The Manchurian Candidate (Special Edition)

Rating:
Summary: A Classic Film
Review: Movies date very quickly. After twenty years, the acting, the clothes, the topical references oftern seem hopelessly out of date. The Manchurian Candidate is different. People who have no memory of the Korean War and McCarthyism will find this to be an engrossing film. It makes the fantastic, the bizarre and the grotesque completely plausible. I think that the reason why the film succeeds is that it provides an emotional correlative to the nightmare politics of the Cold War. And for those old enough to remember the Kennedy assassination, the ending will be a real shocker. Was this an example of life imitating art?

Rating:
Summary: "I need to talk to you about that Communist Tart."
Review: An Absolute Masterpiece. Shocking, Suspenseful, and all around Creepy. I am a fan of Original Feature Films, and their Re-makes. I feel that today its good to appreciate what came before, but also to take time to appreciate the messege conveyed in a re-make. if for no other reason a re-make can be served as a vessel for reminding us about the original. Anyway, todays Denzel and Meryl, are excellent actors ; but in no way hold a candle to the performances of Sinatra and Lansbery, and Harvey? you'll never see a character so deep into his roll as this fine actor. Shrieber who? You absolutly have to see this film, buy it, borrow it, rent it, watch it. Excellent Thriller. a Must!

Rating:
Summary: Dumb, even by today's standards
Review: Political thriller that spends too much time pretending to be a psychological drama. Paper-thin stereotypes in place of characters: devious Chinese, humorless Russians, corrupt politicians, drunken army guy who redeems himself, empty-headed bimbos, and a tortured lead character who conveniently blasts himself at the end. And any number of characters who serve no real purpose like the Korean butler and the other "sleeper" soldiers. As someone else pointed out, the communists hardly needed to go to so much trouble--they could have just hired a hitman. There was nothing clever about their plot and no discernible reason for them to such lengths simply to put a shooter at a convention that didn't seem to have any security at all. One can imagine that a flimsy movie like this might have inspired Oswald to take a shot at a president. It's hard to imagine anyone else taking it seriously.

It's a "classic" because the people who remade it say it's a classic. Sans remake, this movie would have stayed where it belonged: on late, late, late night TV, watched by the half dozen people left in America who don't have cable.

RstJ