Manchurian Candidate

Pros: Angela Landsbury, great story, Sinatra and Harvey acceptable
Cons: other women in the cast used poorly and not enough

I had never seen the original version of The Manchurian Candidate until just prior to seeing the remake last year. The two movies are set in entirely different time periods, and although at times it seems like we’re headed down the ...

Pros: Sinatra, Harvey, Lansbury, Leigh, Photography, Direction
Cons: Dated and Bleak outlook

Dated view of the cold war era showing an army patrol in 1952 Korea, led by their traitorous local guide into an ambush, overpowered, and subjected to state-of-the-art brainwashing. The brainwashing, over a three-day period, involves North Koreans, ...

Pros: Brilliantly made political thriller and indictment of McCarthyism.
Cons: Well, there is that odd Janet Leigh monologue...

Forest fires in Appalachia are playing havoc with our locations so I had no filming today. As my schedule would now permit it, I was invited to serve as grand marshal of the Welch, West Virginia Veteran’s Day parade. I put on my best turban, large...

Pros: Chilling, Fascinating, Reflects the Feeling of the Times
Cons: non

I was a young woman during the period when The Manchurian Candidate was first released. It was a compelling movie even in my youth. Very seldom do we come across such a fascinating suspenseful thriller.

The Manchurian Candidate is one of...

Pros: Pointed political commentary
Cons: Am hazy about the Iselin/communist connection, The Janet Leigh character adds little

John Frankenheimer's "The Manchurian Candidate" is a fascinating Cold War thriller that I've been meaning to review for some time, but somehow keep getting stopped. No more. Made at a time the McCarthy Era was in recent memory and the Cold War was still ...

Pros: Plays with convention, strong satire, broad but effective performances
Cons: The darn thing tricked me on first viewing!, one shot during the ending

John Frankenheimer spent the entirety of the 1950s as a well-respected television director, helping define the conventions of a medium still in its nascent stages, before making the jump to the big screen as the 1960s opened. After a couple of Burt...

Pros: Frankenheimer's direction, Angela Lansbury and Laurence Harvey.
Cons: Frank Sinatra's semi-lame acting, action sequence.

1962 political and social thriller brilliantly directed by John Frankenheimer that remains to this day the perfect blend of psychological manipulation and a mystery that must be solved. Angela Lansbury’s performance of “ultimate evil” is a...

Pros: Great politicial criticism, Jessica Fletcher & Ol' Blue Eyes...
Cons: None

This review is the first in a series of movie criticisms, lead by the intellectual trifecta of mshawpyle, CurtisEdmonds and myself. Twice a month(heaven and schedule allowing) we will be tackling films that are significant to the American...

Pros: Direction, Angela Lansbury and Laurence Harvey.
Cons: Did we really need Janet Leigh, or a word she say?

I'm one of those people who generally doesn't get around to seeing a classic/oldie until something modern is related to it. Such as, T he Stepford Wives with it’s remake, “A Streetcar Named Desire” with Marlon Brando’s ...

Pros: Brilliant.
Cons: None.

In short, this movie, based on Richard Condon's best selling novel of the same title, is brilliant. Brilliant acting, direction, writing, and casting. It immediately became one of my all time favorite films. The plot is a kind of soft ...

Pros: Powerful acting; taut political suspense
Cons: It seems as though self-serving villains have used this movie as a template ever since

When the political thriller The Manchurian Candidate(1962) was first released, it probably seemed like science fiction to most viewers. Thirteen months later came the assassination of JFK, and suddenly the aliens were among us. Laurence Harvey ...

Pros: Superb and harrowing
Cons: A couple of stretches

Let me let you in on a secret only a few of you know: I'm a conservative.

Oh, wait. I guess most of you knew that already.

Housekeeping time. D'you remember the book Write-Offs involving Chris Conti – caconti here onsite...

Pros: A dark, funny, exciting political thriller with echoes resounding to this day.
Cons: Some people may not care for its message or bleak vision.

Some films have a kind of internal life. I recently discussed one such in a long meditation on Alfred Hitchcock's *VERTIGO (1958). Another such is THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE (1962), John Frankenheimer's first important film.

In the year...

Pros: Political intrigue, suspense, great acting.
Cons: Black and white.

Suggestions of incest, Presidential assassination, and brainwashed GI's -- all part of an unusual movie for a 1962 film.

The Manchurian Candidate is now ranked as one of AMI's top ten movies ever made, but it traveled a long road to...

Pros: Good acting and a story that will keep you thinking long after it's over
Cons: Slightly confusing in one scene, but the overall movie more than makes up for it

When the American Film Institute made their list of the 100 greatest movies of all time, I had to make a counter list. Instead of Citizen Kane at the top, I put The Manchurian Candidate. I've driven people nuts by trying to explain the complexities of...