Manhunter is a masterpiece though a bit dated in the beginning! I first saw Manhunter in college when I was channel surfing with my roommates & we started the movie during the final show down. It was so visually arresting & combined with the amazing soundtrack (“Strong As I Am” by the Prime Movers and “In-a-Gadda-Da-Vida” by Iron Butterfly), we stopped in our tracks to watch it & soon ran out to rent it so we could watch the whole movie. For me, this marks Michael Mann as an auteur–the colors, the cuts, everything! William Pedersen perfectly embodied the tension between doing a good job & becoming a monster–just listen to his voice, you don’t even need to see the movie! Tom Noonan was simultaneously sympathetic, pathetic & horrifying as the main serial killer. Brian Cox as Hannibal Lecter is a revelation: simultaneously unassuming & magnificently malevolent–banality of evil meets frustrated madman!