Also, the whole plot is sort of unlikely. I wasn't a big fan of the music for the movie, and it even disrupted the mood for me at one point in the film.
#Richard condon the manchurian candidate movie#
Keeping me from giving the movie a perfect ten are one or two little nagging problems. As a thriller, the film works remarkably well, and it is quite easily the best political thriller I've seen to date. All the scenes managed to keep my attention and kept me wondering what was going to happen next. The cinematography in the movie was very well done as action, romance, and tension all mixed together smoothly. Some stand-out scenes in the film were the nightmare sequences that brilliantly interlaced dream and reality, the all-queen solitaire game with Marco and Raymond, and the supremely tense climax at the political convention.
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And of course, Angela Lansbury in her role as Raymond's malicious and plotting mother is excellent. Laurence Harvey as Raymond does a good job showing us a character that is wholly unlikable and snobby, yet pathetic and sad at the same time. It's hard not to like Frank Sinatra in his role as Marco, who is the protagonist. A great script is heightened by excellent acting in this movie. Set against the cold war paranoia of the sixties and McCarthyism, "The Manchurian Candidate" does an excellent job of recreating the intense suspense and tension of the time. One of these men, Major Bennet Marco, led on by these recurring nightmares, unravels a sinister Communist plot. Two of the men in his company, however, have strange nightmares that suggest Raymond is not as deserving of the award as he seems. The plot revolves around the strange case of Raymond Shaw, a sergeant who wins the Congressional Medal of Honor for his bravery in the cold war. Regardless, when I rented and watched the film, I had high expectations. I knew about its critical acclaim, but I was unfamiliar with the plot. I went into "The Manchurian Candidate" without knowing too much about the movie itself. When Marco learns that others in his Korean War unit have had nightmares similar to his own, he realizes that something happened to all of them in Korea, and that Raymond Shaw is the focal point. Senator John Iselin ( James Gregory), who is intent on seeking higher office. Raymond hates her, not only for how she's treated him, but equally because of his stepfather, the ineffectual U.S. She is a red-baiter, accusing anyone who disagrees with her right-wing reactionary views of being a Communist. Eleanor Shaw Iselin (Dame Angela Lansbury).
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has established himself well, despite the misgivings of his domineering mother, Mrs. He's put on indefinite sick leave and visits Shaw in New York City. Marco has a major problem however: he has a recurring nightmare, one where two members of his squad were killed by Shaw. He served valiantly as a Captain in the Korean war and his Sergeant, Raymond Shaw ( Laurence Harvey), even received the Medal of Honor. Major Bennett Marco ( Frank Sinatra) is an intelligence officer in the U.S.