A film that preceded, and no doubt, inspired Pakula’s paranoia thrillers from the 1970s, The Manchurian Candidate works mostly due to Frank Sinatra’s solid performance as Captain Bennett Marco and a tight-knit climax. The film opens with a good hook of intrigue - we are introduced to Bennett and Raymond Shaw (Laurence Harvey) in the middle of the Korean War and, through dreams and flashbacks, we learn of how they were hypnotised and brainwashed by enemy Communists. Shaw, the Communist’s main victim and titular candidate, is completely oblivious to the fact he has killed two of his own men in cold blood.
Upon returning to the US, Shaw is made a poster boy by his mother, in order to help his step-father’s political advancements. Bennett, on the other hand, tries to make sense of the flashbacks he has been having. Here, the film begins to meander slightly - some moments work better than others.
For example, Eugenie Rose is played excellently by Janet Leigh in her introductory scene but her character suddenly seems to disappear and provide no further use to the plot. Bennett’s fight with Henry Silva’s Chunjin is another highlight that seems to fade out only, turning into merely a spike of interest.
The slow pace is not what makes this film drag. In fact, the scene where Shaw meets his future wife, Jocelyn (Leslie Parrish), after having been bitten by a snake and subsequent scenes with them together make for some of the film’s more heartwarming moments. Unfortunately, this film chooses to spend its time jumping about the heart of the matter, rather than streamlining it to the point.
With great central performances and a wonderful kick-in-the-teeth ending, The Manchurian Candidate suffers slightly from drawn-out moments that don’t end up furthering the plot.
Score: 62/100