The Manchurian Candidate (1962)

Raymond Shaw (Lawrence Harvey) is not well-liked in his Army company fighting in the Korean War. While other guys try to relax with drinks and dames, Shaw is a straight arrow wet blanket. Even his commander Ben (Frank Sinatra) is not crazy about him. Yet, one night, the unit's interpreter leads the men to be captured by a Chinese-Russian operative who whisk everyone away to Manchuria. In short order, the men are brainwashed and then let go. Now, every man down to the last, says Raymond is a hero who lead the group out of danger. Back in America, Raymond is given the Medal of Honor which pleases his ultra-ambitious mother Evelyn (Angela Lansbury) to no end. She is the energy behind her McCarthy like husband Senator John Iselin and she is looking to put him on the upcoming ticket as the Vice Presidential Candidate. Raymond himself detests his mother and stepfather and finds work as an aid to a liberal publisher. Meanwhile, Ben has continuing nightmares which sometimes show Raymond as a killer. He suspects the hero's story is a fraud. But, what really happened in Manchuria? What does the Queen of Diamonds have to do with anything? Is Evelyn even more manipulative than she appears now? Is the USA in grave danger? This film made long ago from a 1959 book by Richard Condon, is still riveting, intelligent fare of the highest degree. What if Russia, China or whoever brainwashed a pawn to take out enemies and thus leave traitors as the step-in leaders of the Free World? Yes, it could happen with terrible consequences unless heroes and heroines emerge to stop it. Looking at the US President elected in 2016, where Russia is suspected of influencing the vote in his favor, and we have the Republic shaken to its core. In this movie, events are scary beyond belief and the suspense is palpable. A simple trigger induces a man to commit crimes he wouldn't do in real life and he's not aware he is even doing so. Take heed, folks! Harvey, Sinatra and the supporting cast is great but one actress rises above all. Lansbury's Evelyn is one of the most evil, manipulative, repulsive women in the halls of moviedom. Sets, costumes, and a strong direction also contribute to the fabulous final product. Want to see a film which seems ripped from headlines of any decade in its depiction of spies, superspies, and regime changers? TMC is colossally smart and fearsome.

***spoilers are almost inevitable, but i'll do my best to keep them at a minimum*** While Liev Schrieber is one of my favorite actors (consider Ray Donovan, for example), the task of remaking The Manchurian Candidate, a novella from Richard Condon about the paranoia that held a vicious grip on the U.S. during the McCarthy UnAmerican Activities Committee probes, it is best left respected, in honor of the work of the original brave actors who risked their careers in a movie that was actually banned, in parts of the world, for almost 20 years, that no remake should be attempted.The Schrieber/Close remake can only be considered as a well acted reminiscence of the original, but, the fact remains, there is no substitute for the original and absolutely no need for a remake.If anyone doubts that Frank Sinatra was an excellent actor, then make this your first stop. Then, after this, check out any other movie with his name in the cast and ask yourself how it is that you never noticed that before. Ol' Blue Eyes wasn't just a jazz singer or a crooner. He was a performer.That's part of the problem with the remake. The tension that exists and is eventually exposed between the hypnotized victims of capture has a real effect on all of the participants in the investigation of their experience. In the remake, everything is invested in the sordid relationship between the candidate and his mother. In the original, the actual horror at the center of events is that the favored amongst the returned captives--well...watch the movie. To say any more about the plot would to give it all away.Trust me, the original is the best. Laurence Harvey was a very spooky private character to begin with, but a box-office popular personality at that time. Given his thespian success and that of both Frank Sinatra and Janet Leigh, they must, all three have been shocked at the ban on the movie, that lasted for a decade (Harvey was already dead before the ban was lifted), which, again, speaks against attempting a remake, given that the ban is, itself, a distinct qualification that can not be carried out of one age of perception to another.I have a particular affection for the original version because the author of the story, Richard Condon, a U.S American living in Ireland, had the option as an Irish resident artist to take advantage of Ireland's income tax exemption for artists--an artist's bonus that Bono and the rest of U2 heartily used to their advantage--but Condon chose to declare his income to the U.S. Treasury, in order to keep his citizenship intact. It must have hurt him that the country to which he showed such respectful loyalty would give in to the same paranoia that he tried to expose and lay bare, so that it could be challenged and resisted.In fact, it is a shame that Condon's work is not on the required list of American author's, instead of boring Paul Auster, who, while he writes well, has never written anywhere near close to this, and whose stories all tend to drift away into nothingness, as if he is afraid to say something wrong.It takes a lot of time and strength to write even a half decent book, and it is not my intent to put Paul Auster down. I just wish that Richard Condon's work was on the same list as Auster. Gun control would, at least, be reconsidered, maybe even prior to the assassination of JFK, MLK, and RFK--but also Malcolm X. None of them should have died and just a little bit more security could have kept them all alive.We have been made to become cynical since then, and that is the problem with the remake. When Christopher Lee heard about the remake of The Wicker Man, he said, Why? A sequel might make sense, but why remake a success? Same thing with The Manchurian Candidate. If you haven't yet seen either, go with the original. It even has the author's blessing, and he paid his taxes promptly.

One of the big surprises about "The Manchurian Candidate" is Angela Lansbury in a villainous role. Between "Murder, She Wrote" and her work for Disney, you can't help but entertain a kindly image of the actor.The other surprise is how potent this still is, even at the 55 year mark. Maybe that's because I lobe '70s movies of the genre, but even still, this is a highly effective political thriller. And that's due in large part to Frankenheimer's skilled direction and a script full of inventive deceit. It even has plenty of time to skewer McCarthyism. Almost everything seen here has been done since, but you're still left unprepared for that one last plot twist. Well-executed, to say the least.The cast is star-studded, the story's engrossing and there's almost a playful sense of humor to it.Great movie.8/10

Based on Richard Condon's 1959 book of the same name, John Frankenheimer's adaptation of The Manchurian Candidate is considered to be one of America's greatest political thrillers. Now, normally, politics, and being thrilled are two very different concepts, but Condon's book, written a few short years after Senator Joseph McCarthy's accusations of Communist infiltration of the Federal Government helped fan anti-Communist suspicions and paranoia in the US, hit a nerve. To make the story thrilling, Condon and film director Frankenheimer created a narrative that was part murder mystery, part science fiction, and all political allegory. TMC is something of a historical fiction, and a bizarre and surreal mystery. You'll find yourself wondering "what the heck is going on," but you won't be able to give up on it. You'll want to know why Marco keeps having his dreams of the Ladies' Garden Club, why Raymond hates Johnny so much, and what the deal is with "passing the time playing a little solitaire."When the movie was released in 1962, eagerly awaited by the readers of Condon's novel, including President John F. Kennedy, viewers were stunned by what was then considered brutal violence, and they were shocked by that kiss, the nauseating implications of that kiss. The Manchurian Candidate has its flaws, but they are nitpicky at best. The black psychiatrist seems out of place for the mid-1950s and the lax security at the convention come to mind, but the audience may only pick up on those upon repeated viewings. The best part of TMC is its implied message of not letting vigilance morph into paranoia. News flash: Joe McCarthy was an evil man, but even an evil man can be right once in awhile. McCarthy's tactics were so anti-American that the actual need for vigilance against Communist infiltration of government, education, and popular culture was badly damaged. Without realizing it, McCarthy's repulsive antics actually helped the Communist effort to destabilize the United States. Ol' Joe was right--there were Communists burrowing into the fabric of American governance--but using "McCarthyism" to reveal the infiltration was counter- productive.By now, the average viewer of a "political thriller" might be looking for the remote to find an old NCIS on the tube, but Frankenheimer keeps ratcheting up the pressure on the audience. He keeps putting clues, like doggie treats, in our food bowl. And we can't turn away. The performances are almost flawless. Frank Sinatra is a totally sympathetic Bennett Marco, Lawrence Harvey is superb as the emotionally whipsawed Raymond Shaw, Angela Lansbury oozes a distilled and aged evil, and Khigh Dhiegh--who would go on to be the evil Chinese agent, "Wo Fat" in Hawaii Five-0-- is a delightfully dangerous Dr. Yen Lo, who cooks up the plan to turn Raymond into the perfect killer, the one who "isn't burdened by guilt or fear."The only fly in the ointment is Janet Leigh, whose character's intentions are a mystery, but who, as an actress, doesn't seem believable, or for that matter, terribly interesting. Leigh's "Rosie" is an important part of the story, but she phones in her performance.And if that's all I have for complaints, then I should thank my lucky stars, shut up, and . . . Play a little solitaire.