Search - Frantic on DVD

MPAA Rating: R Content Advisory: Violence, Brief Nudity, Adult Situations, Questionable for Children, Adult Language, Substance Abuse Movie Release: 1988 DVD Release: 10/20/1998 Format: DVD - Pan and Scan Audio Tracks: English Subtitles: English SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Number of Discs: 1 Run Time: 2 hrs 0 mins Studio: Warner Home Video Total Copies: 31 Genres: Thriller, Psychological Thriller

Following the disastrous Pirates (1986), director Roman Polanski got back on creative track with this finely-wrought thriller that, while failing to impress at the box office, was nevertheless his most critically well-received film of the decade. Harrison Ford stars as Richard Walker, an American doctor who has come to Paris, where he's scheduled to deliver a paper to a medical conference. Richard has brought along his wife Sondra (Betty Buckley), because Paris was the site of their honeymoon 20 years earlier. Sondra picks up the wrong suitcase at the airport, which leads to her kidnapping and an ever-more complicated quest that takes Richard into the seedy and dangerous underworld of European drug smuggling and terrorist arms sales. Along the way, he is rebuffed by skeptical officials at the American Embassy and meets Michelle (Emmanuelle Seigner), a sexy courier who agrees to help him in exchange for the money she's owed for trafficking in narcotics. Playing cleverly on American fears about Europe's Byzantine politics and "decadent" society, Frantic received, from many observers, perhaps the greatest compliment possible for a thriller, comparison to the work of Alfred Hitchcock. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

Harrison Ford - Dr. Richard Walker
Emmanuelle Seigner - Michelle
Betty Buckley - Sondra Walker
John Mahoney - Williams
Jimmie Ray Weeks - Shaap

A fun Roman Polanski (Chinatown, Rosemary's Baby) thriller starring Harrison Ford, Frantic was clearly one of the first DVDs that Warner Brothers ever put on the market. The film not only has no extras, but it's not even widescreen. The full-screen standard transfer looks like the same one used when creating the VHS, with slightly sharper resolution thanks to the DVD technology. The sound in Dolby Surround isn't digital and is only available in English. There are no theatrical trailers, production notes, bios, or interactive screens. Warner Brothers' interest in releasing this disc must have been purely experimental -- testing out the new DVD format with some of its less popular titles. ~ Arthur Borman, All Movie Guide