The Manchurian Candidate

[Mister P-Mosh]

I saw this movie, and thought it was fairly boring. The premise is that a large organization, similar to the Carlysle Group, implanted thought control devices into the brains of a group of soldiers in the war over Kuwait with Iraq. The company then got one of the soldiers on the White House ticket as the VP. Really, minus the mind control technology, reality is more shocking than this movie and there was very little suspense because it was difficult to care about the characters.

I haven't seen the first one, but I imagine it was a lot better.

[Zixar]

P-Mosh: The original is a classic. Sounds like they messed with the story enough that watching the original might just surprise you. You'll never look at Angela Lansbury the same way again... :)-->

Go rent it. Highly recommended.

[Tom Strange]

Demme was recently on "Dateline" and said he wanted to update the original... and since Communism (or a specific country) weren't our main fear anymore (words to that effect), he used "multi-national corporations" as the resident evil...

Zix, I think that's a good idea to see the original... I'm planning on watching it prior to seeing this one...

[Zixar]

Watch the scene where Frank Sinatra is having a fight in the apartment. When Sinatra goes to karate-chop the other guy, misses, and breaks the table, he actually broke his hand as well. The prop table hadn't been prepared right. In the same scene, the fight choreography got mixed up and he almost got kicked in the face, too.

There was a short discussion at the end of the VHS version in which Sinatra and John Frankenheimer talk about all this stuff. It's probably on the new cut of the DVD as well.

I probably never would have watched it, but my mother recommended it to me as a near-sci-fi movie. Now I find myself tuning in whenever I see it on the tv listings. Of course, that's just because the Chinese brainwashed me into watching it over and over again...

[Kit Sober]

My friend at work said Angela Lansbury said, something like the above as well (like, "it was perfect, why mess with it?")

I'm going to try to find the original first.

[Zixar]

When you're watching it, remember that Lansbury is only 3 years older than Laurence Harvey... :)-->

[def59]

It is funny that since Communism is no longer the enemy, Hollywood chose capitalism instead.

And if you listen the vets who fought with Kerry, does it not sound like the soldiers in both movies?

[Raf]

Never saw the original. Didn't like the remake at all.

[def59]

Raf

you have got to see the original.

It shows that (gasp) Sinatra could act.

[Shellon]

I finally saw this movie. I dug it.