The Way of the Game

The Way of the Game


We Just Watched a Movie – The Manchurian Candidate

November 09, 2014

The Manchurian Candidate this week.  Aguirre: The Wrath of God next week.  As always, follow along on our iCheckMovies list, and be sure to let us know how you'd rank the movies in the comments below.  You'll also find our ranked lists on iCheckMovies: Jonathan's, Michael's, and Nathaniel's.

The Manchurian Candidate – October 24, 1962

Director: John Frankenheimer
Producer: George Axelrod, John Frankenheimer
Writers: George Axelrod
Actors: Frank Sinatra, Laurence Harvey, Janet Leigh, Angela Lansbury, James Gregory
Distributor: United Artists

The course of the conversation:
What happens when a plot enters the cultural consciousness?
Jonathan spoiled himself on Game of Thrones, and we're supposed to feel sorry for him?
Successful suspense, despite knowing what's coming next.
Serious props to the director and cinematographer for some of the really clever shots.
Laurence Harvey brings lots of depth to a shallow character, assuming he really is shallow.
Frank Sinatra's got chops.
Is Will Smith the modern-day Sinatra? At least, the closest we've got?
There are definitely some questionable elements to the story:
Who is Janet Leigh's character, and what's with the weird conversation?
Why doesn't Marco step in and stop Shaw earlier?
Obvious sniper's nest is obvious.
The Russians just kind of disappear.
But then, maybe the intention was to highlight shadowy paranoia.
Angela Lansbury was so successfully creepy that adding incest would be pointless.
Can you tell Jonathan had been watching a lot of Game of Thrones?
The uniquely American emotions of compassion and guilt.
A lesson in how satire can be destroyed by reality.
Oscar debates.
The guys claim they're going to the list, but they just kind of keep talking:
Memento in chronological order.
Guy Pearce.
The new Silent Hill.
Pan's Labyrinth.
Guillermo del Toro's horror aesthetic.
The old Silent Hill.
Resident Evil.
Back to your regularly scheduled programming.
Michael finds The Manchurian Candidate to fall right in line with Charade.
Jonathan finds really black humor in the film, of which he's a big fan.
Nathaniel kicks it up to Dr. Strangelove, but doesn't see the comedy.
The guys then debate whether this could be a black comedy.