The grand-daddy of all political thrillers right here, maybe even thrillers full stop. A great film, for me, should contain with it some sequence or scene which recurs in your memory maybe years after you last saw it, but when you think about the film at all, just comes immediately to mind. I'm referring of course to the brainwashing scene which sets up the whole premise of the movie. The film also has an almost literally heart-stopping climax and just for good measure the in-between content is gripping, involving and also has shockingly unexpected developments too. The fact that it proved tragically prescient of the JFK assassination the next year only adds a topical edge to proceedings when what seemed at the time fantastical and possibly far-fetched on the screen manifested itself into grim reality a year or so later on the streets of Dallas.Said brainwashing scene, where we see exactly to what extent the Communist enemy have control over Lawrence Harvey's character, is brilliantly written, edited and filmed, the deaths of the two unsuspecting troop members, as devastating to watch as they are seemingly casual to commit. Even more transfixing later on is Raymond's double-slaying of his new father-in-law, where a spilling milk carton stands in for the bloodletting of Thomas Jordan and immediately afterwards the unthinking slaughter of the latter's daughter Traci, his own wife, as he stands over the prostrate father, caught in the horrific act of delivering the kill shot to the head.Yes, coincidence plays a big part in proceedings, like Raymond's love for the daughter of his detested mother's political nemesis Jordan or Traci's wearing of the trigger-point queen of hearts dress to a fancy dress ball but these are easily excused especially with the back story echoing the rise of the McCarthy communist witch-hunt. Incredible to think that such a vulgar, loud-mouthed buffoon as Johnny Iresden could get so close to the White House, or is it...?Of course it helps that the acting is so consistently good by all the cast members. Sinatra as the main starring name holds the film together with a commanding performance and Harvey is brilliant as the distant but disturbed Raymond and of course, Angela Lansbury is unforgettably cast against type as the devious and devilish would-be power behind the throne as Raymond's mother and Johnny's wife. However even the casting of lesser characters is spot-on as are their performances all of which helps keep the film grounded and credible as it progresses. This particular film is one of my dad's favourites and he's rarely wrong is my old dad. It's one of mine too and a film that repays repeat viewings. I don't rule out watching it again sometime in the future so good is it.

***spoilers are almost inevitable, but i'll do my best to keep them at a minimum*** While Liev Schrieber is one of my favorite actors (consider Ray Donovan, for example), the task of remaking The Manchurian Candidate, a novella from Richard Condon about the paranoia that held a vicious grip on the U.S. during the McCarthy UnAmerican Activities Committee probes, it is best left respected, in honor of the work of the original brave actors who risked their careers in a movie that was actually banned, in parts of the world, for almost 20 years, that no remake should be attempted.The Schrieber/Close remake can only be considered as a well acted reminiscence of the original, but, the fact remains, there is no substitute for the original and absolutely no need for a remake.If anyone doubts that Frank Sinatra was an excellent actor, then make this your first stop. Then, after this, check out any other movie with his name in the cast and ask yourself how it is that you never noticed that before. Ol' Blue Eyes wasn't just a jazz singer or a crooner. He was a performer.That's part of the problem with the remake. The tension that exists and is eventually exposed between the hypnotized victims of capture has a real effect on all of the participants in the investigation of their experience. In the remake, everything is invested in the sordid relationship between the candidate and his mother. In the original, the actual horror at the center of events is that the favored amongst the returned captives--well...watch the movie. To say any more about the plot would to give it all away.Trust me, the original is the best. Laurence Harvey was a very spooky private character to begin with, but a box-office popular personality at that time. Given his thespian success and that of both Frank Sinatra and Janet Leigh, they must, all three have been shocked at the ban on the movie, that lasted for a decade (Harvey was already dead before the ban was lifted), which, again, speaks against attempting a remake, given that the ban is, itself, a distinct qualification that can not be carried out of one age of perception to another.I have a particular affection for the original version because the author of the story, Richard Condon, a U.S American living in Ireland, had the option as an Irish resident artist to take advantage of Ireland's income tax exemption for artists--an artist's bonus that Bono and the rest of U2 heartily used to their advantage--but Condon chose to declare his income to the U.S. Treasury, in order to keep his citizenship intact. It must have hurt him that the country to which he showed such respectful loyalty would give in to the same paranoia that he tried to expose and lay bare, so that it could be challenged and resisted.In fact, it is a shame that Condon's work is not on the required list of American author's, instead of boring Paul Auster, who, while he writes well, has never written anywhere near close to this, and whose stories all tend to drift away into nothingness, as if he is afraid to say something wrong.It takes a lot of time and strength to write even a half decent book, and it is not my intent to put Paul Auster down. I just wish that Richard Condon's work was on the same list as Auster. Gun control would, at least, be reconsidered, maybe even prior to the assassination of JFK, MLK, and RFK--but also Malcolm X. None of them should have died and just a little bit more security could have kept them all alive.We have been made to become cynical since then, and that is the problem with the remake. When Christopher Lee heard about the remake of The Wicker Man, he said, Why? A sequel might make sense, but why remake a success? Same thing with The Manchurian Candidate. If you haven't yet seen either, go with the original. It even has the author's blessing, and he paid his taxes promptly.

One of the big surprises about "The Manchurian Candidate" is Angela Lansbury in a villainous role. Between "Murder, She Wrote" and her work for Disney, you can't help but entertain a kindly image of the actor.The other surprise is how potent this still is, even at the 55 year mark. Maybe that's because I lobe '70s movies of the genre, but even still, this is a highly effective political thriller. And that's due in large part to Frankenheimer's skilled direction and a script full of inventive deceit. It even has plenty of time to skewer McCarthyism. Almost everything seen here has been done since, but you're still left unprepared for that one last plot twist. Well-executed, to say the least.The cast is star-studded, the story's engrossing and there's almost a playful sense of humor to it.Great movie.8/10

A film with a plot like "The Manchurian Candidate" has would more often than not come across as silly, but, somehow, John Frankenheimer manages to craft this bizarre little story into one of the finest and most surprisingly modern films of the 1960's.The silly story is structured ingeniously, forcing the audience to, at first, piece together various parts of the cinematic puzzle, before pulling us in to a world of evil and mayhem that lies beneath the political surface. Frankenheimer's lens captures the many oddities hidden within this story, using bizarrely comic and horrific dream sequences and effective use of wide angled lens shots to their finest advantages.Mixing tragedy, intensity, and wit may sound like a challenge, but for films like "The Manchurian Candidate", it comes naturally and infects the screen in a magical and engaging way.