I’ve seen
THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE many times and know its plot so thoroughly that it no longer holds
any surprises for me. Yet I still find it riveting and never cease to
marvel at all the performances, especially Frank Sinatra as the military
intelligence man who tries to foil a Communist plot to do a very bad
deed. In 1953, Sinatra won his only Oscar, as Best Actor, for his G.I.
role in FROM HERE TO ETERNITY, but it's for CANDIDATE he truly deserved
it. His acting is superb, as is that of co-stars Lawrence Harvey, Angela
Lansbury and James Gregory, thanks in no small part great part to John
Frankenheimer's strong direction. PLEASE don't bother to see the 2004
remake with Denzel Washington. A mess. (Trivia notes: In his karate
fight scene with a Korean bad guy, you can see Sinatra
actually break
his hand as it slices through a table. JFK loved this film, and Sinatra
was so upset after his assassination that he had the film shelved for
years.)
No comments:
Post a Comment