Manchurian Candidate - Film Adaptations

Film Adaptations

The Manchurian Candidate has been adapted twice into a feature film by the same title. The first film, released in 1962, is considered a classic of the political thriller genre. It was directed by John Frankenheimer and starred Laurence Harvey as Shaw, Frank Sinatra as Marco, and Angela Lansbury as Eleanor in an Academy Award-nominated performance.

The second film, released in 2004, was directed by Jonathan Demme, and starred Liev Schreiber as Shaw, Denzel Washington as Marco, and Meryl Streep as Eleanor. It was generally well received by critics, and moderately successful at the box office. The 2004 film updated the conflict (and brainwashing) to the Persian Gulf War in 1991, and emphasized the science fiction aspects of the story by setting the action in a dystopian America. An American corporation is the perpetrator of the brainwashing and conspiracy instead of foreign Communist groups, and the Johnny Iselin character is dropped in favor of making both Shaw and his mother elected politicians. The movie adaptations also omit the novel's portrayal of incest between Raymond and his mother, only hinting at it with a mouth-to-mouth kiss.