The Manchurian Candidate Tapped Into People’s Cold War Fears
The 1962 film The Manchurian Candidate was released during the Cuban Missile Crisis when the United States and the Soviet Union were at each other’s throats. The Cold War suspense film, starring Frank Sinatra, Laurence Harvey, and Janet Leigh, centers on a man who is the son of a prominent political family. He is brainwashed and winds up becoming an unwitting assassin for communist causes. Chinese and Soviet officials believe an assassin who is brainwashed is less likely to feel fear and guilt. The political thriller/satire was received well by critics and is considered a culturally historic film.
