Rating: 
Summary: Creepy and Disturbing (movie 5 stars, dvd 4 stars)
Review: A very well-crafted thriller classic from John Frankenheimer ("Ronin"). Creepy and disturbing. It's not the kind of movie you sort of sit back and just watch waiting to be entertained, considering this movie takes somewhat a more darker look at espionage, brain-washing, assassinations, and politics. Considering there are also no distinguishable cookie-cutter bad guys add to the foreboding darkness of the situation. Well-written, good acting from all the cast, fine work from Frank Sinatra and Angela Lansbury, and I found the dream-sequence particularly clever. As for the DVD, it is fairly okay, but nothing particularly new in terms of extras. The sound quality is good, but might've been improved a bit.
Rating: 
Summary: Sinatra can act!
Review: Most striking thing about this movie is that Sinatra can act. He also does a pretty credible fight scene for the time. Looks like a little Hollywood style Shotokan, possibly. Also, the Murder She Wrote woman is chillingly evil as the power hungry Mother. The "girlfriend" is very pretty, I wonder if she made any other movies.
Rating:
Summary: Chilling, bizarrely surreal political thriller...
Review: There are elements in this eerie thriller that verbally challenge description. Angela Lansbury fascinates as a RED QUEEN-like woman utterly driven by Will-to-Power. Her son, her husband...and the nation itself... are pawns in her Luciferic self-apotheosis in betrayal. Laurence Harvey is equally engaging as gnomic, anti-anti-hero brain-washed by Red Chinese inquisitors, and programmed to be a master assassin. Harvey's character is portrayed as so humorless, and woodenly robotic that one feels the Commies's only had to frost an already well-baked "cake". Frank Sinatra is excellent as Major Marco whose nightmares about a Korean combat action...which "earned" Harvey the Medal of Honor...prod him to explore inconsistencies which unveil a conspiracy of staggering import. James Gregory is marvelously repugnant as Lansbury's dufus demagogue of a husband whose McCarthyesque antics are prepping THE PEOPLE for his violent ascension to the (puppet) PRESIDENCY. Director Frankenheimer has produced a fantastic cinematic excursion into political schizophrenia and rampant paranoia. Many "reality" sequences (Harvey literally "jumping in the lake" in response to a deep-seated hypnotic trigger; Lansbury's Malice-in-Wonderland Garden Party; a Clouseau/Cato-like Karate brawl between Sinatra and Harvey's Communist "plant" valet) are as disturbing as the film's classic BRAIN-WASHING segment. (Here the Communists are "perceived"... by Sinatra/Havey's hypnotized-drugged Korean combat platoon... as silk-and-laced dressed to the 9's Club Ladies attending a garden party explaining the cultivation of hyacinths under "adverse" circumstances.) The scene ends with Harvey, as Sergeant Shaw, strangling one man and blowing-out the brains of a smiling boy-Private at point blank range...splattering a picture of Comrade Stalin with bloody gore. (This is all effected with delicacy and grace to demonstrate to "The Ladies" that the American Pawn, their MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE has indeed been cultivated and ready for deadly action.) Black-and-white color-lessness of the film accent the bizarre "reality" of the story while blurring the distinction between what happens; what is imagined and what is recalled to have happened. An ambience of insanity and menace permiates the entire film, radicalized by the epicene quality of Harvey's character and the overt Freudian elements that the film exploits. It is said that Tragedy recapitulates itself as farce and nothing human is beyond demonic malice. When this film was first released its parallels with McCarthyism were its obvious signum. Today the viewer may be treated to a PARALLEX VIEW. Again the focus returns to Angela Lansbury's UBERFRAU, Mrs. Shaw-Iselin. One might wonder who THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE now satirizes as target of its bizzare and nightmarish SURREALITY......
Rating:
Summary: Fresh and Appealing With Every Viewing
Review: Two actors made this film top notch: Laurence Harvey and Angela Langsbury. Although only a year apart in real life age, it was completely believable that Langsbury played Harvey's mother in the film. There is even a malevolent incestuous air about the pair that you can't shake off from the very beginning with Harvey as her helpless, hapless victim. Harvey returns from the Korean war a decorated hero, much to everyone's surprise, since he's known to be both a mama's boy and a royal pain. Incredibly, all the men in his unit parrot the same high praise about him and how he is the most wonderful, brave human being they've ever known, despite the fact that they hated him! His mother is married to a U.S. senator who he despises and, worse yet, his mother and this toad have presidential aspirations. Suddenly, other men from his Korean unit start experiencing hideous nightmares and somehow these dreams relate back to him. We see them all sitting in a library during the war at a garden club meeting but is that where they really are? Korean military men start popping up in the dreams too instead of the elderly garden club ladies. In 1962, when this film was released, the country was first learning about brain washing that had occurred in the Korean War. Thus, this film was extremely timely. It was pulled from distribution for many decades though following President Kennedy's assassination. The supporting cast, including Frank Sinatra and Carol Lynley, is all quite good. Harvey was an under appreciated actor in his time and it is good to see that his talent has held up splendidly throughout the ensuing years. Highly recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: Doesn't Live Up to the Hype
Review: I was told that this is one of the best films of all time, so I rented it with fairly high hopes. For that reason, and that reason only, I sat through the whole thing. I found the characters flat, and the story unbelievable. The suspense just seemed boring, and I didn't feel grabbed by the plot. There were a few surprising plot twists, and this is one of those films that one sees simply because it's a "classic", which is why I've given it two stars instead of one. Overall, however, I felt this was an over-hyped and fairly dull movie.
Rating:
Summary: Great movie, but only a decent DVD
Review: There's not much new to be said about this film. One of the classics of its era, it's just as riveting and suspenseful now as it was in 1962. If you've never seen it, do yourself a favor and see this masterful film. Frankenheimer established himself as one of the most influential filmmakers with this movie. (Take a look at "Ronin" to see a recent example of how he hasn't lost his touch.)My only complaint about this disc is the quality of what's included. There's an "interview" on there with Axelrod, Frankenheimer, and Sinatra, and while it's interesting, it's far too short. Showing 20-30 minutes would have been far more interesting. The audio commentary by Frankenheimer is interesting, but he's quiet through far too much of it. He focuses on telling a few stories that are for the most part only mildly interesting; the coolness comes when he discusses the little things (like the white page boy in the black soldier's dream sequence). Of course, that wasn't enough to knock any stars off for me. This is one of my favorite films, suitable for watching when you're in the mood to pay attention to details and think about what's going on.
Rating:
Summary: Why don't you pass the time with this film?
Review: Still relevant and shocking after all these years. The brain-washing scenes are both harrowing and chillingly amusing, and the entire cast shines. They should have cut the Janet Leigh subplot, but this is a minor misstep in what is otherwise a tour de force.
Rating:
Summary: One movie that must be seen to be believed.
Review: To paraphrase Winston Churchill, this film is an enigma wrapped in a riddle inside a conundrum, and the slow unveiling of the plot, with its many surprises--both shocking and hilarious--will keep you on the edge of your seat from beginning to end. John Frankenheimer's reputation as a director is based largely on this movie; he's never come close to equaling it, but that still doesn't detract from the brilliance of his achievement here. The excellence of the acting--particularly Angela Lansbury as the ultimate dragon mom, Laurence Harvey as her victim-son, and James Gregory as her buffoonish senator husband--is beyond praise. The screenplay is spectacularly witty (wait till you see how Gregory and Lansbury make their final determination of how many Communists there are in the State Department). David Amram's contrapuntal score is the perfect finishing touch to this film, which was perhaps the one good thing to come out of Cold War paranoia.
Rating:
Summary: Too Hauntingly Real
Review: This psychological thriller was better than the superb novel of the same name by Richard Condon that it was based upon. This is because the Casting Dept. homered with every selection. Angela Lansbury is positively oozing with greepieness as the mother of all conspirators. Frank Sinatara is perfectly suited to the role of the rough-around-the-edges good guy with too much on his mind. Janet Leigh is spellbinding as his love interest, as is the bride of Raymond, the doomed robot-assasin-turned hero. The plot would've been thought far-fetched in 1960; less so today, given what has been going on in Washingtom, D.C. these last seven years. The movie beging with an American patrol being brainwashed following capture during the Korean War. The Communists are working with a prominent right-wing American leader-turned-traitor to find a 'robot assasin,' someone who can be brainwashed into killing on command, and then forgetting every detail. The choice of subject turns out to be the son of the woman behind the plot. This is supposed to bind her to the Communist cause, but, as she reveals just before planting a long, deep kiss on sonny boy, she is using them to get into power so that she can smash them. Her vehicle is Husmand #2, a boozing Senator of limited intelligence who can be easily managed. The McCarthy-like Senator gets one of the few laugh lines in the movie, ehen he complains to Wifey that he gets teased about the fact that he constantly changes the number of Communists that he 'knows' are in the State Department. Pleading with his wife for an easy-to-remember number, the camera close-ups the Heinz ketchup bottle in his hand, with which he is indunating a piece of meat. Next scene: He's in front of a mike, thundering, "There are exactly 57 known Communitst in the State Department!" After the patrol is released, with the commander, CPT Ben Marko, brainwashed into believing that Raymond's heroics in saving them merit the Comgressional Medal of Honor, they return home, Raymond to a hero's welcome, and unwelcome PR from Mommy, milking his fame for Stepdad's career. Years pass, with Raymond placed unwittingly into a key position as assistant to a newspaper columnist. The Reds decide to 'test' their weapon: they have him kil his boss, with Raymond then being promoted in his place. The method of control: solitaite. The phone rings. Raymond answers, and a voice tells him to play a game of solitaire. As soon as the hypnotized Raymond sees the Queen of Diamonds, he's on autopilot. Ben Marko is troubled by nightmares for years, in which he sees snippets of the actual dungeon and torture/brainwashing processes. He becomes so distracted that his Commander puts him on sick leave. On the train, he meets Janet, who falls for him. Then, Raymond, whom he goes to see, tells him about his recollections of how he became involved with Stepdad's Senate archenemy's daughter. These two rather idyllic love digrsssions add to, rather than take away from the overall plot. Without giving more away, it can be said that you will not guess the ending until you see it, and that the tension was almost palpable in my body the first time I saw it. Solitaire, anyone? -Lloyd Conway
Rating:
Summary: The Manchurian Candidate
Review: This is director John Frankenheimer's classic. The mesmerizing story of a political and psychological subterfuge is devastating. David Amram's score is prophetically apt. This is one of Frank Sinatra's finest performances (he has always been underrated as an actor in my opinion) as is Laurence Harvey's (also underrated and somewhat forgotten).
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