The Manchurian Candidate (1962)

A former Korean War POW is brainwashed by Communists into becoming a political assassin. But another former prisoner may know how to save him.

Director:

John Frankenheimer

Writers:

Richard Condon (based on a novel by), George Axelrod (screenplay),

Stars:

Frank Sinatra, Laurence Harvey, Janet Leigh

Top 250 #202 | Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 6 wins & 4 nominations.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Frank Sinatra	...	Major Bennett Marco
Laurence Harvey	...	Raymond Shaw
Janet Leigh	...	Eugenie Rose Chaney
Angela Lansbury	...	Mrs. Eleanor Shaw Iselin
Henry Silva	...	Chunjin
James Gregory	...	Senator John Yerkes Iselin
Leslie Parrish	...	Jocelyn Jordan
John McGiver	...	Senator Thomas Jordan
Khigh Dhiegh	...	Dr. Yen Lo
James Edwards	...	Corporal Allen Melvin
Douglas Henderson	...	Colonel Milt
Albert Paulsen	...	Zilkov
Barry Kelley	...	Secretary of Defense
Lloyd Corrigan	...	Holborn Gaines
Madame Spivy	...	Female Berezovo

Storyline

Major Ben Marco is an intelligence officer in the U.S. Army. He served valiantly as a captain in the Korean war and his Sergeant, Raymond Shaw, even won the Medal of Honor. Marco has a major problem however: he has a recurring nightmare, one where two members of his squad are killed by Shaw. He's put on indefinite sick leave and visits Shaw in New York. Shaw for his part has established himself well, despite the misgivings of his domineering mother, Mrs. Eleanor Shaw Iselin. She is a red-baiter, accusing anyone who disagrees with her right-wing reactionary views of being a Communist. Raymond hates her, not only for how she's treated him but equally because of his step-father, the ineffectual U.S. Senator John Iselin, who is intent on seeking higher office. When Marco learns that others in his Korean War unit have nightmares similar to his own, he realizes that something happened to all of them in Korea and that Raymond Shaw is the focal point.

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Plot Keywords:

nightmare | korean war | army | korea | medal of honor | 

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Taglines:

If you come in five minutes after this picture begins, you won't know what it's all about! When you've seen it all, you'll swear there's never been anything like it!

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Genres:

Drama | Mystery | Romance | Sci-Fi | Thriller | War

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Official Sites:

MGM

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

24 October 1962 (USA)

Also Known As:

Botschafter der Angst

Filming Locations:

67 Riverside Drive, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$2,200,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

M.C. Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

126 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System) Dolby SR Dolby Digital

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

George Axelrod copied the lecture about hydrangeas verbatim from a seed catalogue.

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Goofs

In Shaw's flashback of the summer with Josie Jordan, he is seen eating a meal with Josie and Senator Jordan. Halfway through the shot, it is simply reversed. You then see Shaw removing a piece of meat from his mouth with a fork and attaching it back to the meat on his plate with a knife.

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Quotes

Raymond Shaw: [after Shooting the Iselins, he turns to a surprised Marco] You couldn't stop them, the army couldn't stop them, so I had to.
Marco: [He stares at him in confusion]
Raymond Shaw: Oh Damn it Ben!
Raymond Shaw: [Shoots himself with the rifle]

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Connections

Spoofed in Death to Smoochy (2002)

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Soundtracks

"The Washington Post"
(1889) (uncredited)
Music by John Philip Sousa
Played by a band in the first scene after the opening credits

User Reviews

All by itself it raises my opinion of everyone involved.

Wow! I was expecting right wing propaganda, or possibly even (a distant outside chance) left wing propaganda: I certainly wasn't expecting THIS. It isn't propaganda at all. Deriving any kind of message at all from the film is difficult - one might be tempted to conclude that we ought to never trust people who cry cheap political insults like "communist!" or "fascist!" or "racist!" at the first opportunity, but that's just a thought. At any rate, in order to get a message we have to think about the story for ourselves, very carefully, which makes it the very opposite of propaganda.

Here's another bit of advice: don't make the mistake, as I did, of thinking now and then that Frankenheimer is drifting from the point. He knows exactly what he's doing at all times. Whenever it seems he's offering some interesting diversion from the main story he's really telling the main story by other means. How good the story is I cannot convey without saying too much. Probably the central conceit everyone knows already, which was why Frankenheimer was right to spill most of the beans as soon as possible - but he does has one or two in reserve. One great thing about the story is that it doesn't rely at all on us thinking it likely.

Everyone, from composer to cameraman, did a fine job, and the cast does an even finer one. Angela Lansbury gives the performance of her life. Frank Sinatra I had never seen in a movie before, and I was surprised to discover that he can act - very well, too. It permeates down to the minor roles. Leslie Parrish as the charming innocent is certainly charming, but also subtle. "The Manchurian Candidate" would easily be the best of its kind even if it weren't the only of its kind.