8. The Manchurian Candidate
Sinatras kung fu moment with Henry Silvas assassin aside, The Manchurian Candidate doesnt feel like its aged at all. Its still as relevant and suggestive now as it was when it was first released (or eventually released as it were, seeing as it was momentarily shelved and attempted to be abandoned by the studios in the wake of JFKs assassination) and thrillingly directed by John Frankenheimer. Whod have thought that Ol Blue Eyes himself, Mr Sinatra, and bloody Angela Lansbury would have kicked the ball out of the park and into the stratosphere with their roles in this film? The film, for those very, very few uninitiated, deals with Army Major Bennett Marco (Sinatra) who, on returning from battle, recommends Sergeant Raymond Shaw (Laurence Harvey) for the Medal of Honour, saying he was heroic and brave in the line of duty. But, despite what he actually says to people, Marco begins to suspect whether he really believes it as a bizarre, reoccurring nightmare suggests Shaw is something far more insidious and threatening to his country. Struggling to convince the Army of his suspicions, Shaw teams up with a stranger on a train (Janet Leigh) who embraces his troubling thoughts to tackle Shaw and his power-mad mother (Angela Lansbury) in a race against time. The films finale is a cinematic master class in how to produce perfect on-screen tension and edge-of-the-seat thrills. What really gives the flick its extra edge though, is the ongoing suggestions relating to the relationship between Sinatra and Leighs characters. The dialogue between them is stilted and bizarre and could be considered as a form of code, which in itself suggests that Marcos mind is being controlled and that Leighs character is his handler in much the same way that Lansburys character is Shaws! Could it be that the Manchurian Candidate of the title is in fact the Sinatra character and NOT the Harvey one? That the aim of the entire film was for Shaw and his obsessed mother, maybe classed as a Manchurian experiment gone wrong, to be removed and Marco was the operative to be used? Discuss