Manchurian Candidate?

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at first i pretty much disliked it, but its slowly growing on me as i realize how bizarre portions of it are, even outside of the dream sequence. but what does bizarre-ness matter on its own? im beginning to think of it more and more as a satire of mccarthy's worst nightmare, shown as silly and bizarre as that nightmare would be. the dreams themselves are pretty hokey and overthetop, as are any portions involving soviets or chinese...am i going about this the right way? what do you think?

tom cleveland (tom cleveland), Tuesday, 13 April 2004 03:38 (twenty-two years ago)

er, er, why is no one replying to a thread about this great film?

anyway, the brainwashing sequences RoXoR, UR COMMIE FAGOT.

While it's not really a political film, it does suggest that McCarthyists are essentially as dangerous as the Communists they oppose, so yeah.

DV (dirtyvicar), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 12:54 (twenty-two years ago)

We're waiting for the new Denzel & Streep one.

Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 14:23 (twenty-two years ago)

holy christ, this abomination exists: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0368008/

DV (dirtyvicar), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 15:59 (twenty-two years ago)

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

BabyBuddha (BabyBuddha), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 20:04 (twenty-two years ago)

The Manchurian Candidate is a great film - original, daring for its time, blackly funny and quite scary. Plus it has the first martial arts fight scene in any American movie (I think). Which involves Frank Sinatra. So in a way it is responsible for Steven Segal & Jean Claude Van Damme. But I won't hold that against it....

This remake is directed by Jonathan Demme. Jonathan Demme. Who was, once upon a time, an interesting director of unusual films. I'm thinking of Last Embrace and Melvin & Howard and Something Wild. then he made The Silence of the Lambs, it made money, won Oscars, generated critical acclaim. And Demme changed. Since then, he has made a clammy,TV movie-esque film about AIDs redeemed only by Denzel Washingtons performance (Philadelphia), an overlong, overwrought and tedious literary adaption starring Oprah Winfrey (Beloved) and a remake of Charade reimagined as a Nouvelle Vague homage starring Marky Mark (The Truth About Charlie).
what happened to Jonathan Demme?
It makes me think, almost, of Arthur Penn....

David Nolan (David N.), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 23:42 (twenty-two years ago)

They've remade The Manchurian Candidate? Jesus - and I thought remaking The Ladykillers was sick.

Love the scene where Iselin crashes the press conference. Filming multiple viewpoints using TV monitors within the frame - just brilliant.

lint (Jack), Thursday, 15 April 2004 10:13 (twenty-two years ago)

seven months pass...
I've never read those little BFI books about classic films, but this excerpt of Greil Marcus on "Manchurian" intrigues:

http://books.guardian.co.uk/extracts/story/0,6761,754309,00.html


Do you know Frankenheimer drove Robert Kennedy to the hotel the night of his assassination?

Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Monday, 22 November 2004 20:08 (twenty-one years ago)

I've never read those little BFI books about classic films, but this excerpt of Greil Marcus on "Manchurian" intrigues:

http://books.guardian.co.uk/extracts/story/0,6761,754309,00.html


Do you know Frankenheimer drove Robert Kennedy to the hotel the night of his assassination?

And what do you make of the wack Leigh-Sinatra train conversation?

Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Monday, 22 November 2004 20:09 (twenty-one years ago)

i'd imagine the BFI book is worth picking up - marcus has a great essay on the film in "the dustbin of history". i generally like him, though, and i know he has his detractors. am anxiously awaiting his new book on the american ballad to arrive in the mail...

a spectator bird (a spectator bird), Monday, 22 November 2004 21:34 (twenty-one years ago)

three years pass...

they showed the remake last night on british tv - it was just as bad as i'd remembered - i.e. really really bad

one exchange jumped out at me though -

DONOVAN
In any endeavor, there are key players
and role players, and Raymond -- or you,
or me, for that matter -- I'm sorry -- we
are role players, with fixed values and
fixed agendas, that get weighed against
other factors.

ELLIE
Bullshit.
(then)
You can tell yourself that as you go to
bed tonight, David, and I hope it helps
you wake up tomorrow with a clean
conscience -- but we are talking about my
son and the future of this country.
(beat)
My father, Tyler Prentiss, never asked.
He just did what needed to be done.

it strongly recalled something for me but i couldn't remember what. then i remembered -- ron suskind's article about neocon hawks in the bush administration. i went and looked it up. published october 2004. "the manchurian candidate" remake was released in july 2004. weird. the quote from the suskind article:

"when we act, we create our own reality. And while you're studying that reality -- judiciously, as you will -- we'll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that's how things will sort out. We're history's actors... and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do."

Tracer Hand, Thursday, 17 January 2008 10:40 (eighteen years ago)

oh and also that's a pile of bullshit

El Tomboto, Thursday, 17 January 2008 10:58 (eighteen years ago)


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