Candidates

The Manchurian Candidate (Widescreen Edition)
$9.98
The film begins with soldiers gambling. The flames suggest the Iraq war of 1991. There is an ambush. Sergeant Raymond Shaw won the Congressional Medal of Honor for his actions in the battle. Years later Major Marco tells the Boy Scouts about this event. Corporal Melvin tells of his bad dreams. A news program tells of problems for the American people. Congressman Raymond Shaw makes a speech to cheers. "We can prevail." [Who is "we"?] Politicians pick the party ticket. Elly Shaw pleads for her son Congressman Shaw as the VP. It works. Does Major Marco recover a forgotten memory? "Don't touch me." Marco gets his orders and meds. Shaw practices his rhetoric on the public. Later he has a strange experience. What about his brain? "Do you remember me?"

Marco meets Eugen���e Rose on the train to New York city. Who would implant a chip in his back? [Does the film start to drag here?] Does the conversation between Shaw and Marco seem real? Is the confrontation too dramatic? "He hit me!" Did the Army experiment on its soldiers? Will that physician work on Marco? Can a brain be rebooted from a crash? Can he recover his memory? [Is the story becoming weird?] Marco reads about "Manchurian Global". Senator Thomas Jordan explains it to Marco. Later he discusses this with Raymond and Eleanor Shaw! Does Jordan have a suggestion to regain the VP slot? Will this problem be neutralized? Jocelyn runs out of the house without a cell phone or firearm! Does it look like an accident?

Is the Shadow Unit watching Marco? Could a powerful corporation use scientists to create global changes? Will friendship trump sworn duty? Does Elly have more balls in her game? There is another meeting between Shaw and Marco. Was this foreseen? Is there a diabolical plot? Will the country be saved? Will there be a dramatic and shocking ending? [You know its coming.] Will the plan go wrong? And so another "lone gunman" changes history again. Will history be rewritten again?

This more complex recreation of the original isn't as good. But it is good enough if you never saw the 1962 film or read the novel by Richard Condon. Was the personality of Elly based on a well-known politician? There was no need for "Manchurian" in the title given the extensive changes in the story. "The Corporate Candidate" would be more apt. Corporations have been controlling politicians since the Civil War era. Before that the privilege of limited liability was reserved only for those who served the public need (water supplies, canals, railroads).
[I wonder if the original story of a lost patrol that led to political success was a subtle parody of PT-109? What would happen to America if someone became President because his father was a powerful politician or Executive?]

The Manchurian Candidate [HD DVD]
$29.99
The film begins with soldiers gambling. The flames suggest the Iraq war of 1991. There is an ambush. Sergeant Raymond Shaw won the Congressional Medal of Honor for his actions in the battle. Years later Major Marco tells the Boy Scouts about this event. Corporal Melvin tells of his bad dreams. A news program tells of problems for the American people. Congressman Raymond Shaw makes a speech to cheers. "We can prevail." [Who is "we"?] Politicians pick the party ticket. Elly Shaw pleads for her son Congressman Shaw as the VP. It works. Does Major Marco recover a forgotten memory? "Don't touch me." Marco gets his orders and meds. Shaw practices his rhetoric on the public. Later he has a strange experience. What about his brain? "Do you remember me?"

Marco meets Eugen���e Rose on the train to New York city. Who would implant a chip in his back? [Does the film start to drag here?] Does the conversation between Shaw and Marco seem real? Is the confrontation too dramatic? "He hit me!" Did the Army experiment on its soldiers? Will that physician work on Marco? Can a brain be rebooted from a crash? Can he recover his memory? [Is the story becoming weird?] Marco reads about "Manchurian Global". Senator Thomas Jordan explains it to Marco. Later he discusses this with Raymond and Eleanor Shaw! Does Jordan have a suggestion to regain the VP slot? Will this problem be neutralized? Jocelyn runs out of the house without a cell phone or firearm! Does it look like an accident?

Is the Shadow Unit watching Marco? Could a powerful corporation use scientists to create global changes? Will friendship trump sworn duty? Does Elly have more balls in her game? There is another meeting between Shaw and Marco. Was this foreseen? Is there a diabolical plot? Will the country be saved? Will there be a dramatic and shocking ending? [You know its coming.] Will the plan go wrong? And so another "lone gunman" changes history again. Will history be rewritten again?

This more complex recreation of the original isn't as good. But it is good enough if you never saw the 1962 film or read the novel by Richard Condon. Was the personality of Elly based on a well-known politician? There was no need for "Manchurian" in the title given the extensive changes in the story. "The Corporate Candidate" would be more apt. Corporations have been controlling politicians since the Civil War era. Before that the privilege of limited liability was reserved only for those who served the public need (water supplies, canals, railroads).
[I wonder if the original story of a lost patrol that led to political success was a subtle parody of PT-109? What would happen to America if someone became President because his father was a powerful politician or Executive?]

A Perfect Candidate
$24.95
This film sounded interesting but my training as a historian prompted me to investigate the authors of the film. Cutler and Taylor have made careers out of agenda driven reality shows. Left-wing agendas... It doesn't matter that the topic was Oliver North, George Bush, or the so-called religious right the mission was to impugn the reputation of those being filmed. This was different when Cutler made his famous "The War Room" and the new war room movie. The left was made to look to look competent and honorable though now we know some of the cheats pulled by the 1992 Clinton campaign. They never appeared or were hinted at by Cutler. So watch this movies with your eyes wide open and your skeptic program running full speed.

The Manchurian Candidate
$25.95
Good book and an easy read. The original movie kept the essential elements of the book but a lot of the color and background are lost in the movie (the Frank Sinatra version). Very controversial for the early sixties. By the way Mccarthy was proven absolutely right when the Venona Cables were declasified. FDR was the real tratior. Read "Blacklisted by History", by M. Stanton Evans, it is also available on Kindle. The term Mccarthyism is now meaningless because everything he said was true. I guess we will have to go back to the old fashion term "witch hunt."