A boring old banking executive decides to become Rock Hudson in the 1966 horror film Seconds. It feels like a feature length episode of The Twilight Zone. Well, a bit like the contents of a thirty minute episode are stretched to a couple hours. There are some effective moments of horror and Rock Hudson gives a good performance.
After Hamilton (John Randolph) gets a face transplant, he becomes Wilson (Rock Hudson) and a secret organisation relocates him to the life of an artist living on a hippy commune. I found it subtly amusing that the movie never discusses whether or not he has the artistic ability to convincingly assume the life of an artist.
There's a bacchanalia scene where folks get naked and stomp grapes to make wine. The abandoned frenzy meant to be conveyed by the scene is undermined by Hudson and costar Salome Jens' unwillingness to be seen naked. It kind of mirrors the fact that it's all a facade anyway--half the people at the party are secret agents of the company, there to observe if "Wilson" is able to play ball. He gets drunk and proves that he can't keep a secret.
The movie gets a little more interesting when Wilson tries to reconnect slightly with his old life and he realises he's still not satisfied, that he wants to change yet again, causing him to wonder just what it is he wanted all along.
Seconds has some intriguing similarities to the Japanese film The Face of Another (他人の顔) released the same year. The Face of Another is a bit better. Both movies are available on The Criterion Channel.
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