Movie Review // The Manchurian Candidate (1962) with Frank Sinatra, Laurence Harvey & Janet Leigh

To quote from my dvd case summary: “Eerie, shocking, daring, thrilling, and mesmerizing… When a platoon of Korean War G.I.s is captured, they somehow end up at a ladies’ garden club party. Or do they? Major Bennett Marco (Frank Sinatra) can’t remember. As he searches for the answer, he discovers threads of a diabolical plot…” 

I’ve been curious about this one for a long, long time. 

And Janet Leigh was one of my favorite actresses growing up, so naturally that made me more interested. She does do a great job in here, but it’s not my favorite of her roles.

 

Angela Lansbury as Mrs. Shaw-Iselin

That said, I was absolutely swept into the story. The entire thing is vivid and the acting, directing, filming etc. are superb. To say it makes you think is an understatement. Of course, there’s the political backdrop, but the human drama is all woven so seamlessly in that one doesn’t exist without the other. 

I do have to admit I spent pretty much the whole movie deeply irritated with the Raymond Shaw character. But then you’re kind of supposed to be (irritated, I mean -- most all the other characters are irritated with him too) and I get what he’s all about etc, etc. And Laurence Harvey does do a stellar job with all the complexities of the part. He’s supposed to be a pill. 

It’s interesting because Shaw does seem to be kind of the strong silent type (i.e. including the gaping, emotional hole inside that he’s constantly trying to push down/deny its very existence, which is oft-times built into that stereotype), but to me he also seemed… weak. Not in the way his character’s drawn, that’s all excellently done, but the character itself is weak -- brittle.  

And of course he had horrible things done to him, which would break anyone (I’m trying really hard here not to give spoilers in the interest of fair play), but even before any of that happened and before he entered the army entirely, there was a disconnect. He didn’t have the grit of Marco. 

I really enjoyed seeing Frank Sinatra in a serious, mature (himself also more than a little mentally tortured) Everyman heroic role. He does an excellent, excellent job. Thinking about his and Shaw’s characters, I think you can see a contrast (well, lots of contrasts), but I was thinking specifically about two ways of being broken. From one kind of brokenness there is a rising again, from the other, despair. Both can hope for healing and wholeness, and there is no way back for either -- you can only go forward -- but with some burned bridges the entire road behind it is given over to destruction. 

As far as the technicalities of the enemy’s tactics (trying not to drop spoilers again), I have no idea as to the accuracy. I’m quite willing to believe they could absolutely do what they did (I’ve long loved John Buchan’s Greenmantle, which touches on similar matter, earlier in the century), it just seems like professionals would have to be involved more in trying to undo it, but there’s the whole aspect of commanding officer and subordinate too, and plot wise it would make for a more rambling, less intense ending. 

I read the summary years ago, so the grand aha moment where all is revealed didn’t have quite as much punch as it definitely would have if I hadn’t (so if you know you’ll want to see it and really don’t already know anything about the plot, don’t look it up ;)), but when it came to the climax itself I was still on the edge of my seat. 

As for content: I’m not sure if Marco and Rosie were living together part way through, but nothing explicit is shown (they just seem to be comfortable in the same apartment together in a few brief scenes and I prefer to imagine nothing has happened). Girls in the equivalent of bikinis are shown in a couple scenes. And there’s mind control, killings, assassinations, murders, and suicide. So definitely for mature audiences/parents discretion.

Also described as ‘pounding, suspenseful, and thrilling’ I’d say it definitely lived up to its reputation. It’s too rendingly sad to watch terribly often, but in the end, I’m glad I saw it. (But then, y’all know I also count Heart of Darkness and Crime & Punishment among my favorite books, so saying I like it doesn’t mean it doesn’t have some dark and heavy content.) 

In finale I’ll say the characters and story are gripping, and it’s most certainly and deservedly a classic.

Reviewed for Knwiniarski’s Frank Sinatra blogathon.