People find for what they can't have, a bleak Oedipal elegy for all the things you might be by now if your mother and father Undidactic, brilliantly stylized way to present American public life as an incest drama, a chronicle of the poor substitutes Halfway through the Freudian century, The Manchurian Candidate found a totally Outward delusion, self-delusion, and moral compromise. Uncover not just one unconscious but two in the American political system: first, the veiled machinations by which deals are brokeredĪnd charades are mounted to make the rabid self-interest of an élite class palatable and cosmetic for the voting masses second, theĭesperate longings and internalized traumas that make everyone, from average citizens to party operatives, vulnerable to exploitation, The earlier script by George Axelrod manages to
Something like Coppola's The Conversation is that Frankenheimer's movie was much more archetypal, arguably less wired to theĭistinctive manias of its moment and rooted instead in grim psychologisms.
The reason The Manchurian Candidate seems more eligible for reimagining than Channels of power, partisan politics, and the public shilling of electoral candidates haveĪll changed profoundly in the last forty years, without abating any of the wide-scale paranoias that fuel the earlier picture (as wellĪs the source novel by Richard Condon). Strikes me as especially renewable material, particularly for filmmakers interested in retooling the essential plotĪnd politics to suit new times. The Manchurian Candidate, however deliciously executed by John Frankenheimer and company in its 1962 incarnation, "He hasn't done anything to my book," Burroughs said, pointing to a copy on a nearby shelf. (I'm reminded of what Williamīurroughs said when an interviewer asked if he minded what David Cronenberg had done to his book Naked Sure, some remakes are unnecessary hack work, but when fertile foundations or intriguingĪctors or probing directors are involved, I'm in, whether it's Psycho or Cape Fear or Back in the early twentieth century, when the cinema was most closely connected to theater, Consider how well live theater has always complemented original work with successive productions and re-interpretations of Or, more specifically, they haven't tried in quiteĪs a matter of taste, I'm not one of those people who bristle at the notion of cinematic remakes, even when they are administered AndĮveryone involved with the film has tried, but they haven't tried enough.
Jonathan Demme's remake of The Manchurian Candidate was a film I wanted very much to like but couldn't. (And thanks to Karen, Cathleen, Theo, Shirleen, and Susan for good talk We all felt this was a fruitful and revealing way to watchīoth movies, and I recommend it wherever possible. I watched the new Manchurian Candidate at a 10:00 screening, immediately after revisiting theġ962 film on DVD with a bunch of interested friends and colleagues. Screenplay: Daniel Pyne and Dean Georgaris (based on the novel by Richard Condon and the 1962 screenplay by Cast: Denzel Washington, Liev Schreiber, Meryl Streep, Kimberly Elise, Jon Voight, Vera Farmiga,īruno Ganz, Jeffrey Wright, Simon McBurney, Robyn Hitchcock, Zeljko Ivanek, Obba Babatundé, Miguel Ferrer, Ted Levine,Īnthony Mackie. I'm so sorry they had to mess with something that was so perfect.Director: Jonathan Demme. The film, which was once taken out of circulation after the assassination of JFK, is now considered a classic.Ĭouric: "Angela Lansbury, who was nominated for an Academy Award in the original 'Manchurian Candidate' recently said, ‘I'm so unhappy. from assassinating a presidential candidate. The three of these Hollywood titans working together looks good on paper, right? Except, "Manchurian Candidate" is a remake of what was once called a masterpiece.īack in 1962, Frank Sinatra played the role of Major Bennett Marco, a Korean War veteran who's the only one who can stop a brainwashed fellow G.I. Denzel, why did you want to do this movie? Did you have fun working with Meryl? What's Meryl Streep like to work with? What do you think about Jonathan Demme? He's an incredible director, don't you think?"