The Manchurian Candidate - opening scene

[EMCEMITCH]

SINATRA WAS BRILLIANT IN THIS---IRONICALLY, HE WAS SO UPSET BY JFK ASSASSINATION A YEAR AFTER THIS MOVIE WAS SHOW, USED HIS INFLUENCE TO BAN EVER SHOWING THIS FILM---IT WASNT SHOWN FOR 26 YEARS UNTIL 1989

[OrgoftheOrganized]

To this day Sirhan Sirhan does not remember shooting Robert Kennedy.

[goatboyful]

This was just on tv. I had never seen it before. Creepy, powerful,compelling and a scary performance from Angela Landsbury. A fine film.

[lazyfreedom98]

That's a rumor, Philip K. Dick was not involved in MK-Ultra.

[abrahamjohn101]

@bapyou. You sounds interesting "one-time head of the Communist Party USA and one of the first men targeted by America's post-World War 2 anti-communist pogroms". Was there a counterpart in USSR or in China or in N Korea or in Cuba, a political party who could speak up against the authorities ??? What would happened to Noam Chomsky & Gore Vidal, if they were living in a Communist state & were speaking against the state?? btw, would they have lived in these states, given an option??

[WhimsicalQuandary]

@abrahamjohn101

Chomsky is an anarcho-communist or classical libertarian, and thus against all states.

[Gravyballs2011]

The way Frankenheimer moved the camera around in a 360 degree to go from dream state to reality is a mind f*uck! Excellent!!

[mackles]

OUTSTANDING!!

[bapyou]

Anyone can identify the photos of Stalin and Mao on the wall behind lecturer Yen Lo (actor Khigh Dhiegh; for examples 2:23 and 3:00). But can someone identify the men on the wall to the right of Yen Lo at 3:23?

I'm realtively certain the man in the right-hand photo is William Z. Foster, one-time head of the Communist Party USA and one of the first men targeted by America's post-World War 2 anti-communist pogroms. The man on the left I can't seem to figure out who it is.

[bapyou]

For my money Greil Marcus has written the best essays on this movie. Read his book The Manchurian Candidate, and also the chapter about the movie in Marcus' book 'Ranters and Ravers.'

[sithmaster56a]

this was brillant when i watched it on dvd, it was actually a little scary at times

the remake just didn't have that quality to it

[MrByaeger]

love that 360 degree pan with no cuts. movie still holds up today, watch it every year. maybe i have been brainwashed too

[wowbobwow37]

This film set the standard for political thrillers and this sequence is legendary and was way ahead of its time.

[m1grant1987]

Man, wtf happened to Hollywood? How does all the garbage movies of today making billions in ticket sales compare to classic movies like these?

[timmymois]

@m1grant1987 dont look at the dollar value, don't even look at the amount of people that went to see the movie. look at the percentage of people that saw the movie and compare it to today. youll come to find that it is farely close....besides that, more people enjoy movies today than at any other time. back than people also enjoyed these things called books. they were a bunch of papers put together to make a story. weird.

[MCGeest]

@m1grant1987

You know I think this attitude to cinema is really strange. Talking about music I can understand it, but film? Yes crap tops the box office with much greater frequency than before, but there has been so much quality cinema SINCE the original blockbuster (Jaws).

I mean If I take a look at the imdb top lists for decades I honestly prefer the 90s to any other decade, the 00s and 80s weren't bad either, certainly better than the 70s and 60s (not that they were bad).

[Gheorgyi]

This opening is hilarious. Look at the expression of boredom on those soldiers' face , while the frumpish fat or gawky ladies in their flowery hats chatter, eat cake, drink their tea. I've seen real scenes of this kind once and again.

[SupernalOne]

Absolutely fucked up nightmare material - this film came out a week before JFK was shot, and was then banned for the next 30 years - I guess to keep Americans from freaking out and accusing one another - or maybe for a darker reason ...

Horrible depiction of a man manipulated thoroughly, totally, used like a kleenex - this is what people meant by mind control, whether or not it's actually achievable. For another take on it, see Brazil - if your mind isn't your own, what do you have left?

[carymc]

@SupernalOne A popular theory but not true. The movie fell out of the spotlight due to business decisions and disputes over profits. See Snopes.

[SupernalOne]

@carymc

aha - thanks

[radconserv86]

@SupernalOne Oh, mind control is achievable. My wife's mind is completely controlled by her mother.

[SupernalOne]

@radconserv86

LOL  :^)

[chrisconwaypeters]

cruelty to aniimals

[FfejNS]

The woman the camera stops on at 1:42 (smoking) and offers the scarf at 5:05 looks exactly like Kathy Bates (who would have been 14 in reality)

[mswarpedview]

One of the best edited scenes in moviedom.

[MrByaeger]

@mswarpedview amen to that. that 360 pan was flawless but i didnt even notice it happened until somebody pointed it out to me. and the dialogue change from flowers to brainwashing...awesome

[chrisconwaypeters]

absolutely true

[chrisconwaypeters]

vegtables

[Patrickphx11]

My Father's favorite Movie..

[brian4dotcom]

Spooky! It's cool how the director (John Frankenheimer) switches from the garden ladies to the communists

[jay55also]

The way they played it so casually and straight,was very good,dark comedic overtones done well. A very interesting movie,still better than the remake,which just took a slightly different direction.

[lefredvoncarstein]

and of course, mao and stalin were at odds with each other and there is no entity that venerated both equally, much less put their portraits side by side, but of course this gets glossed over in this B-film from the era of tacky acting.

just kidding, i like the classics.

[egogo816]

Where's Kim Il Sung?

[bapyou]

Great F-ing movie.

[Harlan346]

The voiceover at first in this scene is Paul Frees, who is still around. He did voices in Rocky & His Friends cartoon show.

[StraightOuttaDC]

This movie was way ahead of it's time.

And to be frank, if anyone doesn't believe that this is what is happening, then they should dive into oncoming traffic.

[7armedman]

@StraightOuttaDC This is happening exactly where?

[tcooperent]

@7armedman I believe it is suppose to be North Korea.

[cugamer]

@7armedman The unit of GI's are captured in Korea during the war, then taken to Manchuria which is north of Korea in China. That's where this scene is filmed and the conditioning experiments are carried out.

[Weirdfilms33]

Fantastic scene in a fantastic film. If possible, could you upload the opening theme as well? Thanks a lot

[HyperColours]

That was riveting! Its probably very common practice today.

[wsee]

@HyperColours no doubt...obama???

AND mccain...i think that was the in joke of the last campaign...like bush/kerry both skull and bones from the same year!!

TV, mainstream media and hollywood take care of the low level programming...

mk ultra is alive and well...

[HyperColours]

@wsee Agreed, Freedom and Democracy are ridiculous labels used by News Anchors, Spin Doctors and Politicians to lull the masses into a sheepish chant.