In all of American cinema, there may never have been a film more fortuitously released than The Manchurian Candidate. Released in October of 1962, Candidate anticipated the JFK assassination by 13 months, and in the nearly 50 years since that event, no other film has managed to so marshal the anger, shock, and paranoia that it engendered in otherwise sober-minded individuals. There have been angrier films about political assassination (Z), as well as ones more intricate in their imaginings (JFK), but probably never before has a film put forward a conspiracy theory that matched the American people beat-for-beat in terms of the sheer scope, depth, and outright strangeness in the way that they perceived what must have been going on behind the curtains. It might be a bit of a stretch to say that Candidate has lost none of its power in the 49 years since its release, but in terms of its wit, and its relevance to a world where outlandish theories are published unsubstantiated as news, it’s far from lost to history.
In the years following the Korean war, brothers-in arms remember Raymond Shaw (Laurence Harvey) with a stunning singularity as “the kindest, bravest, warmest, most wonderful human being” that any of them had ever known-down to the wording. After a recommendation by commanding officer Bennett Marco (Frank Sinatra), Shaw was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for valiant actions committed in combat, and has gone on to a successful political career. But Marco, along with several other members of the platoon, have had recurring dreams about the war, in which Shaw, under hypnosis, shot two of their platoon members under the direction of communist overseers. When they are able to separately identify figures in communist governments in their dreams, the Army gives Marco approval to investigate. Meanwhile, Shaw seems to be able to assume something of a normal life, reconnecting with old flame Jocelyn (Leslie Parrish), the daughter of noted left-wing senator Thomas Jordan (John McGiver). But Shaw’s mother (Angela Lansbury) is married to Jordan’s political rival, John Yerkes Iselin (James Gregory), and Shaw himself becomes closer and closer to attaining a true position of power in American politics, and still under the sway of the forces that brainwashed him.
The mind of the conspiracy theorist is an interesting place, with the intricacies of fact and contradiction largely obscured by the shadows of big ideas and sweeping declarations that could bring a seemingly chaotic world into focus. It’s also an integral and important aspect of the American psyche, with unofficial narratives (frequently involving our own government) shaping the way history views events such as the 9/11 attacks and World War II. The Manchurian Candidate was released at a time when a sizeable and influential group (the John Birch society) operated under the assumption that the recent President Eisenhower was a communist, with nothing other than his building of interstate highways as evidence. One of its central figures, John Iselin, is an obvious stand-in for Joseph McCarthy, whose crusade against communists within our government was already over for a decade, but still emblematic of the atmosphere of the time. But the facet that makes Candidate the classic that it is is not the way that it fortuitously contextualizes such icons of that period of history, but the way that it suggests, against all odds and public statements, that these forces were somehow in cahoots, and reliant on one another for survival.
The identity of the final conspirators is pretty well-known at this point, but for those who have not seen it, they will not be revealed here. Let it be said, however, that it leads deep into the core of both democratic and communist governments. Long before any lazy editors set a barrage of newsreel footage to “All Along The Watchtower”, director John Frankenheimer recognized that the 60s would be remembered by its images, the fractious and divisive nature of which would be blunted with time. By combining the war, Presidential elections, and race (in one unforgettable gag) into one grand scheme beyond the prying eyes of voters, Candidate effectively mirrors the way that people were feeling at the time of its release: as if vast and nebulous but singularly determined forces were taking the sacred enfranchisement of the American people away from them. Add in the strange playing card motif, and it starts to give a pretty good impression of the odd but somehow compelling conclusions that people were coming to under the circumstances. The Manchurian Candidate may be hard to extricate from its time period (if anything, modern day conspirators might be put off of brainwashing because too many people had seen this movie) for viewers nowadays, but it does evoke as well as any film the feeling that the country that you have long fought for and saluted is getting away from you. It seems that, no matter who is president, there are always people who feel that way, and their ideas about what’s really happening off-camera make something like this almost reasonable.
Blu-ray Bonus Features
The Blu-ray contains a commentary by John Frankenheimer, several featurettes (Queen of Diamonds, A Little Solitaire, How To Get Shot), the original theatrical trailer, and an interview with John Frankenheimer, George Axelrod, and Frank Sinatra.
"The Manchurian Candidate" is on sale April 14, 2011 and is rated PG13. Thriller. Directed by John Frankenheimer. Written by George Axelrod. Starring Angela Lansbury, Frank Sinatra, Laurence Harvey, Janet Leigh, James Gregory.
