Rent The Manchurian Candidate (1962)

A superb cat-and-mouse psychological thriller - The Manchurian Candidate review by SG

Released in 1962, this political thriller really gets under your skin. One year on from this film's opening, JFK died and its leading actor, Frank Sinatra, bought the rights to this picture and took it out of circulation - you will see why when you watch the ending. This movie was then not released until nearly 30 years later - only then was it shown in all its black and white glory. Laurence Harvey is excellent as the disturbed Korean war hero who can't understand why everyone loves him as he knows deep down they hate him. Soon enough, his whole platoon start having flashback nightmares from their tour of duty and it's up to Frank Sinatra's character to work out why. Throw into the mix a scheming conniving mother (Angela Lansbury) who wants unadulterated political power and you have yourself a conspiracy theory. Even Janet Leigh, fresh from Psycho two years earlier, is excellent as the girlfriend of ol' blue eyes.

This is an outstanding film. Just don't even think about playing Solitaire…

Fantastic Psychological Thriller - The Manchurian Candidate review by GI

This is one of the great psychological thrillers of the 1960s and it's often overshadowed by the 2004 remake, which pales in comparison to this tense, taut and wonderfully acted film from director John Frankenheimer. Frank Sinatra is Major Ben Marko, a US Army officer who returns home with his platoon at the end of the Korean War. On Marko's recommendation one of his men, Sergeant Raymond Shaw (Laurence Harvey) has been awarded the Medal of Honour for saving the platoon during an attack. But Marko begins having recurring nightmares that Shaw murdered two of the platoon in front of an audience of enemy officers. Shaw, the son of a famous politically ambitious and domineering mother (a brilliant Angela Lansbury), is now a respected journalist but he soon begins to exhibit strange behaviour. The plot twists and turns and there are some surprisingly violent incidents as the truth behind what happened in Korea and the effects on the men is revealed. Frankenheimer delivers a compelling story, a complex narrative that deals with issues of McCarthyism, political corruption and the traumas of war. It's easy to forget that there are great films like this out there waiting to be rediscovered. This is a classic and well worth seeking out if you've never seen it.

WOMEN 'R' US - The Manchurian Candidate review by Frank Talker™

Brilliant psychological conspiracy-thriller about a combined Sino-Soviet attempt to get a hardcore communist elected as the President of the USA, carefully disguised as a virulent anti-communist.

The performances are all superb, the direction taut & the writing focused - there is a genuine determination here to make the somewhat absurd premiss literally-plausible rather than just metaphorically-believable. It works.

Of particular note are the three distinctively-different female characters whom represent either destroyers of men or their saviours. Angela LANSBURY is terrifying as Laurence HARVEY's domineering mother; Janet LEIGH is delightfully-slutty as the woman whom quickly discards her fiancé after meeting a man on a train whom looks a lot like Frank SINATRA; &, Leslie PARRISH is brilliantly funny as the delightful ingénue whom Laurence HARVEY marries.

An excellent companion-piece to The Candidate (1972), wherein Western democracies tend to elect leaders whom do not truly represent voter aspirations.