DRACULA (1979) Retrospective / Review 

True story: in 1979, I was in my first year at uni. I tended to dress in a very new romantic style with pale skin, red lips, and dark eye make-up. I also wore a black cape because I was dramatic and 18. Two girls crossed my path on campus after dark. They screamed, turned on their heels, and ran. One of them stopped me (in daylight) the next day and explained that they'd just come from a showing of Dracula and were convinced I was a vampire.

Dracula does not fall in love with Mina in the book. He's just a predator.

In the book Dracula definitely doesn't fall in love with ANYONE.. He's not human....

John Williams composed a hell of a score for this film.

I have always referred to this version of Dracula as “Disco Dracula” . Langella’s hair looked like he spent all day at Vidal Sassoon.

I was in Junior High school when my Drama Class took a field trip and watch Frank Langella on Broadway as Dracula. Both his onscreen and stage performance was captivating. 🙂

26:51 BelaLagosi went from Stage Dracula to Movie Dracula , as well.

I've always found this movie maddening -- it gets so much right but so much wrong as well, chiefly that Dracula was *too* charming and didn't carry that layer of threat as you said. That said, Langella owned this role and Kate Nelligan is absolutely incandescent.

You are a major talent ,,this channel should have more subscribers,,,live long and prosper

I hope Oliver Harper is recognized for his talents at making trailers for movies... He has a talent for turning a trailer into an award worthy type of film, and those talents should be tapped by any movie studio looking to create big time buzz for their upcoming releases.

Next, I think you should review Nosferatu the Vampire, a remake of the 1922 German take on the character which, coincidentally, came out the SAME YEAR as THIS one (1979).

It's an interesting version but imo it suffers hugely for leaving out the parts of the story set in Transylvania. Castle Dracula is one of the great settings in fiction and for me personally it's an essential element. I like what they did with Carfax here but it's no substitute.

I always love watching your retrospectives! They're always so in depth!

I remember watching this as a kid , it was terrifying one scene that stuck with me was mina rising from the dead lawrence olivier was amazing in this movie , one of my favourite draucla movies.

I saw this at the local drive-in and I think it made the experience more terrifying to my ten year old self. It took years before I could watch Langella in anything. Still, though, it stuck with me for over 40 years.

I remembered this movie for decades until at last I managed to get it on disc a few years ago. I only had a few hazy childhood memories of it, but was a lifelong fan. Thank you for the cool background info

I love this movie! My favorite version of Dracula.

The first DRACULA MOVIE I EVER SAW!!♠️🤘❤‼🇬🇧🇺🇲

After Gary Oldman, Frank Langella is my most favorite Dracula. He just oozed sex appeal and gothic romance. Plus, the Texas heavy metal band *Helstar's* 1989 album *_Nosferatu_* features clips of Langella's best lines within the songs.

Wow, I’ve always been a pretty big fan of vampires, but I’ve never heard of this particular Dracula movie

This movie was my introduction to Dracula

I remember watching this movie with my mom. Frank Langella was awesome as Dracula while Lawrence Olivia was a perfect counterpart as Van Helsing. It's a shame not many people talk about it nowadays.

I taped this movie when it was shown on tv during the 80’s and watched it many times. Haven’t seen it recently though and so it’s good to see your retrospective of it. I’m wondering if Frank Langella’s Dracula gave some inspiration to Jerry Dandrige in Fright Night.

Love this version- it's so beautiful

I was in grade school when this first appeared on TV, and while I was mostly disappointed in it as a horror film, with the romantic aspect understandably lost on me, the scene with Mina and Van Helsing in the mines has stayed with me for my entire life.

Frank had some things in common with Bela they both did Dracula as a play & played the character onscreen but unlike Bela Frank was chosen to play Dracula on the big screen. Plus Frank had gone on to have a successful career whereas Bela's career took a nosedive.

Frank Langella was such a good actor especially in masters of the universe

Oh Yeah, I remember seeing this movie. Yes it scared the heck out of me. It was incredible

Dracula has the same hairstyle as my grandma, which makes it hard for me take him seriously. Also, Harker's hair seems very 1970s.

Prior to Bram Stoker's Dracula, this was the Definitive version of Dracula 's story here in the U.S. I remember quite a few fans and reruns on television.

Oliver you've done it again thanks for doing this wonderful piece on my favorite Dracula movie. Which also has my favorite movie composer Mr John Williams. Great job doing this.

Yeah, this was a pretty good portrayal of the old Count. Kind of suave, yet also sinister and ferocious.

For me Frank Langella is above Christopher Lee as Dracula. This is my favorite Dracula film of all time. And of course I'm a fan of John Williams and the soundtrack to this film is amazing.

Funnily enough, in my house growing up, the definitive Dracula for us was Louis Jourdan from the BBC adaptation two years prior to this movie.

It's such a shame John Badham forced the desaturated version to be the only one available for all those years. The theatrical version is so much better.

John Williams, JAWS, JURASSIC PARK, E T, STAR WARS, Indiana Jones, and SCHINDLER'S LIST did the music for the movie! I have this movie on DVD/BLU RAY from The Shout Factory, as part of the films 40th Anniversary Edition.

I will never forget watching this movie for the first time. It was on TV and I was a freshman in high school and I was completely blown away! A fantastic adaptation of "Dracula" and a very underrated movie.

You should do John Carpenter's Elvis & Gremlins 2 - The New Batch

After watching the “color” version on the Blu-Ray, I won’t watch it any other way now. It’s gorgeous.

He is the sexy Dracula. I love this film. Not perfect but not awful and wonderfully shot too. Kate had a fantastic film with Donald Sutherland in Eye of the Needle.

This actually was my introduction to the Dracula character. The sound track was great and it spooked me as a kid.

Weird to have never seen, or even heard of, this film before. it looks like it would have been a weekend staple throughout the 80's and 90's in the UK particularly with all the UK acting talent on show.

Langella is an absolute marvel in the role, he has the character down to a T.

Great retrospective as usual Oliver, Dracula is my favourite novel, and this is one of my favourite versions. One slight nitpick, Dracula doesn't fall in love with Mina in the book, in the book he doesn't fall in love with anyone. It's purely a horror story without any romantic elements.

Langella and Olivier's performances are truly striking. They're subliminal, though, making Oldman's otherwise adept performance seem hamfisted and self-indulgent. The editing and certain effects intersect poetics and naturalism really well, and are a reminder of the importance of looking beyond dependence upon CGI conventions which lack expression.

Rosemary's Baby was a 1968 film so it's not a 70s film

Well, it's not like THIS movie was the first to feature a SEXY Dracula. Chris Lee was pretty sexy too, in the EARLIER films of HIS series at least. And they actually DID have automobiles during the time in which this movie takes place, they just weren't so COMMON yet is all. Only rich people owned them, not the majority of common average Joes like today, THEY were still using horses.

I have never heard of this, but in two minutes in, and this soundtrack is incredible, and visuals are gorgeous

This is my favorite Dracula movie and Frank Langella is my favorite Dracula! ... he's also my favorite Skeletor LOL

Underrated gem that I will need to check out. I only know it as the Frank Langella Dracula from his early career.

I was 8 when this movie came out and was huge into vampires. I convinced my dad to take me to see it. I was the only kid there because it was rated R, and my dad got a few dirty looks from some people. The only things I remembered from the movie was the dude with his throat ripped out, putting the mirror to the chicks face, and the end. 8 year old me thought it was boring with not nearly enough Dracula stuff. Seen it again recently and it's much better now, but the bloodthirsty child I used to be wasn't having any of that :)

This is actually my favorite adaptation of the source material (though it’s based on the same play Lugosi was in and not the actual book). Frank Langella lends such a gravitas to the Count, Sir Laurence Olivier isn’t too bad as Van Helsing (though it’s sad to see him so frail due to his poor health at the time), Kate Nelligan is a pretty good Mina, John Williams’ score is excellent & the atmosphere is so ‘70s Gothic but it grows on you

This is one of my all-time fav Dracula Movie!

Saw this when it first aired on NBC and my parents thought it would be fine. It’s Dracula on NBC, how bad could it be? I’m 46 now and still getting over that Mina scene in the mines…

The Andromeda Strain (1971) we only real sci-fi movie and best of all Sci-fi movies. Albert Whitlock who worked on The Birds.[2] made very convincing paintings for movie even best CGI and computer graphics can not compare to human artistic endeavor.

21:30 - Frank was actually very self-conscious of his eye condition. And Told John badham to tell him when they were doing close-ups so he could stop his eyes from shaking (he could momentarily control it by concentrating). John loved the look of the eyes shaking for the very reasons you described. And recorded close-ups of Langella without telling him, so that he could capture the visual. Langella apparently later agreed with Badham that it looked good.

Frank Langella was a PERFECT choice for this role.....just that gaze he has in this film how could you not fall under his spell....❤❤❤

I remembered seeing Minas transformation for the first time and it freaked the shit out of me. Had good bumps thinking about it.

Best ever Dracula was in the 1985's Fright Night.

Wow, I didn't know Langella was such a dish in his day!

Another great video. I have always had a soft spot for this film and it just gets better and better with each viewing. Seeing it with it's original color timing is such a treat.

One of my favorite interpretations of Dracula ❤️

I remember seeing billboards along the highway for this during the summer of 79. I didn't see it until it came on tv as a Sunday night movie on NBC.

I watch this and think since Adam Driver resembles Frank Langella, I wonder how Adam Driver would play as Dracula. I think he would be an excellent Dracula.

The late Donald Pleseance at a great actor for sure.

I had saw Dracula back in 1979 with my parents on Times Square UA theater in NYC, I do belive it was released the same time as Time After Time, which was also a great film. Before the movie came out I remember my dads Taxi Cab which he would rent had an Ad for Dracula on Broadway Featuring Frank Langella, and Later the ads were changed to Draula with Raul Julia. The scene that scared me was Mina coming back rotted with those red eyes glowing, or Redfield getting his head twisted. This was one of my earliest memories of watching movies at the theater.

This is one of my Halloween staples. I have loved this movie since I caught it late night on fix back in the nineties during a long forgotten weekend. I am glad it made it to your retrospectives to spread awareness of it. To me the movie feels surreal and unsettling and I've always liked that about it.

A great retrospective and appreciate you finding these movie gems Big fan

One of my favourite Dracula’s so much charm

Great film by John Badham who is underrated as a filmmaker. He has got range who can direct action, drama and comedy. Frank Langela is a legend.

The “Nosferatu,” remake by Werner Herzog, was released in the same year, both English and German.

Haha this one of the few retrospectives, which, just after the bit about the soundtrack, we don't hear Oliver say " The game was released in... and on..." for obvious reasons!

This is (to me) one of the most unremarkable film adaptaions out there. It does not even come close to the dramatic genius of the John Williams score!

I kind of like the laser effects here. If I ever had an idea for a film I would love to incorporated those colours and lasers effects.

Fantastic, Oliver. Just when I think of a movie you should review, you do it.

Mina scared the absolutel crap out of me and still does. Hard to believe that this terrifying creature was played by the lovely jan Francis

One of my favourite Langella roles was in Cut Throat Island as he's so brutal and evil and quite frightening.

Oliver Harper is the Van Helsing of the RU-vid community.

In fact, there is no love story in the book. Dracula forces himself on Mina as an act of revenge, and she's never for a moment in love with him. She plays a key role in hunting him down. That said, I enjoy this movie for what it is and Frank Langella is one of my favorite Draculas. He has such a majestic presence. I specially love his death scene. And I prefer the version in full color.

In the early 1980s and the 2000s, Peter MacGregor-Scott was one of the few people at Universal since October 1977, who chose filmmaker John Badham for an more refreshing change on the project. When Peter gives some advice for today's filmmakers, he says "there always be many challenges on any production, but as long as you have these solutions, the problems won't even exist." Sadly he's gone. Peter MacGregor-Scott will always remembered but never forgotten. What an great man he really was. He's simply the best! RIP, Peter.

Robin Wood -- a seminal critic (the author of the first English-language critical study of Hitchcock) -- praised this film.

I caught the trailer for this film when I went to see the film Love at First Bite, and what caught my attention was when the camera did a close up on his quivering eyes. I knew I had to see it. Then I watched Love at First Bite. All desire to see Dracula as a horror monster left after George Hamilton's take in that film. Playing Dracula as a lonely and love-hungry man was just what the Count needed. The film was funny as well, and as with most Mel Brooks' films sure you can clip out scenes--like the one where the communist commission shows up at Dracula's castle to tell him that the castle was going to be converted into a training camp for Olympic Gymnasts and that he has to pack up and leave--but there are just too many funny scenes to do that. So it would be the Dracula film I always return to--it is the perfect encapsulation of what life was like in the late 1970s. Years later I did get to see this version and I was utterly disappointed. Frank was good as Dracula--the eye thing especially--but the rest of the cast was weak and did not support his pitch perfect performance. So, I have always returned to Love at First Bite.

Ive been meaning to watch this again for ages. Its one of the best Dracula movies ever. I remember being about 9 and seeing this on TV. I dont think I slept all night. Had the covers up around my neck also just incase lol. Nice Retro Oliver.

One of my favorites, changed the perspective of the Count in pop culture.

The shipwreck in this film was an actual old boat that was towed by tug to Crinnis beach at Carlyon bay in Cornwall. It was left there after filming finished. As a kid my brother and I used to love playing on “Dracula’s ship”. It was there till the late 80s when it was destroyed by a big storm. Fun fact. The shipwreck can be seen in the music video for “is this love?” By Alison Moyet. Filmed whilst she was performing at the Cornwall coliseum, a venue situated at Carlyon bay right next to the beach.

Love this movie and Frank Langella was a very seductive and gorgeous Dracula. He had the best voice......

Fun fact: Anne Rice credits this movie, specifically Frank Langella, as creating the sexy and tragic vampire that inspired her to create her Vampire Chronicles books.

Count Dracula, the 1977 BBC version (that is perhaps most true to the Bram Stoker novel) also cast an actor - Louis Jordan to portray the charming, seductive side of Dracula and backed away from the horror of being a vampire. I think Christopher lee's repeated performances had had their effect on cinema. Supposedly from interviews with Langella and others women were swooning over his portrayal of the classic vampire. Its a hard balance to strike between the seduction and the horror.

I loved this movie when it came out, I was 14. I still love it now and recently picked up the Scream Factory Blu-ray.

Another one I saw when it came out and I was impressed. I heard a rumor that Universal executives originally instructed the director to give them a "PG" rated product but regretted the decision upon viewing the final result. The current change to an "R" rating was weak and makes me wonder if John Badham had a more intense vision in mind.

Langella and Nelligan make this my favourite Dracula, even if as a film it's riddled with annoying disappointments. I had no idea they had done a colour desaturated version, and I wouldn't want to watch it based on what I've seen here - for me, it was the lush Technicolor-look that made it so powerful. There's a story, possibly true, possibly apocryphal, about someone on the production side going to see Langella in the theatre and overhearing a conversation between two women, one of whom commented that she'd rather spend one night with Dracula dead than the rest of her life with her husband alive. This is supposed to be what convinced the listener that Langella was the only person who could play the role in the movie version.

There was massive interest in Dracula at the end of the 1970s - the BBC did an excellent drama in 1977. They were turbulent times in the real world and I wonder why that made us turn to vampires! :)

19:30 _The Fury_ is DEFINITELY the favorite Williams horror score of mine 🎼

If they were to try and remake Dracula today and really try, I don't know how they could make the character scary again. His story has been told so many times and vampires are so engraved into pop culture.

As someone who has only seen Langella as an old man in his movies, hearing "Langella's sex appeal" is surreal lol. Still, he looks good and the movie does too. Coppola's version will always be my N1 but watching other versions is cool too.

It was shown on tv here quite often when I was kid - I always likes this movie even though it’s not perfect. The cinematography is truly beautiful here and Frank plays very well👌🏻

A good movie & an interesting adaptation of the novel . Frank Langella was very good. Great cast, cinematography & set design. More creepy than scary, but still an enjoyable watch.

The eye condition Frank has is voluntary nystagmus, the actor Pruitt Taylor Vince suffers from the reverse condition, involutary nystagmus. Just thought I'd mention it, lol, only as I have voluntary nystagmus

A deserving film, 1979 was Dracula's last good year !

Ironic that the studio didn't want to the film to look cold and grey, considering how most blockbusters look these days.