# Manchurian Candidate **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 11, 2004, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manchurian-candidate/254541 "2004-07-11T06:39:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2004, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manchurian-candidate/254541/41 "2004-07-29T15:45:04Z")
> [@spooje](#): > > I’m going to have to go back and watch it again, but I seem to remember that no one believes Marco at first and that they take him off active duty for a while. They think he \*has \* come unhinged, as does Marco himself. You are correct spooje. I recently rewatched the original. Marco starts having the nightmares and when he tell his superiors he is taken off intelligence work and put on PR work. There he has to work with the Sec of State (?) and Senator Islen accuses the Sec of having known Communists working for him at a press confrence. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2004, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manchurian-candidate/254541/42 "2004-07-29T15:48:27Z")
The TV ads have been saying, “The audience will be unable to exhale during the last 30 minutes of this movie!” That sounds _most_ unpleasant. ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2004, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manchurian-candidate/254541/43 "2004-07-29T16:15:43Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > The TV ads have been saying, “The audience will be unable to exhale during the last 30 minutes of this movie!” > > That sounds _most_ unpleasant. Regarding the TV ads, “Umm not so much, really”. ---
**Author:** ![Mullinator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c2a13f/32.png) [@Mullinator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mullinator)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2004, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manchurian-candidate/254541/44 "2004-07-29T16:40:36Z")
Spoiler box, but if you haven’t seen this movie in 40 years you almost deserve to have it spoiled for you. In the original, was anyone else as creeped out by Frank Sinatra’s “girlfriend” as I was. I mean, she was technically his handler, right? There is just no other way to explain here odd behavior or the weird vibe I kept getting from her. I full expected the last part of the film to be her asking Frank Sinatra to play some solitaire. Other people though this, didn’t they? ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2004, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manchurian-candidate/254541/45 "2004-07-29T16:53:50Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > The TV ads have been saying, “The audience will be unable to exhale during the last 30 minutes of this movie!” Come to think of it, they used the same tagline for the Russian musical _Nord-Ost_ . . . ---
**Author:** ![YPOD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/e99b99/32.png) [@YPOD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YPOD)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2004, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manchurian-candidate/254541/46 "2004-07-30T14:50:37Z")
I doubt if they will be able to top the garden club/church ladies in the original. Pure genius. ---
**Author:** ![Encinitas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@Encinitas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Encinitas)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2004, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manchurian-candidate/254541/47 "2004-07-30T20:46:09Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > The TV ads have been saying, “The audience will be unable to exhale during the last 30 minutes of this movie!” > > That sounds most unpleasant. > [@Eve](#): > > Come to think of it, they used the same tagline for the Russian musical _Nord-Ost_ . . . Sorry to bump this thread but I just couldn’t let this go by without a nod of **Eve** ’s sly sense of humor. Well done. ---
**Author:** ![beagledave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6de8d8/32.png) [@beagledave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beagledave)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2004, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manchurian-candidate/254541/48 "2004-07-31T00:06:44Z")
> [@Mullinator](#): > > Spoiler box, but if you haven’t seen this movie in 40 years you almost deserve to have it spoiled for you. > > In the original, was anyone else as creeped out by Frank Sinatra’s “girlfriend” as I was. I mean, she was technically his handler, right? There is just no other way to explain here odd behavior or the weird vibe I kept getting from her. I full expected the last part of the film to be her asking Frank Sinatra to play some solitaire. Other people though this, didn’t they? janet Leigh (of Psycho fame) played the gal. [spoiler] Yes there is a lot of strange dialog…“are you Arabic”…and dumping her fiance’ for sweaty lipped Sinatra? There is some discussion at IMDB about this…supposedly there is some back story in the original book that explains some of the dialog. Some have speculated that she was his handler…I’m not so sure.[/spoiler] ---
**Author:** ![Kalt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Kalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalt)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2004, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manchurian-candidate/254541/49 "2004-07-31T00:19:56Z")
Somehow I have a feeling that in today’s politically correct atmosphere, my favorite line from the original “Manchurian Candidate” (said by Frank Sinatra’s character) will be left out. You know… “Make like a good housewife and go cook dinner for us.” No line in any movie has ever brought a bigger smile to my face than that one… shame on them for (surely) cutting it out of the remake. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2004, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manchurian-candidate/254541/50 "2004-07-31T00:37:08Z")
> [@Encinitas](#): > > Sorry to bump this thread but I just couldn’t let this go by without a nod of **Eve** ’s sly sense of humor. Well done. Thank you, dear, I was hoping that appallingly tasteless crack would not go unnoticed. ---
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2004, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manchurian-candidate/254541/51 "2004-07-31T05:15:06Z")
Just saw it. I thought Denzel Washington did an excellent job; and Meryl Streep was also very, shall we say, effective. You really will hate her guts almost immediately. Thumbs up. I’d talk about it more, but really, if you haven’t seen it or the previous film, it’s nice to not know too much, IMO. One thing I can say is the adaptation of the story to the modern political zeitgeist, especially on the heels of the first party convention of the current election race, was positively eery at times. It’s a flick just brimming with paranoia, and I have to say, while the basic premise is pretty out there, many of the characters and the words they speak are _not_. The means they use are implausible; their motivations all too believable. I think that’s the part that creeped me out the most. Good flick. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2004, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manchurian-candidate/254541/52 "2004-07-31T17:02:13Z")
Of course, now every time John Kerry trots his old Navy buddies out, we keep thinking “John Kerry is the kindest, bravest, most wonderful person I know.” ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2004, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manchurian-candidate/254541/53 "2004-07-31T18:28:06Z")
I’m glad **CalMeacham** has already owned up to not really liking this movie (the original, that is) because I just want to ask: doesn’t anyone else find the behavior of even the non-brainwashed people in this movie totally bizarre? The scene on the train has some of the strangest dialogue I have ever seen in a movie. I understand it was taken directly from the book, but that doesn’t make it any less weird. The plot itself is great, but the characters’ behavior had me going “WHAT?” for the entire movie. ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2004, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manchurian-candidate/254541/54 "2004-07-31T22:33:42Z")
> [@Loopydude](#): > > Just saw it. > > I thought Denzel Washington did an excellent job; and Meryl Streep was also very, shall we say, effective. You really will hate her guts almost immediately. > > Thumbs up. I’d talk about it more, but really, if you haven’t seen it or the previous film, it’s nice to not know too much, IMO. > > One thing I can say is the adaptation of the story to the modern political zeitgeist, especially on the heels of the first party convention of the current election race, was positively eery at times. It’s a flick just brimming with paranoia, and I have to say, while the basic premise is pretty out there, many of the characters and the words they speak are _not_. The means they use are implausible; their motivations all too believable. I think that’s the part that creeped me out the most. > > Good flick. Several thumbs up. Just saw it today. Do you have a craving for Cup Noodles? 😉 Note: Just as the ending credits began to roll, some guy in the theatre yelled out, “GEORGE W. BUSH HAS A CHIP IN HIS BRAIN AND CHENEY AND HALLIBURTON PUT IT THERE! VOTE THAT PIECE OF SHIT OUT OF OFFICE!” Dang, what an ending. 😃 \*\*Um, could somebody explain: if they ever caught the South African scientist who was behind the implant procedure? Did I miss it? Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![jebert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ec9cab/32.png) [@jebert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jebert)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2004, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manchurian-candidate/254541/55 "2004-08-03T18:15:16Z")
For those who are interested, the screenplay for the original movie is on line at [www.geocities.com/emruf/mc.html](http://www.geocities.com/emruf/mc.html) I just saw the original the other night. It didn’t have the same impact this time that it had 42 years ago. Back then I thought it was one of the best I’d ever seen. Remember that it was released before the first Kennedy assassination. With that as an experience base, the notion that any convention delegates would be paying any attention to a speech, no matter how rousing, and not screaming in hysteria after their nominee was shot through the head, or that the vice-presidential candidate would be able to lift up the body to the crowd rather than a mass of people crowding the stage is just ridiculous. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2004, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manchurian-candidate/254541/56 "2004-08-03T18:27:12Z")
What I find interesting about the first film is the way it shows the difference between TV and real life. When the senator makes his outrageous claims you see him on a tv monitor and there he looks quite different than he does with the rest of the room in the picture. I imagine that he was going to do the speech at the end of the convention for the television cameras and not for the crowd. That it was worked out to have space for him an a camera. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2004, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manchurian-candidate/254541/57 "2004-08-03T19:06:16Z")
> [@Maus Magill](#): > > Not if you’ve already fingered Mrs. Fletcher as a massive serial killer. > > I tell you what though: that relationship she had with Raymond would have made Oedipus uncomfortable. The original novel strongly implies that, during the scene where Raymond’s mother explains the plot, she and Raymond had sex. Angela Lansbury’s performance conveys that strong implication just with a passionate kiss. Pretty decent acting chops on her part. (Those of you who have trouble seeing the peaches-and-cream Jessica Fletcher as a power-mad dominatrix should watch one of Ms. Lansbury’s earliest performances in the movie “Gaslight”, where she schemes with Charles Boyer to drive his wife to suicide. Not in the same league as Mrs. Islin, but chillingly evil just the same.) Interestingly, the novel lifts one scene almost word-for-word from Robert Grave’s _I, Claudius_, where Claudius claims that Augustus marriage to Livia was unconsumated, because Augustus had moral qualms about the validity of the marriage, and so was unable to perform with her. Livia apparently found this situation to her liking, and kept Augustus supplied with prostitutes on a regular basis as part of her technique for keeping him under her control. Condon lifted essentially these several paragraphs entire to his novel, substituting Senator Islin and his wife for Augustus and Livia. One of the more blatent… uh, let’s call it a _homage_… I’ve ever run across. ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2004, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manchurian-candidate/254541/58 "2004-08-08T07:14:53Z")
> [@Kalt](#): > > Somehow I have a feeling that in today’s politically correct atmosphere, my favorite line from the original “Manchurian Candidate” (said by Frank Sinatra’s character) will be left out. You know… > > “Make like a good housewife and go cook dinner for us.” > > No line in any movie has ever brought a bigger smile to my face than that one… shame on them for (surely) cutting it out of the remake. That line is actually spoken by Laurence Harvey in the original film. He says it to his new wife after they return from their quicky marriage and Frank Sinatra stops by to talk to him. ---
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2004, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manchurian-candidate/254541/59 "2004-08-08T16:16:31Z")
> [@YPOD](#): > > I doubt if they will be able to top the garden club/church ladies in the original. Pure genius. And they did that with a running camera on a 360 mount and the ladies getting out of the chairs and the men climbing into them as the camera rotated and then visa versa. It would have been hilarious to watch. ---
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2004, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manchurian-candidate/254541/60 "2004-08-08T16:27:52Z")
> [@YWalker](#): > > Better yet, go out and see the original version, with Angela Lansbury.\*\*. I really figured she’d be busy, but if you think she’d go with me…OK, I’ll ask her. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manchurian-candidate/254541.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manchurian-candidate/254541.md?page=4)