The Manchurian Candidate @ 60

'When a movie has become part of the folklore of a nation, the borders between the movie and the nation cease to exist'–Greil Marcus

John Frankenheimer’s The Manchurian Candidate (1962) casts a long shadow, extending far beyond those who have actually seen the film. As Marcus points out, “the Manchurian Candidate” is a fable, and an international fable at that—one whose valences spread well beyond the United States. The film is similarly hard to contain. It was and is much more than the sum of its parts. Frankenheimer extracted career-best performances from Frank Sinatra, Angela Lansbury and Laurence Harvey, and the film includes one of the most unforgettable and delirious scenes in cinematic history in Marco's nightmare of being brainwashed. All on set were “working over their heads” to produce something that could, and did, go in any direction. This fascinating paranoid thriller from the high Cold War divided audiences who saw it in its original outing, and has divided them ever since. Did it lean right, or did it lean left? Was it funny, or horrible, or camp? What did it mean in 1962? In 1988, when it was re-released? In 2004, when it was remade? What does it mean now?

This online conference addresses itself to the impact and legacy of The Manchurian Candidate on its 60th anniversary.