The Manchurian Candidate

I've only seen the original and I loved it. It's been a long time though and I only saw it once. It was in the context of a Film Studies course in the 9th grade. I even wrote a paper on it, but after looking at the paper a few weeks ago I'm not sure how much it has to do with the movie.

I liked the symbolism, the scenes with them being brainwashed that moved back and forth from the women's meeting to the Communist Conspirors, it gave me a new respect for Sinatra as well.

dauer -- Those women were in the book, in a way. The brainwashers convinced the patrol they were on a flight that was downed and the women with the flower arranging lessons were part of the entertainment they were given to make up for their lost time.

I thought it innovative, like magical realism.

I had just seen the original uncut complete film on VOOM satellite's hi-def in a restored print and it's a masterpiece of filmmaking. The new version is not getting many bad reviews -- in fact over 80% great reviews including A. O. Scott of the New York Times. However, it's box office is not very impressive and I'll be able to watch it on cable or DVD in a few months.

I haven't seen the remake and probably won't. I don't want to spoil my memory of the original or of Richard Condon's novel. The script for the movie is sort of faithful to the book escept for one thing. In the book, the main character about whom the story revolves is Sgt. Shaw, the 'Manchurian candidate.' But this role was given to Lawrence Harvey. So, with Sinatra playing Capt. Marco, the script had to be tweaked to make Marco a far more central character than he is in Condon's book. I mean, he's central all right, but it's not the starring role. Janet Leigh becomes Harvey's lover, not Sinatra's.

Oh, hell, maybe I will see the remake. Have you seen it, Wizard?

I likely wasn't clear that I didn't race to the cineplex to see this one. I will wait for the DVD. The last two flicks I've seen are "Hero" and "The Corporation." Of course, there was a method to my madness in wanting to take the run down to South Coast Plaza where one of the few arthouse movie theaters is located -- Bangkok Four, my favorite Thai restaurant in OC is across the street from the theater in Crystal Court. They will make any dish hot and spicy on a scale of one to ten. I always order ten but I don't think this "Manchurian Candidate" is a ten.

I was eager to see the remake for several reasons:

1.) Denzel Washington

2.) To see what was done to put the basic plot into the present

3.) The silly criticism of Meryl Streep's interpretation of her character as a Hillary clone

4.) Basic interest in political satire.

After my brief encounter with the original and seeing the remake (which was updated very well), I was curious to read the novel, just to see what the author's original point of view was.

As I never read espionage books, it took me more than 40 pages to get into the style. Then, I started reading it as what might be called science fiction/social satire. The novel still bogged down in places where the writing became too macho, for want of a better word.

I wondered where Condon was coming from still and searched through Contemporary Literary Criticism and 20th C Authors where at least one exuberant critic called Condon one of the 1960s' great political satirists.

Another wrote how both the left and right were offended by Candidate because the book was about both.

MA -- If Janet Leigh became Harvey's lover in the original, that did considerable violence to Condon's novel where Eugenie Rose was head over heels in love with Marco.

Furthermore, I thought Marco was the central character of the novel and the remake. I saw too little of the original to make a judgment.

The role of Eugenie Rose had to be updated in the remake and, frankly, now makes more sense than her character did in either the novel or in the small section of the original that I saw. From what I saw in the original, I assumed the part was padding added to make the movie more romantic.

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I'm not certain that I could put the novel into the same category as One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest: there is a little too much of the truck stop paperback in Candidate, although that may have been Condon's intention.

BBB
Dyslexia, Diane and I went to see the remake of the Manchurian Candidate last week and thought it an outstanding film. Its one of those that, when the theater lights come back on, you just want to remain in your seat and talk about what you've just experienced. That's why it's best to not see it alone---if possible.

I plan to watch the original film on TV to refresh my memory of it.

BBB

I don't see that there was any "padding" in the original and the changes made on the Condon work was effective in making the novel more cinematic. It's a tightly constructed political thriller with a good dose of satire. In fact, the novel is very difficult to adapt. The new MC I understand is even more of a deviation and "updating" of the material. Based on what I've read here by plainoldme and BBB whose opinions I respect even when I might have some disagreements, I just might be coaxed into trying to find the film at a theater. It's sparse pickin's for a theater right now as the film's box office was not very good. That not meaning much (in fact, it could mean a lot as the word-of-mouth could have been that the general audience did not understand the movie).

BTW, Streep may not win anything for this movie, but she will win the Emmy for the performance as the mother and Ethyl Rosenburg in "Angels in America." One of the best performances in her filmography (and it is a long film in six parts which if theatrically released would have been up for the Oscar).

Lightwizard -- By padding, I meant that the Eugenie Rose character in the original just didn't seem believable. Sinatra was very good at portraying a destroyed man, one that we would probably think was in deep mourning or suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome.

Eugenie Rose, or Rosie, as she preferred, was aggressive in her pursuit of the Marco. As Sinatra played Marco, he looked like a man who was incapable of anything, let alone a relationship that involved give and take. As Condon wrote out the Ben Marco-Rosie relationship, Rosie was a very independent woman who was largely responsible for getting Marco back on his feet.

Thanks for the compliment!
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BumbleBee -- I know what you mean about wanting to talk about it. There was one scene that I found very frightening and very effective, near the end, that I wanted to talk about with someone. I was sorry that I went alone. However, a friend had seen it with her 15 y/o daughter and I called her and talked with her about it.

I don't want to discuss the scene here in case LightWizard does go to the theatre, but you can reach me at [email protected] if you feel like sitting in your seat at the theatre again.

I didn't find Eugenia unbelievable at all as a supporting character. I don't think Frankenheimer thought spending time on developing that character to the extent Condon did in the novel to be workable as cinematic. I guess we could argue that point forever and your admission that you don't like the actress to begin with is not going to make you change your mind. I will easily concede this isn't the strongest performance in the movie and I believe it's because it wasn't meant to be -- cinematic flow is almost always considered over novelistic detail. I always found the original to be the antithesis of the polticial thriller (of which, there really aren't that many -- most of these kinds of thrillers are fixated on the espionage rather than the politics).

I don't think you could divulge a spoiler as I've read enough reviews of the film to have basically figured out the entire plot. Having seen the original many times, it wouldn't be hard to deduce where this was going. Many other critics said basically the same thing -- this was made for a new audience.