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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
Manchurian Candidate, The
Universal acclaim
Based on 14 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 18 votes
Read user comments
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Movie Info
Genre(s): Drama | Suspense/Thriller
Written by:
Richard Condon (novel)
George Axelrod
Directed by: John Frankenheimer
Release Date:
Theatrical: October 24, 1962
DVD: March 24, 1998
Running Time: 126 minutes, B/W
Origin: USA
Summary
RATING: Not Rated
Starring Frank Sinatra, Laurence Harvey, Janet Leigh, Angela Lansbury, Henry Silva, James Gregory, Leslie Parrish, and John McGiver
John Frankenheimer's gripping political thriller about a group of American soldiers who are captured and brainwashed into becoming sleeper agents. (MGM)
Also On Metacritic
FILM: The Manchurian Candidate (2004)
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database View The Trailer Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten
Angela Lansbury's frighteningly in-check performance is alone worth the trip.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum
A veritable salad of mixed genres and emotional textures, this exciting black-and-white cold war thriller runs more than two hours and never flags for an instant...A powerful experience, alternately corrosive with dark parodic humor, suspenseful, moving, and terrifying.
Read Full Review >Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
Here is a movie that was made more than 25 years ago, and it feels as if it were made yesterday. Not a moment of The Manchurian Candidate lacks edge and tension and a cynical spin. [Re-release]
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Sheila Benson
The Manchurian Candidate proves that its fascination is intact. [12 Jan 1998, p.C1; Re-Release]
The New Yorker Pauline Kael
It may be the most sophisticated political satire ever made in Hollywood. (As quoted by Roger Ebert)
Variety Staff (Not Credited)
One of the wildest fabrications any author has ever tried to palm off on a gullible public. But the fascinating thing is that, from uncertain premise to shattering conclusion, one does not question plausibility of the events being rooted in their own cinematic reality.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Desson Thomson
Manchurian, with its fatalistic, dreamlike quality, comprises two of [Frankenheimer's] finest hours. [Re-release]
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly David Everitt
This gonzo satiric thriller is a riveting portrait of early-60's paranoia. [15 Nov 1996, p.82]
Time Richard Corliss
The performances are daring and assured, especially Lansbury's holy terror of Momism and Harvey's snide, pathetic pawn, brainwashed by both KGB AND CIA. [21 March 1988, p.84]
TV Guide Staff (Not Credited)
But it is Angela Lansbury's incestuous, power-mad mother who makes your blood run cold. This was the peak of the first part of her career, which depended upon these hardbitten kind of characters. Forget Hitchcock--here's the monster mother of all time.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Hal Hinson
An exceedingly loopy satire of the entire American political circus, and could be viewed as offensive to the sensitive-souled in either camp. And time hasn't in the least softened its bite. [Re-release]
Read Full Review >Film Threat Stuart Swineford
Complaints? Sure, I had a few: The liberal use of insta-sweat whenever the character in question is experiencing tension, Harvey's aforementioned accent, one over-used shot composition that places the action at a great distance with a giant-headed supporting actor in the extreme foreground. [Re-release]
Read Full Review >The New York Times Bosley Crowther
The film is so artfully contrived, the plot so interestingly started, the dialogue so racy and sharp, and John Frankenheimer's direction so exciting in the style of Orson Welles when he was making Citizen Kane and other pictures that the fascination of it is strong. So many fine cinematic touches and action details pop up that one keeps wishing the subject would develop into something more than it does.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 9.2 (out of 10) based on 18 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Thomas W. gave it a10:
Excellent! Spell binding!!
Pat C. gave it a10:
One of the Essentials. Both a well constructed film and an insightful articulation of the fears, suspicions and intrigue of the cold war era. Seems a litle over the top today, but hey, we still don't really know what really happened when Kennedy was shot. And that happened after this movie was made.
Frank O. gave it a10:
One of the best all-time political thrillers. Actually own this DVD and my collection is very selective. Plot was so controversial at production that release was delayed for years.
Keir S. gave it a10:
Incredible, timely film.
Kevin B. gave it a10:
Forget "Citizen Kane", "Casablanca" or "The Godfather".. this is the best movie ever! Still ahead of its time!
Gregory gave it a 10:
The classic. Chilling, especially Angela Lansbury's performance. Taut, with nothing added or omitted. The dream sequences are filmmaking at its best. The additional material on the DVD, specifically the interview with Frankenheimer and Sinatra, is interesting and provides the kind of context one longs for in the additional materials found on DVDs today. Films this good are rarely made today, and it is a sin, if not a crime, that the 2004 trash remake was ever green-lighted. Remaking films like "The Manchurian Candidate" reveals how bereft of creativity Hollywood has become. What's next? A remake of "Citizen Kane?"
Jason P. gave it a 10:
Frankenheimer's Manchurian Candidate deserves all of the praise it has received over the years. Still razor sharp over a third of a century later.
