THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE
A film review by Regis M. Donovan
Copyright 1997 Regis M. Donovan
Director: John Frankenheimer Producer: George Axelrod Exec Producer: Howard W. Koch
We are introduced to the members of a Korean War US Army unit, including the remarkably unpopular Sgt. Raymond Shaw (Laurence Harvey). Then, Shaw's patrol is ambushed in Korean territory, loaded onto what appear to be Soviet helicopters, and flown off into the darkness. Coming back after 3 days missing in action, Shaw is hailed as a hero for saving his patrol; he receives the Medal of Honor. When he returns to the US, he is met by a celebration organized by his manipulative machavellian mother as a publicity stunt for her husband, the buffoon-like McCarthy-caricature Senator John Iselin.
This is the beginning of "The Manchurian Candidate", a political thriller that doubles, in places, as a political satire. Directed by John Frankenheimer and starring Harvey, Frank Sinatra, Angela Lansbury, and James Gregory.
After they return to the US, members of the patrol, including the commander, Ben Marco (Sinatra), begin to have similar dreams: the entire unit sits in what shifts between a women's horticulture lesson to uniformed Soviet and Chinese officers and civilians discussing brainwashing. Marco eventually begins to suspect that these are repressed memories, not dreams.
Marco -- when not falling in love, marrying, or having bizarre conversations with Janet Leigh -- gradually remembers more of the brainwashing as he investigates the mystery and discovers that Shaw has been trained as a killer: triggered by his operators, never remembering what he has done, unable to stop himself from carrying out the orders he's been given.
The film wallows in paranoia, with Shaw being manipulated from all sides, Iselin Red-baiting with drunken bombastic McCarthy-style rants at his wife's instruction while she schemes, Shaw working to unravel the mystery... all while the plot builds to a crescendo of intrigue.
Harvey gives an admirable performance as Shaw, manipulated from all sides; Sinatra is good as Marco. And Angela Lansbury is outstanding as the smothering, scheming puppet-master mother, pulling strings in everyone around her -- a role that garnered her a Best Supporting Actress nomination.
Released during the heyday of the Cold War (the same year as the Cuban Missile Crisis, in fact) and unavailable for the next 25 years, the film is a bit dated; in spite of this, the film is still a solid, entertaining experience.
Rating: 8 out of 10 Queens of Diamonds
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