2026 Blind Spot Series: The Manchurian Candidate (1962)

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Official Synopsis: An American POW in the Korean War is brainwashed as an unwitting assassin for an international Communist conspiracy.

What I knew going in: The basic plot

I worked at a movie theater in high school when the 2004 remake of this came out, but I never watched it. All I knew is that they changed a lot of major plot points to modernize it. I figured when I was ready to take the Manchurian plunge, I'd start with the original.

And I'm not going to lie, there were times where I wished I was watching Denzel instead of Frank Sinatra or Laurence Harvey, because lets be real they don't hold a candle to him, BUT thankfully this is a solid political thriller overall. It did a good job making you guess and building tension, though not without a few red herrings.

It's the ladies that are the biggest draw and also the biggest question mark of this film. Angela Lansbury give a great villain performance. Her scheming Eleanor Shaw is by far the most memorable character. Then we have Janet Leigh, who plays Sinatra's quasi-love interest. I was so sure her character was going to end up being something else. Without going into spoiler territory, I'll leave it at that, but her character is a puzzling choice. Then there's Leslie Parish who is just too sweet for this world. They were the ones that made the biggest impression on me.

Over all, I think this is a very well made film and I can only imagine the paranoia is caused at the time. I didn't love it as much as I was hoping I would, but it was still a good watch.

Those Tubi commercials reeeeeeeeeeeeally took me out though.

Grade: B-


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