Seconds 1966: Rock Hudson's Devastating Disillusionment

As always there are spoilers ahead!

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Seconds is a visually striking and thoroughly uncomfortable film. A 1960s film that examines dissatisfied suburban living, mid-life crisis and the yearning for youth and freedom. I think it's vastly underrated which is probably something both of my genuinely amazing guests agree with. (Apologies for not offering more of a counterpoint to this view!)

Mark Bould is a professor of Film and Literature at the University of West England, Bristol. He has written/edited extensively about science fiction cinema.

Sherryl Vint is Professor of Science Fiction Media Studies at the University of California, Riverside. She has also written/edited extensively about science fiction.

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction

01:31 Frankenheimer's fantastic films

05:55 Science fiction in the 60s

07:55 The striking work of James Wong Howe

12:18 Saul (and Elaine) Bass credits

14:42 Mid Life Crisis in the 1960s

19:20 Dissatisfaction in the middle class

21:38 The Tennis Trophy

24:40 Rock Hudson and John Randolph

31:54 The Wine Stomp

37:02 Corporation as "The Monster" and PK Dick

38:48 Frankenstein and face surgery

41:44 The business model and Tech Bros

45:08 Legacy

50:39 Trivia tidbits

53:51 Recommendations

 

Recommendations:

Phase IV (1974)

Face of Another (1966)

Mark also mentions: Eyes Without a Face (1960) and Darkman (1990)

 

NEXT EPISODE!

Next episode we take a dive into the 1966 François Truffaut science fiction film Fahrenheit 451. The film is very annoyingly tough to get hold of on streaming platforms but can apparently be found on Fandango and you can search the Just Watch website to check where it might be available in your region. You can buy the DVD quite easily for not extortionate prices in many places. There do seem to be dodgy websites that also have the film but obviously I would never encourage you to search for such things.