Here's one of those movies that has become a legend, but I found it to be less than its reputation.

The Manchurian Candidate plays on Cold War paranoia that those clever Communists could subvert our valiant soldiers to take over the good old US of A. This premiss seems very dated almost 40 years later. We all know that to subvert Americans you need money and women, not hypnosis.

What is revealed is a tangled web of espionage. The big question is who's really pulling the puppet's strings? I'm sure this was rather fresh in 1962, but since then, this plot has been played a few dozen times.

This film is almost all dialog and not cinematicly told. Honestly, you could have just made this into a radio drama.

Jammed Pipe!

Film Facts

Cast
• Frank Sinatra
• Laurence Harvey
• Janet Leigh
• Angela Lansbury
• Henry Silva
• James Gregory
• Leslie Parrish
• John McGiver
• Khigh Dhiegh
• James Edwards
• Douglas Henderson
• Albert Paulsen
• Barry Kelley
• Lloyd Corrigan
• Madame Spivy
• Joe Adams
• Frank Basso
• Mary Benoit
• Whit Bissell
• Nicky Blair
• Merritt Bohn
• Nick Bolin
• Robert Burton
• Evelyn Byrd
• Lana Crawford
• Ray Dailey
• Mimi Dillard
• Joan Douglas
• Estelle Etterre
• Mickey Finn
• Bess Flowers
• Lee Tung Foo
• John Francis
• Paul Frees
• Ralph Gambina
• Joe Gray
• Tom Harris
• Maggie Hathaway
• Maye Henderson
• Sam 'Kid' Hogan
• Harry Holcombe
• John Indrisano
• Miyoshi Jingu
• Rita Kenaston
• Helen Kleeb
• Lou Krugg
• John Lawrence
• Richard LePore
• Tom Lowell
• Mike Masters
• Marquita Moll
• Reggie Nalder
• Frances E. Nealy
• Karen Norris
• Richard Norris
• Julie Payne
• Robert Riordan
• Anna Shin
• Ray Spiker
• Irving Steinberg
• William Thourlby
• Raynum K. Tsukamoto
• Anton Van Stralen
• Jean Vaughn
• James Yagi

Directed by John Frankenheimer

Released in 1962

MPAA Rating: Not Rated

Reviewed by Mongo