History Literature / TheManchurianCandidate

The first movie adaptation stars FrankSinatra as Marco and Laurence Harvey as Shaw. Creator/AngelaLansbury plays Shaw's mother Eleanor Iselin. It is a very faithful adaptation of the novel, with much of the dialogue taken straight from the book.

* DramaticIrony: "I think, if John Iselin were a paid Soviet agent, he could not do more to harm this country than he's doing now." [[spoiler: He is one.]]

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Marco manages to undo some Shaw's of brainwashing, which allows him to shoot his mother and Senator Iselin instead of the nominee, thereby foiling the communist plot. But the victory comes at the cost of Shaw's will to live, now being unable to live with the knowledge of the things he did when he was "activated."]]

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Marco manages to undo some Shaw's brainwashing, which allows him to shoot his mother and Senator Iselin instead of the nominee, thereby foiling the communist plot. But the victory comes at the cost of Shaw's happiness, (likely) his sanity, and his will to live.]]

* HotMom / EvilIsSexy: The novel portrays Raymond's mother as a gorgeous woman despite her age. Too bad she's a ruthless, power-hungry psycho.

The first movie adaptation stars FrankSinatra as Marco and Laurence Harvey as Shaw. AngelaLansbury plays Shaw's mother Eleanor Iselin. It is a very faithful adaptation of the novel, with much of the dialogue taken straight from the book.

* BillingDisplacement: Janet Leigh over AngelaLansbury, who plays a much more important role.

** ThrowItIn: The scene where Marco tries to break Raymond's brainwashing using a deck of cards comprised totally of Queens of Diamonds is out of focus. Frank Sinatra didn't quite match the intensity of his first performance in subsequent takes, so they used the blurry one. It kind of works to represent Raymond's disorientation.

* FakeAmerican: Angela Lansbury and Laurence Harvey, who are both British.

* PlayingAgainstType: It wasn't playing against type at the time, as Lansbury had played her fair share of schemers and antagonists. But for a modern day viewer who might know her from ''MurderSheWrote'' or ''Disney/BeautyAndTheBeast'', watching her play Mrs. Iselin could be jarring.

* RealLifeRelative: The 2004 film co-stars Pablo Schreiber, half-brother of star Liev Schreiber.

* ThrowItIn: The scene in the 1962 film where [[spoiler:Major Marco overrides Sgt. Shaw's brainwashing by showing him an entire deck of Queens of Diamonds]] has Major Marco slightly out of focus. While this accurately reflects Shaw's state of mind at the moment, it was actually a technical glitch.
** The fight scene where Ben punches his hand through a table is actually Frank Sinatra accidentally punching his hand through a freakin' table and breaking a finger. The injury didn't heal properly and bothered him for the rest of his life.

!! TheManchurianCandidate contains examples of:

* BadHabits: The sleeper agent dresses as a priest to assassinate the President of the United States.

* {{Expy}}: Senator John Iselin in the original novel is clearly an Expy of Joe McCarthy.

** Raymond's mother's party is also not named in the book. Only in the 1962 film is the Republican party specifically named.

** ThrowItIn: The scene where Marco tries to break Raymond's brainwashing using a deck of cards comprised totally of Queens of Diamonds is out of focus. Frank Sinatra didn't quite match the intensity of the performance in subsequent takes, so they used the blurry one. It kind of works to represent Raymond's disorientation.

The 2004 remake updates the setting to Operation Desert Storm, makes the bad guys an evil corporation instead of communists, and stars DenzelWashington as Ben Marco and Liev Schrieber as Raymond Shaw. MerylStreep plays Shaw's mother, Senator Eleanor Prentiss Shaw. It also adds a twist.

Years later Marco, now an intelligence officer, starts suffering from a recurring nightmare about Shaw murdering two of his comrades, all observed by Chinese and Russian officers. When Marco learns that another soldier from the platoon also has been suffering the same nightmare, he sets to uncovering the mystery - and makes a terrifying discovery. Shaw is being used as a sleeper agent for the Communists, programmed as a guiltless assassin, subconsciously activated with a particular trigger - the Queen of Diamonds in a deck of cards. Thus, he is activated, kills the target, and immediately forgets. Shaw's controller is his own mother, who is working with the Communists in order to quietly overthrow the United States government with her Manchurian Candidate. [[spoiler: His programming is eventually broken by Marco using a deck of cards entirely composed of the Queen of Diamonds.]]

* CatchPhrase: "Raymond Shaw is the kindest, bravest, warmest, most wonderful human being I've ever known in my life."[[note]]Except that [[JerkAss he]] ''isn't''.[[/note]]

* HotMom / EvilIsSexy: The novel portrays Raymond's mother as a gorgeous woman despite her age. Too bad she's a ruthless, power-hungry psycho.

** That depends, largely on what kind of drugs you have at your disposal. Short version: if you've got someone really skilled and the cash to spend (and it is implied that Manchurian Global put a great deal of money into this endeavor), then yes, you can certainly make someone do something they really really don't want to do.

* CatchPhrase: "Raymond Shaw is the kindest, bravest, warmest, most wonderful human being I've ever known in my life."[[note]]Except that [[JerkAss He]] ''isn't''[[/note]]

* ContrivedCoincidence: Raymond's mind control trigger is a queen of diamonds playing card. Guess what his LoveInterest Jocie Jordan dresses as for Halloween?

* CatchPhrase: "Raymond Shaw is the kindest, bravest, warmest, most wonderful human being I've ever known in my life."[[note]]Except that [[JerkAss He]] ''[[OOCAlert isn't.]]''[[/note]]

* CatchPhrase: "Raymond Shaw is the kindest, bravest, warmest, most wonderful human being I've ever known in my life."

* RuleOfThree: The rule of thirds is dramatically averted in the first shot of Janet Leigh. She is presented right in the middle of the frame. It's a bit startling.

Years later Marco, now an intelligence officer, starts suffering from a recurring nightmare about Shaw murdering two of his comrades, all observed by Chinese and Russian officers. When Marco learns that another soldier from the platoon also has been suffering the same nightmare, he sets to uncovering the mystery - and makes a terrifying discovery. Shaw is being used as a sleeper agent for the Communists, programmed as a guiltless assassin, subconsciously activated with a particular trigger - the Queen of Diamonds in a deck of cards. Thus, he is activated, kills the target, and immediately forgets. Shaw's controller is his own mother, who is working with the Communists in order to quietly overthrow the United States government with her Manchurian Candidate. [[spoiler: His programing is eventually broken by Marco using a deck of cards entirely composed of the Queen of Diamonds.]]

* IKEAWeaponry: The 1962 film is possibly the TropeCodifier, coming out just a year before ''FromRussiaWithLove''.

* YellowPeril: Dr. Yen Lo, the sinister brainwasher in the 1962 film. Dr. Lo was played by Khigh Dieigh (born Kenneth Dickerson), a British actor of Sudanese ancestry, who specialized in playing sinister Asian villains, most notably Wo Fat on ''Series/HawaiiFiveO''.

* SatelliteCharacter / ShallowLoveInterest: In the novel and 1962 film Rosie pops up out of nowhere, helps calm Marco down at a point where the nightmares are really getting to Marco, and then does absolutely nothing else except [[MsFanservice fill out some sweaters nicely]] in the movie. The singularly bizarre nature of Rosie's first two conversations with Marco, and the general pointlessness of her character, have led some to speculate that she is a DeepCoverAgent deliberately sent after Sinatra. (See Roger Ebert's [[http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20031207/REVIEWS08/40802006/1023 review]].) In the remake this is made explicit.

* IKEAWeaponry: The 1962 film is possibly the TropeCodifier.

[[TheStinger Now, why don't you pass the time by playing a little solitaire?]]