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47-394: The Manchurian Candidate is a 1959 political thriller novel by Richard Condon. The Manchurian Candidate may also refer to: The Manchurian Candidate The Manchurian Candidate is a novel by Richard Condon , first published in 1959. It is a political thriller about the son of a prominent U.S. political family who is brainwashed into being an unwitting assassin for

94-494: A Communist conspiracy. The novel has twice been adapted into a feature film with the same title: the first was released in 1962 and the second in 2004 . Major Bennett Marco, Sergeant Raymond Shaw, and the rest of their infantry platoon are captured by an elite Soviet commando unit during the Korean War in 1952. They are taken to Manchuria , and brainwashed into believing Shaw saved their lives in combat – for which Shaw

141-403: A sleeper agent who, activated by a post-hypnotic trigger, immediately forgets the assignments he carries out and therefore can never betray the operation either purposely or inadvertently. In Shaw's case, the suggestion that he play solitaire is the trigger. Seeing the queen of diamonds playing card transforms him into an assassin who will kill anyone at whom he is directed. Shaw's KGB handler

188-559: A backstage crew member. In the 2016 MCU movie, "Captain America: Civil War," Tony Stark references the novel, nicknaming the Winter Soldier, Bucky Barnes, "Manchurian Candidate". According to Nadine Dorries in 2023, former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson viewed then-current UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak as being "like a Manchurian Candidate" installed by Dominic Cummings . Science Fiction Poul Anderson took up

235-462: A counter-cult sociologist, notes that the term "brainwashing" used by this counterculture movement was first made popular by The Manchurian Candidate . The ever growing fear that anyone, even a decorated soldier like Raymond Shaw, could be coerced unwittingly by communists contributed to the United States’ expansion of their own mind control experiments. In 1975, a little over ten years after

282-451: A job at a newspaper published by Holborn Gaines, Iselin's harshest critic. Communist agents later have Shaw murder Gaines to confirm that his brainwashing still works. Chunjin, a North Korean agent who posed as a guide for Shaw's platoon, arrives at Shaw's apartment asking for work. The unsuspecting Shaw hires him as a valet and cook. Marco recognizes Chunjin when he visits Shaw; he violently attacks him and demands to know what happened during

329-602: A lethargic nation to a communist menace". Humanities Center director [Timothy Melley] argued that " The Manchurian Candidate ' s deepest worry is neither communism nor anticommunism but embattled human autonomy." In 1994, The Manchurian Candidate was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". The film ranked 67th on

376-472: A programmed assassin, never knowing it would be her own son. When taking power, she vows revenge upon her superiors for choosing him. Disguised as a priest, Shaw enters Madison Square Garden , taking a sniper's position in a vacant overhead spotlight booth. Marco and his supervisor, Colonel Milt, race to the convention to stop Shaw. At the last moment, Shaw aims away from the presidential nominee and instead kills Senator Iselin and Eleanor. When Marco bursts into

423-601: A prominent political family. Shaw is brainwashed by communists after his Army platoon is captured. He returns to civilian life in the United States, where he becomes an unwitting assassin in an international communist conspiracy. The group, which includes representatives of the People’s Republic of China and the Soviet Union , plans to assassinate the presidential nominee of an American political party, with

470-447: A recurring nightmare: a hypnotized Shaw blithely murders two soldiers from his platoon before an assembly of communist military leaders to demonstrate their revolutionary brainwashing technique. Marco learns that Allen Melvin, a fellow soldier, has the same nightmare. When Melvin and Marco separately identify identical photos of the two male communist leaders from their dreams, Army Intelligence agrees to investigate. During captivity, Shaw

517-595: Is a major plot point in the 1999 novel False Memory by Dean Koontz . The novel's title is referenced in many TV shows: In the season 4 episode "Chuck versus Phase Three" of the TV series Chuck , the protagonist compares his experience of remembering dreams to The Manchurian Candidate . In season 2 episode 3 of The Eric Andre Show , during a segment with Downtown Julie Brown , Eric Andre reveals that he programmed Hannibal Buress to be his "Manchurian Candidate" before using his trigger phrase to force Hannibal into shooting

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564-484: Is arrested, and when Shaw sees that it is his old major they rekindle their old friendship. Both find love interests: for Marco, it is Rose Cheyney, whom he meets on a train; and for Shaw, it is Jocelyn Jordan, the daughter of Senator Thomas Jordan, a neighbor of Shaw's. Senator Jordan and Shaw's mother do not like each other, but Shaw continues to see Jocelyn. It is revealed that the Communists have been using Shaw as

611-839: Is based on McCarthy's counsel Roy Cohn . A stage adaptation by John Lahr opened in London in 1991, and has since played in the United States. Kevin Puts has adapted the work into an opera. His opera The Manchurian Candidate premiered in March 2015 at the Minnesota Opera . It has been performed by the Austin Opera and at the Seagle Festival in the Adirondacks of New York. A copy of The Manchurian Candidate

658-544: Is his domineering mother, Eleanor. Married to McCarthy -esque Senator Johnny Iselin, Eleanor has convinced the Communist powers to help install her husband as president and allow them to control the American government through him. By observing Shaw, Marco discovers the trigger shortly before the national convention of Iselin's political party. He uses the queen of diamonds card to draw out Eleanor's plan: after she obtains

705-420: Is prepared to throw other ingredients into the pot." Jonathan Lethem , in his influential essay "The Ecstasy of Influence: A Plagiarism", included Condon's novels as "texts that become troubling to their admirers after the discovery of their 'plagiarized' elements". The book has twice been adapted into a feature film of the same title. The 1962 adaptation , considered a classic of the political thriller genre,

752-462: Is subsequently awarded the Medal of Honor . Years after the war, Marco, now back in the United States working as an intelligence officer , begins suffering a recurring nightmare in which the seated platoon members are surrounded by a group of sweet little old ladies who had been a part of their brainwashing. One of the ladies tells Sergeant Shaw to murder two of his platoon comrades. The backdrop with

799-462: Is the ex-fiancée of one of his associates handling the Shaw case for Army Intelligence, making things between the couple tense. The movie adaptations also all but omit the novel's portrayal of incest between Shaw and his mother, only hinting at it with a mouth-to-mouth kiss. As a child, Mrs. Iselin was sexually abused by her father, but fell in love with him and idolized him after his early death. Towards

846-512: The Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". Soviet and Chinese soldiers capture a U.S. Army platoon during the Korean War , taking them to communist China . Three days later, Sergeant Raymond Shaw and Captain Bennett "Ben" Marco return to UN lines. Upon Marco's recommendation, Shaw is awarded the Medal of Honor for saving his soldiers' lives in combat, though two men were killed. Shaw returns to

893-490: The vice presidential nomination for Iselin, Shaw is to shoot the presidential candidate so that Iselin can succeed him. Blaming the killing on the Communists will enable Iselin to assume dictatorial powers. Marco reprograms Shaw, although it is unclear until the final pages whether this is successful. At the convention, Shaw instead shoots and kills his mother and Senator Iselin. Marco is the first person to reach Shaw's sniper nest, getting there just before Shaw kills himself with

940-470: The " AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies " when that list was first compiled in 1998, but a 2007 revised version excluded it. It was 17th on AFI's " AFI's 100 Years...100 Thrills " lists. In April 2007, Lansbury's character was selected by Time as one of the 25 greatest villains in cinema history. According to a false rumor, Sinatra removed the film from distribution after John F. Kennedy's assassination on November 22, 1963. According to Michael Schlesinger, who

987-446: The U.S., where his mother, Eleanor Iselin, exploits his heroism to further the political career of her husband, Senator John Iselin. When asked to describe Shaw, two soldiers in his unit uniformly respond that he is the kindest, bravest, warmest, most wonderful human being they have ever known. In fact, Shaw is a strict, cold, unsympathetic loner hated by his men. After Marco is promoted to major and assigned to Army Intelligence , he has

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1034-589: The basic plot element of The Manchurian Candidate in the novel Game of Empire  – one of Anderson's far-future spy thriller series, where the dashing Dominic Flandry , secret agent of the star-spanning Terran Empire, confronts the agents of the rival Merseian Empire. Among other exploits, Flandry foils an audacious Merseian plot to place a Merseian agent on the Terran Imperial throne itself. The Manchurian Candidate (1962 film) The plot centers on Korean War veteran Raymond Shaw, part of

1081-519: The booth, Shaw, wearing the Medal of Honor, says he was the only one who could stop his mother and stepfather, then kills himself. Later that evening with Rosie, Marco mourns Shaw's death. Sinatra suggested Lucille Ball for the role of Eleanor Iselin, but Frankenheimer, who had worked with Lansbury in All Fall Down , insisted that Sinatra watch her performance in that film before a final choice

1128-560: The box office. The film updated the conflict and setting the Persian Gulf War in 1991, had a U.S. corporation (called "Manchurian Global") as the perpetrator of the brainwashing and conspiracy instead of foreign Communist groups, and dropped the Johnny Iselin character in favor of making both Shaw and his mother elected politicians. Both adaptations discard several elements of the book. The book spends more time describing

1175-586: The brainwashers and the facility in Manchuria where the Americans were held. The head of the project grants Shaw a "gift"; after his brainwashing, he becomes quite sexually active, in contrast to his reserved nature beforehand where he had not even kissed his love interest, Jocelyn Jordan. In the novel, Mrs. Iselin and her son travel abroad, where she uses him to kill various political figures and possibly Jocelyn Jordan's first husband. Rosie, Marco's love interest,

1222-470: The communist leaders refer to Raymond as "the mechanism" and "the weapon", which affirms the idea that communists only see people as gadgets that can be thrown away after their use. The film depicts communists as eager to give up their lives, which are expendable in their eyes anyway, for the cause of universal communism, which is a "less than essential end".   In The Manchurian Candidate , communists are not peers, but instead relate to each other within

1269-455: The conditioned subject, and the moving image" to create a realistic framework for the existence of mind control. Specifically, it plays on the idea of a "covert sphere" of communism within the US, mixing real life events with those out of science fiction. This theme added to the growing suspicion of the US government, redirecting concerns of possible brainwashing toward the homefront. Janja Lalich ,

1316-512: The death leading to the overthrow of the U.S. government. The film was released in the United States on October 24, 1962, at the height of U.S.–Soviet hostility during the Cuban Missile Crisis . It was widely acclaimed by Western critics and was nominated for two Academy Awards : Best Supporting Actress (Angela Lansbury) and Best Editing . It was selected in 1994 for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by

1363-514: The end of the book, as Shaw is hypnotized by the Queen of Diamonds, he reminds her of her father and they sleep together. The 1962 version does not state outright the political affiliation of Senators Iselin and Jordan (implied to be Republicans), although in the 2004 film the equivalent characters are Democrats . According to David Willis McCullough, Senator Iselin is modeled on Republican senator Joseph McCarthy and, according to Condon, Shaw's mother

1410-504: The film as being a "lonely Kennedy Hero," who works within the army bureaucracy towards reform. In the garden scene, pictures of Mao Zedong and Joseph Stalin are hung on the wall with a Soviet star in between them and the head of the Manchurian candidates standing beneath the star. This insinuates a collaboration between China and Russia with the goal to manipulate the US for communist world domination. During their demonstration,

1457-409: The gun. In 1998, software developer C. J. Silverio noted that several long passages of the novel seemed to be adapted from Robert Graves 's 1934 novel I, Claudius . Forensic linguist John Olsson judged: "There can be no disputing that Richard Condon plagiarized from Robert Graves." Olsson went on to state: "As plagiarists go, Condon is quite creative, he does not confine himself to one source and

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1504-620: The hierarchy of communist leaders. For example, there are rows of communist leaders who all look down upon the Manchurian Candidates in the garden scene. In addition, Raymond Shaw’s mother only uses those around her, like her son and husband, as pawns in her communist ploy to gain a powerful position through her husband’s candidacy for Vice President of the US. This is juxtaposed with the loving, trusting, and open relationships like those between Shaw and Jocelyn Jordan, and Marco and Cheyney. The Manchurian Candidate uses "science,

1551-513: The morning that the scene where Marco and her character first meet on a train was filmed. In the scene where Marco attempts to deprogram Shaw in a hotel room opposite the convention, Sinatra is at times slightly out of focus. It was a first take, and Sinatra failed to be as effective in subsequent retakes, a common factor in his film performances. In the end, Frankenheimer elected to use the out-of-focus take. Critics subsequently praised him for showing Marco from Shaw's distorted point of view. In

1598-489: The most "iconic" films of the Cold War period, especially in its discussion of "mind-control." With one of the major plot points being the popular Cold War myth that China was brainwashing US soldiers for communist purposes during the Korean War . Political scientist Michael Rogin further cements the film in this time period by describing it as being "a Kennedy Administration film." Rogin cites Sinatra's character within

1645-517: The nomination. After Jocelyn inadvertently triggers Shaw's programming by wearing a Queen of Diamonds costume at the Iselins' party, they elope. Furious at Senator Jordan's rebuff, Eleanor—who is Shaw's American "operator" (handler)—sends him to kill Senator Jordan at his home. Shaw also kills Jocelyn when she inadvertently happens upon the murder scene. Having no memory of the killing, Shaw is grief-stricken upon learning they are dead. After discovering

1692-522: The novel, Eleanor Iselin's father had sexually abused her as a child. Before the dramatic climax, she uses her son's brainwashing to have sex with him. Concerned with the reaction to even a reference to a taboo topic like incest in a mainstream film at that time, the filmmakers instead had Eleanor kiss Shaw on the lips to imply her incestuous attraction to him. Nearly half the film's $ 2.2 million production budget went to Sinatra's salary for his performance. The Manchurian Candidate has been called one of

1739-463: The old ladies changes back and forth between them and Chinese/Soviet intelligence officials. When Marco learns that another of the platoon's soldiers has been suffering the exact same nightmare, he starts looking into why this is happening. Major Marco looks up Sergeant Raymond Shaw and discovers that Shaw's new manservant is someone he recognizes from Korea. Marco and the manservant start fighting in Shaw's house and both are bloodied significantly. Marco

1786-403: The platoon's captivity. After Marco is arrested for assault, Eugenie "Rosie" Cheyney, an attractive young woman he met on the train, posts his bail. Shaw rekindles a romance with Jocelyn Jordan, the daughter of liberal Senator Thomas Jordan, the Iselins' chief political foe. Eleanor wants to garner Senator Jordan's support for Iselin's vice-presidential bid. Unswayed, Jordan insists he will oppose

1833-453: The queen of diamonds card's role in Shaw's conditioning, Marco uses a forced deck to deprogram him, hoping to learn Shaw's next assignment. Eleanor primes Shaw to assassinate their party's presidential nominee during the convention so that Iselin, as the vice-presidential candidate, will become the nominee by default. In the uproar, he will seek emergency powers to establish a strict authoritarian regime. Eleanor tells Shaw that she had requested

1880-467: The release of The Manchurian Candidate , the fear of a US-funded mind control scheme would come true with the reveal of Project MKUltra , in which the CIA looked to control human behavior through trauma programming and psychoactive drugs starting in the early 1950s and ending in 1973. According to the CIA, "historians have asserted that creating a 'Manchurian Candidate' subject through 'mind control' techniques

1927-597: Was a goal of MK-ULTRA and related CIA projects." Film critic Roger Ebert listed The Manchurian Candidate on his "Great Movies" list, declaring that it is "inventive and frisky, takes enormous chances with the audience, and plays not like a 'classic', but as a work as alive and smart as when it was first released". On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes , The Manchurian Candidate holds an approval rating of 97% rating based on 60 reviews, with an average rating of 8.70/10. The website's critical consensus reads: "A classic blend of satire and political thriller that

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1974-408: Was directed by John Frankenheimer , and starred Laurence Harvey as Shaw, Frank Sinatra as Marco, and Angela Lansbury as Eleanor in an Academy Award -nominated performance. The 2004 adaptation was directed by Jonathan Demme , and starred Liev Schreiber as Shaw, Denzel Washington as Marco, and Meryl Streep as Eleanor. It was generally well received by critics, and moderately successful at

2021-583: Was made. Although Lansbury played Raymond Shaw's mother, she was, in fact, only three years older than Laurence Harvey, who played Shaw. An early scene in which Shaw, recently decorated with the Medal of Honor, argues with his parents was filmed in Sinatra's own private plane. Janet Leigh plays Marco's love interest. In a short biography of Leigh broadcast on Turner Classic Movies , her daughter, actress Jamie Lee Curtis , reveals that Leigh had been served divorce papers on behalf of her father, actor Tony Curtis ,

2068-507: Was programmed as a sleeper agent , who obeys orders to kill and immediately forgets having done so. His heroism is a false memory implanted during the brainwashing. Agents trigger Shaw by suggesting he play solitaire ; the queen of diamonds activates him. Meanwhile, Eleanor is masterminding John's political ascent with his baseless claims that communists work at the Defense Department. To spite his mother and stepfather, Shaw takes

2115-515: Was responsible for the film's 1988 reissue by MGM/UA , the film was never removed. Newspaper display ads indicate that after the assassination, The Manchurian Candidate was rereleased less frequently or widely than other 1962 movies, but it was available. The movie played at a Brooklyn cinema in January 1964, and that same month in White Plains, New York , and Jersey City, New Jersey. It

2162-582: Was televised nationwide on CBS Thursday Night Movie on September 16, 1965. Sinatra's representatives acquired rights to the film in 1972 after the initial contract with United Artists expired. The film was rebroadcast on nationwide television in April 1974 on NBC Saturday Night at the Movies . After a showing at the New York Film Festival in 1987 increased public interest in the film,

2209-578: Was uncomfortably prescient in its own time, The Manchurian Candidate remains distressingly relevant today." On Metacritic , which uses a weighted average , the film has a score of 94 out of 100, based on 20 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". Scholars have used The Manchurian Candidate as a window into Cold War paranoia. Professor Catherine Canino claimed that the film fulfilled the prophecies of "the imagined loss of cherished American autonomy and free will". Political scientist Michael Rogin concluded that The Manchurian Candidate "aims to reawaken

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