his split personality are mostly ignored and instead just barely hinted at - in fact his past and backstory are glossed over as is much of the character's personality.

** Kevin is Will's son, not his stepson. In the book, when Will tells Kevin about what he has to do to catch people like Lecter or Dolarhyde, he feels ashamed for having to defend himself to his stepson. In the film, it becomes a bonding moment for father and son.
** Dolarhyde is killed at his home in a shootout with police, rather than escaping to show up at Graham's house later.
** In the book, [[spoiler:Will is badly disfigured by Dolarhyde, and later is revealed to have become a serious alcoholic.]] In the film, [[spoiler:Will has some facial injuries that are not disfiguring, and while he's going to check into therapy to deal with the trauma of the film's events, he will eventually recover and rejoin his family.]]

* AdaptationalAlternateEnding: The ending is much lighter, being changed completely from the book's ending to one where Graham gets to fight and kill Dolarhyde before he ever gets the chance to invade his home and attack his family. As a result, his psychological troubles are now set at ease so that he can go back to retiring in peace.

* AdvertisedExtra: The film was broadcast on TV immediately after the phenomenal success of ''The Silence of the Lambs'' but the title was changed to ''Red Dragon: The Pursuit of Hannibal Lecter''. Of course, anyone who saw the movie in 1986 or read the book would realize that Lecter had about eight minutes of screen time and being that the story is set prior to ''Silence of the Lambs'', Lecter is still behind bars for the entire film. The character being pursued was a serial killer called The Tooth Fairy real name is Francis Dolarhyde. Lecter's influence is marginal and is mostly part of the main character's backstory. The name change and subtitle was just an attempt to capitalize on the popularity of the recent 1991 blockbuster by broadcasting a little-remembered film that was based on the previous book in the series.

* ArtImitatesArt: After Graham fills Dolarhyde full of lead, Dolarhyde falls down on his back. A camera shot from above shows the blood pooling out from Dolarhyde in a symmetrical winged shape that looks just like the Red Dragon from William Blake's painting.

** The confusion comes from the game mahjong, which features a group of three tiles called the "dragon tiles" in English. There are three of them: a red one, a green one, and a white one. The red dragon tile features the Chinese character for "middle." Evidently somebody misunderstood, thinking that the red "dragon tile" was actually the "red dragon" tile, and that 中　means "red dragon." In actuality, "red dragon" in Chinese would be 紅龍 or 紅色龍.
* AssholeVictim: {{Deconstructed}} by Lektor on Freddy Lounds, practically giggling that Will did a good job of MakeItLookLikeAnAccident by setting him up as a target for Dolarhyde. Will lamely refutes this, but it's clear he wonders if he did it subconsciously.

* BaldOfEvil: Francis Dolarhyde, the Tooth Fairy, is balding in this movie, mostly because his actor is.

** Graham deliberately makes himself TheBait by telling Lounds to pen a story in which Will insinuated the killer was a) gay, and b) had sex with his mother. [[spoiler: It backfires - Dolarhyde goes after ''Lounds'' instead.]]
* BlindAndTheBeast: Dolarhyde starts dating a blind woman halfway through the movie. This is partly because of his implicit insecurities about his cleft palate (much more explicit in the novel and 2002 movie); he thinks he is ugly, and doesn't believe he'd stand a chance with someone who could actually see him. This, in fact, is one of the reasons he kills- [[ILoveTheDead dead women don't think he is ugly.]]
** Significantly, Dolarhyde stops Reba when she tries to touch his face.

* CentralTheme: The entire film is about vision and color. For example, notice the background colors of the opening credits, saturated and overexposed. Lektor's prison is completely white, which has a negative psychological effect on Will (who calms down when staring at the green grass.) Of course, Dolarhyde's ''job'' is color correction, and he puts shards of mirrors in his female victims' eyes.

* ColorMotif[=/=]ColorWash: Cool blue tones were used for the scenes shared between Will Graham and his wife Molly, and unsettling greens and magentas were used for the scenes with Francis Dollarhyde.

* DemotedToExtra: Frustrated with Graham's mental state, his wife decides to spend time away. [[spoiler: In the novel, she returns and it is she, not her husband or the cops, who kills Dolarhyde in the climax.]]

* DisabledLoveInterest: Reba, Dolarhyde's blind coworker goes home with him and engages in very vigorous woman-on-top sex with him.
* DramaticShattering: Francis Dollarhyde who leaves slivers of glass embedded in his victim's eyes. In the climax, he's shown shattering a mirror as he prepares to kill Reba.
* DrivenToVillainy: Francis Dolarhyde:

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Compared to the 1991 film adaptation of ''Literature/TheSilenceOfTheLambs'' and its successors, ''Manhunter'' takes a far different approach, to the point where one could easily forget it's part of the same greater franchise. Among other things, it lacks the Gothic overtones of later films, opting instead for a more stylized approach making heavy use of saturated color to invoke mood, as well as lacking much of the more explicit violence of later films in favor of exploiting NothingIsScarier and the GoryDiscretionShot, which makes the few instances of explicit violence that much heavier-hitting. Probably the most microcosmic aspect of ''Manhunter'' is Hannibal "Lecktor": his prison is a cramped cell in a sterile, white mental hospital, far removed from the large, dungeonlike design seen in later films, and Lecktor himself is more smug and willing to put up facades than the serpentine and more outwardly malevolent portrayal by Creator/AnthonyHopkins.

* EvilIsHammy: Largely averted with Brian Cox's cold and understated portrayal of Lecktor (in contrast to Creator/AnthonyHopkins in ''Film/TheSilenceOfTheLambs''). Tom Noonan as Dolarhyde plays it more straight in his debut scene, although all things considered there really isn't any other way to play that moment ''but'' hammy.
--> '''Dolarhyde:''' You owe me ''awe!''

* FreudianExcuseIsNoExcuse: During his EurekaMoment, Graham acknowledges that Dolarhyde must have been abused and states that he pities the child Dolarhyde used to be. However, in the same monologue, Graham states that he feels absolutely no sympathy for Dolarhyde as an adult and states that Dolarhyde is a selfish, utterly-disgusting human being who deserves to die violently.

* GoryDiscretionShot: The moment where Dollarhyde [[spoiler:bites Lounds' lips off]] isn't actually shown, instead cutting to the outside of Dollarhyde's house just before [[spoiler:his mouth reaches Lounds']] and leaving the latter's muffled screams of pain as the only indicator of what's happening. Additionally, [[spoiler:the slides that Dollarhyde shows Lounds, depicting his victims postmortem]], are left obscured from the viewer, leaving [[spoiler:Lounds']] pained reactions being the only indicators of how horrific they actually are. Compare this to the 2002 film, which shows both in vivid detail.
* GunsDoNotWorkThatWay: When Graham shoots Dolarhyde, each round is shown to penetrate Dolarhyde's body, spattering blood on the wall behind him, despite the Glaser specifically being designed to avoid overpenetration.

* LighterAndSofter: The ending is changed completely from the book's ending to one where Graham gets to fight and kill Dolarhyde before he ever gets the chance to invade his home and attack his family and ''completely'' destroy his face (he gets a large gash across it in the film, but it's nowhere near disfiguring). As a result, his psychological troubles are now set at ease so that he can go back to retiring in peace, his wife and stepson don't leave him, and he doesn't become an alcoholic.

* MistakenForCheating: Dolarhyde's fragile connection with sanity snaps when he misinterprets an innocent moment between Reba and her coworker as something intimate.

* OneManArmy: When the cops finally close in on Dolarhyde, he rather casually grabs Graham as he jumps at him, slashes him across the face, tosses him into a corner, and then grabs a shotgun. Using the latter, he then goes to town on the cops trying to stop him, killing several and [[FeelsNoPain ignoring at least one point-blank gunshot wound]]. He returns to kill Graham, only to go down after [[{{BFG}} absorbing half-a-dozen .44 Special Glaser rounds]].

* PrematurelyGreyHaired: Will Graham has gray tinges in his hair due to his experience with Hannibal Lecktor.

** A scene with Graham and Dr Chilton just before Graham goes to see Lecter.

* RuleOfSymbolism: The final shot of a dead Dolarhyde shows [[https://screenhubweb.files.wordpress.com/2018/09/screenhub-movie-manhunter3.png?w=1440 he has become the Red Dragon]].

* SerialKiller: Francis Dolarhyde, aka "The Tooth Fairy" or "The Red Dragon". Also, Dr. Lecktor.

* ShowDontTell: Almost everything regarding Dolarhyde's personality and behavior is conveyed through acting and actions. During the Lounds sequence, unlike ''Red Dragon'', the film shows Lounds' reactions to the grisly sliders of the murdered family, and never shows the slides themselves.

* [[SpellMyNameWithAnS Spell My Name With A K]]: Lec'''''k'''''tor?

* TechnicallyASmile: Before attacking Lounds, Dolarhyde snorts poppers (amyl nitrate), and wears a dissonent happy smile before going in for what seems like a KissOfDeath (when he's about to bite off Lounds' nose as the film cuts away.)

-->'''Lektor:''' [[EvilMentor It feels good, Will,]] ''[[ArmorPiercingResponse because God has]] '''power''','' ''[[AGodAmI and if one does what God does enough times,]] '''[[AGodAmI one will become as God is.]]''''' God's a champ. He always stays ahead. He got 140 Filipinos in one plane crash last year. Remember that earthquake in Italy last spring?

-->'''Lektor:''' It feels good, Will, ''because God has '''power''','' ''[[AGodAmI and if one does what God does enough times,]] '''[[AGodAmI one will become as God is.]]''''' God's a champ. He always stays ahead. He got 140 Filipinos in one plane crash last year. Remember that earthquake in Italy last spring?

* ShowDontTell: Almost everything regarding Dolarhyde's personality and behavior is conveyed through acting and actions.

** The Director's adds a brief scene showing more of Chilton's {{Jerkass}} side, but he is still ''far'' more competent than he is in the book and later films.

-->'''Lektor:''' It feels good, Will, ''because God has '''power''','' [[AGodAmI and if one does what God does enough times,]] ''[[AGodAmI one will become as God is.]]'' God's a champ. He always stays ahead. He got 140 Filipinos in one plane crash last year. Remember that earthquake in Italy last spring?

-->'''Lektor:''' It feels good, Will, ''because God has '''power''','' [[AGodAmI and if one does what God does enough times, ''one will become as God '''is'''.'']] God's a champ. He always stays ahead. He got 140 Filipinos in one plane crash last year. Remember that earthquake in Italy last spring?

-->'''Lektor:''' It feels good because God has power. [[AGodAmI If one does what God does enough times, one will become as God is.]] God's a champ. He always stays ahead. He got 140 Filipinos in one plane crash last year. Remember that earthquake in Italy last spring?

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/manhunter.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"Father, look in my eyes: see me as I really am..."'']]

* AdaptationalAlternateEnding: The ending is much lighter, being changed completely from the book's ending to one where Graham gets to fight and kill Dolarhyde before he ever gets the chance to invade his home and attack his family. As a result, his psychological troubles are now set at ease so that he can go back to retiring in peace.
* AdaptationalAttractiveness: The novel describes Freddy Lounds as a lumpy, ugly guy with buck teeth. Here, he's played the handsome Creator/StephenLang.
* AdaptationDistillation: A few notable changes:
** Lecktor's sixth finger is missing- although every film adaptation of the series has excluded this plot point.

* ProductPlacement: Subtly. Hannibal notes that Will's aftershave is something a child would choose because it has a ship on the bottle -- which would be Old Spice. A more blatant example occurs in the scene where Graham comes clean to his son, during which several cereal brands are plainly visible, but because the scene takes place in a supermarket, this is probably inevitable.

* ProductPlacement: Subtly. Hannibal notes that Will's aftershave is something a child would choose because it has a ship on the bottle -- which would be Old Spice. A more blatant example occurs when in the scene where Graham comes clean to his son, during which several cereal brands are plainly visible, but because the scene takes place in a supermarket, this is probably inevitable.

* ProductPlacement: Subtly. Hannibal notes that Will's aftershave is something a child would choose because it has a ship on the bottle -- which would be Old Spice.

* TechnicallyASmile: Before attacking Lounds, Dolarhyde snorts poppers (amyl nitrate), and wears a dissonent happy smile before going in for what seems like a KissOfDeath (when he's about to bite off Lounds' nose as it cuts away.)