"Red Stripes in the American Flag"

I saw the new Manchurian Candidate, the one with the guy from Sphere, that under-water sci-fi flick from the 90's. I love that guy for some reason, and I'm not ashamed to admit it, though I am kind of ashamed to admit I liked Sphere. Don't remember a thing about the modern Manchurian but I can tell you the 1962 version is at least interesting with a beautifully set up and executed finale. Frankenheimer's a hell of a shot.

So the film deals with the Cold War and everyone being totally paranoid about nukes (duck and cover, kids), brainwashing, and the possibility of Communist infiltration to our very own United States soil (stuff is crawling with Beatles). I think Dylan was poking at the same paranoia when he wrote this...right around the same time this film came out actually:

Well, I was sittin' home alone an' started to sweat,

Figured they was in my T.V. set.

Peeked behind the picture frame,

Got a shock from my feet, hittin' right up in the brain.

Them Reds caused it!

The film also deals with moms and the potential they have to be a little bit wacky and ideas about how far that wackiness could go.

This thing bombed in the box office, which doesn't surprise me in the slightest bit. Not that it's bad, because it is most certainly is not - in fact, I feel the opposite.

It is however a strange film. It combines several different styles and the result is odd and I wouldn't be surprised to see certain viewers turned off by it. It can be most easily categorized as a thriller, however there are several other pieces to the pie... comedy, sci-fi, satire. This makes for a interesting end product (one that to me seems a little uneven).

The visual style is arresting and the images stuck to me for some reason. I'm not sure if the "movie people" say this, but that first shot with the queen of hearts costume is classic in my mind.

The direction in the film is fantastic. The last scene is put together fabulously and it really is surprising that this guy didn't have a more impressive career. The other scene that his direction really stuck out was when two men were yelling back and forth in a courtroom (I think it was a courtroom). The two men were never actually in the same shot (I don't think) instead Frankenheimer positioned TV sets that showed the opposite man in the direct line of shot of the other man. I thought that scene was expertly done and the tension that is build up in the final scene is also something I would attribute almost entirely to Frankenheimer's direction.

To answer the question posed in class, I think this film is most certainly a satire of everyone being so damn paranoid at the time. It is very well done, however I wonder, without knowledge of the historical context, if the film could be enjoyed to the same extent.

OutsideReading:

-Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb.
-Talkin' John Birch Paranoid Blues - Bob Dylan
-Sphere

Oh, Liev Schreiber's that guys name.