The Manchurian Candidate

Portions of this review originally appeared in INsite magazine, April, 2005.

The shadow cast by Richard Condon’s fantasy/satire, The Manchurian Candidate, and by John Frankenheimer’s subsequent film, has remained in place for nearly fifty years.  The movie’s 1962 release, its removal from theaters, and its disappearance from public view until 1988 have contributed to its cult following, and to the popularization of conspiracy theory in general.

            No Hollywood studio would touch The Manchurian Candidate when Frankenheimer first shopped the novel around.  It was misinterpreted as anti-communist, and Hollywood didn’t want to rock the boat at a time when President John F. Kennedy was about to begin talks with the Soviet Union.  Frank Sinatra was enamored with the book, however, and when he signed on to the project, it immediately became a hot commodity.  When Sinatra told his friend Kennedy about the picture, the president – an avid reader – smiled and asked, “Who’s going to play the mother?”  The possibility of a movie having an effect on foreign policy was quickly forgotten.

            Frankenheimer was already a veteran of film and television at the time.  As friend, fan, and fellow director William Friedkin has pointed out, Frankenheimer practically invented the way live television was shot, and did it better than anyone else.  His technical innovations and deep understanding of Condon’s novel would play an important role in the film’s style.  The movie’s satirical treatment of ideology would make it an indispensable piece of cinema history.

Sergeant Raymond Shaw (Laurence Harvey) returns to the United States from Korea, where he and his squad were brainwashed by communists.  Major Bennett Marco (Sinatra) and others in the squad have recurring nightmares of the brainwashing.  While war hero Shaw is used by his domineering mother (Angela Lansbury) to get Senator John Iselin (James Gregory) a vice-presidential nomination, Marco uncovers what’s really going on.  To say any more would ruin the ending.  You don’t want to find out that Norman’s really dressing up as his mother, do you?  Or that Vader is really Luke’s father?  Or that Pee-Wee gets his bike back?  Okay.

The movie features an assassination subplot, and was taken out of circulation for many years after Kennedy’s murder.  It was hardly forgotten, though.  The idea of a “Manchurian candidate,” someone who is brainwashed into becoming a killer, has become part of the American lexicon, used by conspiracy theorists from the think tank to the arm chair.  As such, it has doubtless inspired everything from Steve Jackson Games’ Illuminati material, to The X-Files, to Star Trek.  (The climax of Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country is a nod to the climax of this film.)  Since its resurfacing, it has become recognized as an American classic.

There’s more to it, of course: of all the movies in the American Film Institute’s Top 100, this one makes the best use of satire.  It’s a rare quality in any film, let alone a Hollywood production from the 1960’s.  This is that beautiful treat of a movie, the kind that requires repeat viewings.  Only after you see it three or four times do the knowing giggles come.

Whether you want to be a better cinephile or a better American, this movie is essential viewing.