The Manchurian Candidate (1962)

This film is one of the most powerful, screw-with-your-mind movies ever. Yes, it’s dated and the dialogue is extremely painful at times, but it is nevertheless one of the best films ever made.

Upon his return from Korea, Raymond Shaw (Laurence Harvey) is hailed as a hero and there is a television crew to greet him. His mother (Angela Lansbury) is thrilled but her pushy personality is almost immediately shown, with her shoving others out of the way so she can get to her son.

In the meantime, Bennett Marco (Frank Sinatra) is having nightmares from a horrid incident during his time in Korea. In this nightmare, he dreams that Shaw killed two of his fellow army members and the two he killed were the only two not returned when the group went on patrol, but he can’t believe this. He also can’t believe that he said that Shaw was the nicest, kindest man ever when in reality he hated him.

This is only the beginning of the craziest film ever with more twists and turns than any other. Marco nearly suffers from a breakdown, only to get better upon the awkward meeting of Rosie Chaney (Janet Leigh). This Rosie is somewhat of an ambiguous character though she does truly seem to care about Marco, but some, including Roger Ebert suggest that she might be a mole, though I don’t really see enough evidence to support this because Rosie is a horribly underdeveloped character.

After initially arguing with his superiors, Marco is put in charge of discovering the truth behind the nightmares so he begins to follow Shaw around. The biggest clue is when Raymond starts playing a seemingly simple game of solitaire but after seeing a certain card, he hears what the bartender say something about Central Park, he wanders out of the bar and goes to Central Park. It is the weirdest thing. 

The film continues to build off this and Marco gets deeper and more involved as the film goes along and more people are hurt. Yet there are some good moments only to be ruined by the overprotective mother. She ruins Raymond's relationship with the rival senator's daughter, Jocie (Leslie Parrish). Mother is also cruel to her puppet husband, to whom she tells not to think, because that is not one of his great skills. 

There are parts that are truly heart-wrenching, making it a great movie to watch on Valentine's Day (which is when I watched it in class) but it is thrilling and the camera angles are wonderful. John Frankenheimer is a former television director and uses that to his advantage. There is one great angle that wraps around an entire room and another, during a press conference that includes live footage at the same time the film is being shot. Both are brilliant. 

In the end, Lansbury steals the film as one of the most evil characters are portrayed on screen, but she does it effortlessly. Also, she easily looks at least ten years older than her thirty-seven years and makes the mother so utterly believable. (Harvey is only three years younger than her.) I wish I could say more but to give anymore away would just be wrong, but you will be on the edge of your seat throughout. Grade: A