Angela Lansbury, Frank Sinatra, Henry Silva

A US Army hero returns to New York from Korea, but has been mysteriously programmed by Communists to assassinate a presidential nominee, but when his Army buddy becomes suspicious of the goings on, he...( read more  read more... ) is on the trail to stop him.

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90% liked it

24,665 ratings

Critics

98% liked it

47 critics

PG-13, 2 hrs. 6 min.

Directed by: John Frankenheimer

Release Date: January 1, 1962

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DVD Release Date: May 15, 2001

Stats: 1,308 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (1,308)


  • April 30, 2009
    John Frankenheimer's The Manchurian Candidate, based on Richard Condon's novel, follows the lives of a group of Korean War veterans as they discover that their subconscious has been 'altered' in a covert mind-control experiment. Using a fictitious U.S. Senator (played by...( read more) James Gregory) as an obvious stand-in for the fanatical Senator Joseph McCarthy, Frankenheimer is able to turn 'the communist threat' inside-out and use it to show that American's have as much to fear from their own politicians as they do from their cold war antagonists.

    All politics aside, this one is worth seeing just for Angela Lansbury alone. She's arguably cemented herself as one of the most despicable screen villains of all time with her performance as the cold-hearted (and incestuous) mother-from-hell.
  • February 1, 2009
    Awesome cold war/communist paranoia film. Everyone gives great performances and this has some great character subtext (surprisiingly mature) and violence (surprisingly graphic) that bellies its time period. Once thought of as a lost treasure after the film disappeared for a time ...( read more)post Kennedy assassination; it's well worth looking up and soaking in the directorial techniques, the crisp script and the fine characterizations. You might want to try to bring some of that back. You won't find it in the remake (felt a bit neutured) and you certainly won't find it in Frankenheimer's kid's (Michael Bay) films.
  • April 20, 2008
    best story line. best casting. so amazing.
  • March 25, 2008
    One of the all time great thrillers and Frank Sinatra's finest performance
  • February 18, 2008
    Mrs. Iselin: Why don't you pass the time with a game of solitaire?

    A political thriller, set during the 50s involving an assassin who is trained to forget what he is doing, serving as a pawn for communists.

    A group of soldiers in Korea are suddenly kidnapped by a mysterious gr...( read more)oup. Things suddenly switch gears, as this group then turns up a few days later having returned home, with one of the men Raymond Shaw, played by Lawrence Harvey, being celebrated as a war hero, being given the medal of honor.

    This is all well and good, but something does not sit right with Maj. Ben Marco, played by Frank Sinatra. He keeps having a reoccurring dream involving him and his men stuck in some facility, witnessing a calm Shaw murder two of his fellow men with no remorse.

    It is in fact a true dream. All of these men have been brainwashed, with Shaw serving as a political assassin, who should be suspected by no one and is triggered by a certain playing card when the time is right.

    To make matters worse, Shaw's mother, played by Angela Lansbury, is a cold, calculating monster, who dictates to her senator husband exactly what is to be done in order to serve her own mysterious purposes.

    Eventually Marco becomes tasked with finding out the truth of the matters, and hopefully stopping whatever it is that is going on.

    Janet Leigh, looking very good, also shows up as a companion for Marco, and while the movie doesn't explicitly go into it, she too, may have an ulterior motive.

    The movie was directed by John Frankenheimer, who knows a thing or two about making thrillers. This is a very well made movie that works well due to the sustained atmosphere containing both a subtle espionage aspect and an ironic sense of humor throughout.

    The performers are also very game to make this work. Sinatra is a cool guy, who you don't want to see become so distressed. Lansbury is just plain evil. And Harvey, playing my favorite character in this film is tricky enough by having to go in and out of his killer trans.

    The score is also somewhat haunting and fitting with the rest of the film.

    This is a very good movie, one of the best political thrillers I have seen.

    Dr. Yen Lo: His brain has not only been washed, as they say... It has been dry cleaned.
  • November 19, 2009
    The perfect movie. Cast, story, atmosphere. I'm amazed Hitchcock didn't have his hand in this one.
  • November 16, 2009
    I hear that this is the one to watch
  • October 8, 2009
    I'm a bit ashamed to say that I saw the remake before seeing the original version. But considering I was only born in the late 80s, it may also be a normal thing. Anyway, I must admit I loved it. The script is excellent and the cast is all amazing.
  • October 7, 2009
    Brilliant. Well played all around.
  • September 24, 2009
    i have the denzel version of this film

Critic Reviews


January 1, 2000
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

Not a moment of The Manchurian Candidate lacks edge and tension and a cynical spin. full review

View more The Manchurian Candidate reviews at RottenTomatoes.com

Comments


  • itbegins2005
    April 7, 2008
    Well, I posted a pretty bizarre first comment- might as well follow it up with a couple more:

    - I had no idea Frank Sinatra could karate chop through a solid oak tabletop. That guy is an ass-kicker.

    - Is it just me, or does Sinatra have some amazing power over the ladies- like, a literal superpower, to force a woman in his vicinity to fall in love with him in record time? 'Cause it's either that, or Janet Leigh is way easy. Sinatra wasn't even looking at her half the time on that train, and she gave up her name, address, and phone number.

    - Wow. Raymond Shaw was apparently the model for Stewie Griffin from Family Guy- rude, snobby, inexplicably British, and filled with hatred for his mother. Try watching the movie again, especially during the drunken Christmas scene with Sinatra, and tell me you don't see it.
  • itbegins2005
    April 7, 2008
    HEINZ KETCHUP?!? The number of commies comes from Heinz ketchup?

    This is so surreal... I was just involved in the Heinz commercial contest, and I saw a lot of entries- and that's EXACTLY the kind of stupid joke I would expect to have found in the competing videos.

    Personal note: it is IMPOSSIBLE to make a good, enticing, funny (without being cute or idiotic) commercial for a product like ketchup. It's a f%$#ing condiment. It has no potential entertainment value whatsoever. And if I EVER hear another "ketch up!" pun in my life, I swear to GOD I'll slit my own wrists.

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The Manchurian Candidate Trivia


  • At the beginning of the movie Domino, what '62 Sinatra flick is Domino watching?  Answer »
  • What movie does this quote come from: "There are two kinds of people in this world: Those that enter a room and turn the television set on, and those that enter a room and turn the television set off."   Answer »
  • The tagline: "Everything is under control."  Answer »
  • "Raymond, why don't you pass the time by playing a little solitaire?" is a quote from...  Answer »

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