![]() ![]() What it's all about! When you've seen it all, you'll swear there's neverīeen anything like it!-although very pretentious, is undeniably true. The tagline for the picture- If you come in five minutes after this picture begins, you won't know "The Manchurian Candidate" is by far the oddest and most cerebral picture to come to theaters in mainstream fashion in the early 60s. Marco's nights get worse and Raymond's day become hazy. But as much as Iselin is an odd figure, who lets the world know that Communism is alive and well even within the American government (his accusations are what actually bring him into contact with Marco) it's Iselin's wife and Raymond's mother, Eleanor (Angela Lansbury) who seems to be pulling all the campaigning strings. Raymond despises his stepfather and doesn't spare himself the opportunity to unleash terribly horrid sentiments at the man at every opportunity. ![]() After all, it's almost nearing the time of elections. The senator is trying to capitalize on Raymond's military heroism to earn him more votes. She brings banners and paparazzi to takes pictures of Raymond with his stepfather Senator John Iselin (James Gregory). Returning home a hero with the Medal of Honor draped around his neck, Shaw is attacked by the press but his mother's presence doesn't help the madness. Raymond Shaw is not a pleasant man to get along with but his mother and step-father (his biological father makes no appearance in the film, so we are to presume that he ran away or is dead) are even less pleasant than he. The fading narrator was intentional, this much is my opinion. While I usually have complaints for people who don't use a narrator the entire way through a film, in "The Manchurian Candidate" you can't help but think that everything has a purpose. A narrator tells us some of the facts concerning the Medal of Honor with a voice that copies the noir paranoia perfects, and then the voice mysteriously disappears, fading out of the film. These dreams involve Raymond Shaw (Laurence Harvey with cheek bones and chin that look as sharp as a knife) a man recently decorated with the Medal of Honor. He is not alone in his dreams, another soldier is having the same dreams.the exact same. Major Bennet Marco (Frank Sinatra) is having nightmares. Later on, everything is explained but for much of the first half of the movie, the viewer is two steps behind. ![]() They seem to have been kidnapped, though the lack of dialogue makes it subjective for the viewer for the time being. It is also a masterpiece, a visionary tour de force that balances that hilarious oddity of its source material with a deadly precession and ruthless determination.ĭuring the Korean War, men are taken prisoner before the main titles run up. A hopelessly irreverent movie that preyed on the fears of a nation during a time of distress. "The Manchurian Candidate" is a nasty picture. ![]()
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