Based on the book Red Dragon, Manhunter is more subtle than its Hollywood siblings. It’s not Silence of the Lambs, I know. But the world hadn’t quite acquired its taste for psychopaths in 1986 as it did after 1991. And it certainly hadn’t reached the flashy bloodlust that Red Dragon enjoyed in 2002.
What I like about this one is more delicate. We can see it in the colors. While he ultimately belongs to author Thomas Harris, Jonathan Demme and Michael Mann treat their Hannibal Lecters very differently. Demme’s is a snake, head raised and swaying in a richly dark cell. Mann’s is locked in a world without color. Seriously everything, but everything, is white. He’s a psychopathic songbird in a cage, and he’d slit your throat just to see that shade of red.
What I would liked to have seen in Manhunter (that was pulled off well in Red Dragon) is to see Francis Dolarhyde depicted in a world of darkness, opposite to Lecter’s lights that he can never turn off.
It’s a privilege to see characters as nuanced and well-fleshed as Harris’ handled by two excellent directors. It’s almost like drawing the nude, every good art student should have a crack at it. It’s fundamental.

Now…. here’s the game. Two prolific character actors are in both Manhunter and Silence of the Lambs. Two. Now…if you can point them out without resorting to IMDB I’ll give you a cookie.