IMDb > The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
The Manchurian Candidate
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Overview

User Rating:
8.3/10   32,809 votes
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Down 32% in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro.
Director:
Writers:
Richard Condon (based on a novel by)
George Axelrod (screenplay)
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Contact:
View company contact information for The Manchurian Candidate on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
24 October 1962 (USA) more
Genre:
Tagline:
When you've seen it all, you'll swear there's never been anything like it! more
Plot:
A former Korean War POW is brainwashed by Communists into becoming a political assassin. But another former prisoner may know how to save him. full summary | add synopsis
Plot Keywords:
Awards:
Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 6 wins & 4 nominations more
NewsDesk:
(36 articles)
The HeyUGuys IMDb250 Project
 (From HeyUGuys. 20 January 2010, 10:00 PM, PST)

Review: The Box – can’t get no satisfaction
 (From t5m.com. 7 December 2009, 7:43 AM, PST)

User Reviews:
All by itself it raises my opinion of everyone involved. more (250 total)

Cast

  (Complete credited cast)
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Additional Details

Runtime:
126 min
Country:
Language:
Aspect Ratio:
1.85 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Mono (Westrex Recording System) | Dolby SR | Dolby Digital
Certification:
Finland:(Banned) (1964) (uncut) | Finland:(Banned) (1964) (cut) | Finland:K-16 (1989) (uncut) | UK:A (1962) (cut) | West Germany:16 (f) | South Korea:15 | Australia:M | Norway:15 (re-rating) | Norway:16 (original rating) | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | USA:Approved (original rating) | USA:PG-13

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
Contrary to popular belief, the film was not pulled from circulation following the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy. It made its American television debut on The CBS Thursday Night Movies in September 1965 (source: Broadcasting magazine), and was repeated on that network later that season. Only when the rights reverted to Frank Sinatra in 1972 did the film disappear from view, although even then turning up for third and fourth network showings on NBC in spring 1974 (source: TV Guide) and summer 1975 (source: Variety). Sinatra's neglect in keeping the film in distribution gave rise to the legend that it was suppressed because of its alleged role in Lee Harvey Oswald's assassination of the 35th president. The legend was further perpetuated when Sinatra, in alliance with MGM/UA, re-released the film to theaters in 1988. When the rumor was debunked in an article in Films in Review, another myth, one claiming that Sinatra and UA had a dispute about the profits, took its place. The myth survives to this day, but it is pure fiction. more
Goofs:
Factual errors: At the end of WW2, the Russians captured thousands of P-38 pistols, and circulated them both inside the USSR military and intelligence apparatus, as well as those of their client states. So, the use of the P-38 would have been common in 1954. more
Quotes:
Bennett Marco: What's your name?
Eugenie Rose Chaney: Eugenie.
Bennett Marco: Pardon?
Eugenie Rose Chaney: No kidding, I really meant it. Crazy French pronounciation and all.
Bennett Marco: It's pretty.
Eugenie Rose Chaney: Thank you.
Bennett Marco: I guess your friends call you Ginny.
Eugenie Rose Chaney: Not yet they haven't, for which I am deeply gratefull... but you may call me Ginny
Bennett Marco: What do your friends call you?
Eugenie Rose Chaney: Rosie.
[...]
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Movie Connections:
Soundtrack:
The Twelve Days of Christmas more

FAQ

Who is the "Manchurian candidate"?
Is "The Mancurian Candidate" based on a novel?
How much sex, violence, and profanity are in this movie?
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26 out of 33 people found the following review useful.
All by itself it raises my opinion of everyone involved., 14 August 1999
10/10
Author: Spleen from Canberra, Australia

Wow! I was expecting right wing propaganda, or possibly even (a distant outside chance) left wing propaganda: I certainly wasn't expecting THIS. It isn't propaganda at all. Deriving any kind of message at all from the film is difficult - one might be tempted to conclude that we ought to never trust people who cry cheap political insults like "communist!" or "fascist!" or "racist!" at the first opportunity, but that's just a thought. At any rate, in order to get a message we have to think about the story for ourselves, very carefully, which makes it the very opposite of propaganda.

Here's another bit of advice: don't make the mistake, as I did, of thinking now and then that Frankenheimer is drifting from the point. He knows exactly what he's doing at all times. Whenever it seems he's offering some interesting diversion from the main story he's really telling the main story by other means. How good the story is I cannot convey without saying too much. Probably the central conceit everyone knows already, which was why Frankenheimer was right to spill most of the beans as soon as possible - but he does has one or two in reserve. One great thing about the story is that it doesn't rely at all on us thinking it likely.

Everyone, from composer to cameraman, did a fine job, and the cast does an even finer one. Angela Lansbury gives the performance of her life. Frank Sinatra I had never seen in a movie before, and I was surprised to discover that he can act - very well, too. It permeates down to the minor roles. Leslie Parrish as the charming innocent is certainly charming, but also subtle. "The Manchurian Candidate" would easily be the best of its kind even if it weren't the only of its kind.

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