The Manchurian Candidate is a 1962 political thriller, directed by John Frankenheimer, written by George Axelrod and which starred Frank Sinatra, Laurence Harvey, Angela Lansbury and James Gregory. Lansbury was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress (won by Patty Duke for The Miracle Worker).
In the film, a platoon of American soldiers, including Captain Marco (Sinatra) and Sergeant Shaw (Harvey), are captured during the Korean War and brought to Manchuria (northeastern China) to undergo brainwashing by Russian and Chinese agents. After three days, all but two of the soldiers (killed by Shaw under Chinese influence) are returned to American lines. Unbeknownst to Shaw, he has been programmed to act as a sleeper-agent assassin for America's enemies.
Shaw's mother, Eleanor Iselin (Lansbury), is married to U.S. Senator John Iselin (Gregory), a prototype of Senator Joseph McCarthy (see post), who believes there are 57 known communists working in the Defense Department (but won't identify them by name). He chooses the number 57 after looking at a bottle of Heinz ketchup.
Eleanor is also an American co-conspirator whose job it is to handle her son, the Chinese programmed assassin. She's angry the Chinese chose her own son for this role and vows revenge.
Eventually, Senator Iselin is selected as a major party's vice presidential candidate. He and his wife will be at Madison Square Garden in New York, along with the presidential candidate, on the night the party's candidates will be officially nominated.
Eleanor programs her son to assassinate the presidential candidate at the above event. This would automatically make her husband the new presidential candidate with an excellent chance of becoming the next president of the United States and someone under the control of a foreign government.
However, Shaw kills his mother and Senator Iselin instead of what had been planned. He dies a patriot after committing suicide.
Is it possible Russia or China could put their own man/woman in the White House as portrayed in The Manchurian Candidate?
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