The Manchurian Candidate
6 August 2004, late evening
Denzel Washington does a good job playing a veteran of the Gulf war in The Manchurian Candidate. Actually, all the actors in the film do a great job with their parts. Meryl Streep in particular is quite chilling as an evil senator. The movie is about a veteran who thinks he and his platoon were brainwashed during the gulf war. Complicating matters is the fact that one of the members in his platoon is now a candidate for the vice-presidency. The film is a great little thriller, with lots of twists and turns. I had originally been quite uninterested in seeing this film, but I am glad I did. It’s quite entertaining.
The official The Manchurian Candidate web site.
I’ve been curious about the title: why “Manchurian”? What does that refer to?
by Michelle on August 7 2004, 5:23 am #
Well in the movie, Manchurian Global is the evil sinister multination company that is implicated in all the wrong doings.
by ramanan on August 7 2004, 5:27 am #
Michelle, the real answer to your question lies in the 1962 version of “The Manchurian Candidate” starring the likes of Frank Sinatra and Janet Leigh. Set during the Korean War, Sinatra’s “patrol was taken by a Russian airborne unit and flown by helicopter across the Manchurian border to a place called Tunghwa” where they were brainwashed and a candidate, Raymond Shaw, was chosen to be a programmed assassin.
PBS actually ran the original sometime last week and I had the pleasure of watching it yet again. To say this movie is great is a foul understatement. On IMDB it’s actually ranks as the 65th best film ever. Laurence Harvey as Raymond Shaw is fantastic and Angela Lansbery (of Murder She Wrote) is unbelievable creepy as his controlling mother.
I’m somewhat interested to see how they changed the story in the remake, but not enough to go see it. Forget the remake and rent the original, it’s a classic. I’ll also bet that when it ends you’ll sit there for a minute before saying “holy fuck that was crazy!”
And holy crap Ram, you watch way too many movies.
by rooney on August 7 2004, 5:26 pm #
I’ve been dying to see the original too. I’ve been told many times it is some hot shit. One day. The list of movies I want to see is quite large.
by ramanan on August 7 2004, 6:09 pm #
Ah, thanks for the info rooney. Sounds like the original (and remake) are worth watching. I thought maybe “Manchurian” refered to one of the Chinese empires, maybe about a puppet emperor or something, but I guess not. Purely geographical and not historical reference :)
by Michelle on August 7 2004, 8:13 pm #
Ramanan, you don’t watch enough movies! :)
I haven’t seen the original, but I did see the latest version with Washington. It’s a solid movie. Washington is great (always is), Liev (sp?) Shreiber is convincing. Streep is… scary. And one part in particular made me want to smack her character (okay, there were a few parts that made me want to smack her, but who’s counting?).
The only person who seemed out of place to me was the girl on the train. I don’t know if it was the acting, actor, the script or the combination of the three. She just seemed like an odd character for the storyline.
Anyway, Demme does a good job with the script, but I have to say… something about the end left me less than satisfied. I won’t blow it for you if you haven’t seen it, but once you’ve seen it, you’ll probably know what I’m referring to.
I can’t say how loyal this version is to the original. I’ll have to rent the older version to see how it plays…
by Tim on August 8 2004, 5:31 pm #
I think Tim watches too many movies :)
by Gary on August 8 2004, 6:52 pm #
My friends and I see everything. Or, we try. :-)
by Tim on August 8 2004, 7:58 pm #
Movies are good Gary. Just accept it and start watching.
by ramanan on August 9 2004, 1:02 am #
I agree, movies are good… but just as anything else, you can have too much of a good thing. I should watch more…. but not as many as you….
by Gary on August 9 2004, 1:38 am #
The original doesn’t have any of the kinky sex between mother and son!
Haha.
But the mother is Angela Lansbury … so that makes up for it
by Keizo on August 10 2004, 12:54 am #