The Manchurian Candidate by John Frankheimer

The Manchurian Candidate tells the frightening story of Sergeant Raymond Shaw (Laurence Harvey), recipient of a Medal of Honor for his bravery during the Korean War, and Captain Bennett Marco (Frank Sinatra), who is troubled by nightmares about some events of the war and the role Shaw - said to be “impossible to like” - played in them. It turns out that Marco is right in his doubts: Shaw has actually been brainwashed by Soviet and Chinese scientists into becoming an unconscious assassin, who won’t compromise his identity since he does not remember the acts he committed.

Directed by John Frankenheimer, The Manchurian Candidate is a perfect political thriller and a biting satire of Senator McCarthy and his ‘witch hunt’ against communist sympathizers in the United States’ administration during the 1950s. Released on October 24th 1962, at the very height of the Cuban missile crisis, the movie totally failed at the box-office, and was pulled from distribution right after the assassination of American President John F. Kennedy. It wasn’t until 1988, almost 25 years later, that it started to reappear at film festivals and gained the status of ‘cult movie’. Included in nearly all major Top 100 Films lists, The Manchurian Candidate is one of those masterpiece movies which definitely have to be seen during one’s lifetime.

İlkin Mehrabov