The Manchurian Candidate is one of those seminal films so
emblematic of its time and, given the nature of seemingly never-ending
conspiracy theories, of all times, really. Based on the Richard Condon book, the
1962 John Frankenheimer film plays into the popular anti-Communist hysteria of
the day. Of course, it’s subtly making fun of it or demonstrating its danger.
Broadly speaking, the film deals with then Cold War themes of Communism vs. American freedom.
But what I’ve seldom seen commented upon about this longtime cinematic favorite are some of the uncanny references to
real political figures and events. For one thing it deals with a political
assassination. The film was released on Oct. 24, 1962, smack in the middle
of the Cuban Missile Crisis between the US and Soviet Union, when the world teetered on nuclear war. Second, the film's release was almost exactly a year prior to the greatest assassination in modern US
history, that of John F. Kennedy by Lee Harvey Oswald. In fact, one of the movie’s
three main stars, Frank Sinatra, insisted the film be pulled from theatres
after the assassination and it was not really granted an audience until two
decades later when the movie became an instant classic. While some might suggest The Manchurian Candidate has no political bias there are definite aspects of it that show it very much has a pro-Democratic Party theme, no surprise in liberal Hollywood. For example, the anti-Communist
senator, based on the loathed real-life Joseph McCarthy and played here by James
Gregory, bears an uncanny resemblance to Richard Nixon, the Republican presidential candidate who had just been
defeated by Kennedy in the 1960 election. Second, both the senator and his
wife, played by the truly ageless Angela Lansbury, are devout “patriotic”
Republicans and the plot undermines their values in a truly frightful
way. Ironically, the man who killed Kennedy was a devout Communist. Laurence
Harvey, one of my favorite British actors of the era, plays the main character Raymond Shaw. Sinatra is also in it and considered it his best role as Shaw's Korean War army buddy. And
Janet Leigh also stars. While The Manchurian Candidate has pretty much entered iconic status –
and has a 97 per cent Rotten Tomatoes rating - I found it only mildly
interesting and plods along until, finally, at the very end, there’s a great
deal of commotion indeed. And there are aspects of the film that are laughably absurd, like the the ladies’ horticultural club indoctrination scenes.
More recently watched films:
Husbands (John Cassavetes 1970) is a searing portrayal of
three middle class men played by the director, Peter Falk and Ben Gazzara,
having, let’s say, a mid-life crisis. Fewer truly realistic movies have been made.
That’s Life (Blake Edwards 1986) Jack Lemmon plays a very
annoying husband among a family of neurotics whose only sane one is the wife, played by Julie Andrews, who
really has reason to complain.
Walk on the Wild Side (Edward Dmytryk) is a superb character
study of a bunch of misfits played by actors like Jane Fonda (in one of her
first film roles), Anne Baxter and the inestimable Capucine.
The Running Man (Carol Reed 1963) teams up Lee Remick and
Laurence Harvey as a couple on the run in southern Spain. There are some
memorable lines like, “insurance…it truly pays to crash.”
Little Miss Market (Walter Bernstein 1980), a remake if the
1934 Shirley Temple film, stars Tony Curtis, Bob Newhart and Julie Andrews
with the endearingly grouchy Walter Matthau. But there’s no oomph as everyone seems to be calling it in.
Silver Streak (Arthur Hiller 1976) This comedy-drama
features Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor fighting some dastardly guys led by Richard McGoohan in some perilous
scenes aboard a train with the climax in, yes, Toronto’s Union Station. Enjoyable floss.
Get to Know Your Rabbit (Brian De Palma 1972) An absurdist
comedy starring Tom Smothers, Orson Welles and Katherine Ross. What happens
when a gray flannel suit executive drops out, is reborn, and drops out again?
Absolutely hilarious.
No comments:
Post a Comment