I first saw this flick sometime in the mid-90s and it broke my mind into 4000 pieces. This 1962 film, by director John Frankenheimer, was so far ahead of it's time it's mindblowing (hence the aforementioned 'breaking my mind into 4000 pieces' observation). Based on a 1959 novel by Richard Condon and staring Laurence Harvey, Frank Sinatra, Janet Leigh, and, in the one of the creepiest roles every to have made the silver screen, Angela Lansbury (yup, Angela "The babe from 'Murder She Wrote'" Lansbury. Really)... In fact Lansbury's role landed her character the #21 spot ot the AFI's list of greatest screen villains.
It's really impossible to write anything about this flick without giving too much away - so let's just say if you like films about intrigue, conspiracies, drug trips, incest, violence, and women sexily clad in strategically placed oversized playing cards, then this is the movie for you.
Note that this cold war thriller was pulled from theatres shortly after its release as the unconventional storyline predated a significant event in US history. Allegedly all involved (Sinatra, the producers, the studio) were understandably uncomfortable by the coincidence and decided to lock this masterpiece away for over 20 years, re-emerging in 1988 as a theatrical re-release.
More importantly, the Manchurian Candidate is supposedly the first film to ever feature a karate fight scene. The good people in Hollywood, California had the sense to include a sample of the scene in the film's theatrical trailer... check it out. Also, in real life Lansbury was only three years older than on-screen son Harvey (she was what some might call a "handsome" woman).
This movie is amazing... the trailer below will give you even less information than I did... but, trust me, the unpredictability of it is part of the fun. Jonathan Demme made a decent remake in 2004 that's worth a rental.
The Manchurian Candidate Trailer:
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment