But although The Manchurian Candidate had received good notices and was reasonably popular, it did disappear from public view at some point after the assassination of the president.
Yet, it was unusual for a popular movie that had received considerable press coverage and many good reviews to disappear completely from the scene. But a portentous context had been established for a film that was to remain a fascinating cultural artifact in future years. Fortunately, the Cuban missile crisis ended a few days later with the Soviet agreement to remove its missiles from the island, and life returned to normalcy in most ways. In such a context, The Manchurian Candidate was surely not much respite for a fearful public, but the currency of the subject matter could not be seriously debated. Many Americans flocked to supermarkets in order to stock up with provisions in the event that war broke out, even if most citizens tried to go about their business and carry on normal life during those tense days. Although the public remained relatively calm during the crisis, a quiet sense of panic was nonetheless evident. 24, 1962, its release coincided with the height of the Cuban missile crisis, a time when many Americans feared-quite correctly according to previously secret documents that have since been released-that a nuclear nightmare could occur at any moment. On a broader level, there can hardly have been more dramatic circumstances to accompany the debut of this film. Indeed, Raymond’s mother is not merely controlling in the way that assumedly bad mothers are she is literally his “controller” in an elaborate plot that destroys both of them. A throwaway line early in the film turns out to be prophetic and portending monstrous consequences: “It’s a terrible thing to hate your mother,” he says.
Raymond, robbed of his free will, turns out to be the victim of his mother’s misguided scheming, having no choice in the matter. Certainly, there are few dramas in American filmmaking that take the seeming delight that this film does in portraying the dark side of motherhood as construed in mid-20 th century America. The absurdity of some plot elements is nonetheless difficult to miss, and since Frankenheimer toys with traditional symbols of the all-American life, a satirical reading of the film is suggested.
As the film nears the end, the pace quickens, and viewers have little time to think about the many leaps in logic and the many strokes of luck that would be required for the assassination plot to achieve the outcome the conspirators envision. John Frankenheimer’s skillful direction glosses over several inconsistencies within the story that extend beyond the dubious possibility of mind control in the way the movie suggests.