But the film wasn’t to be found on the big screen. The Manchurian Candidate had already played once on US television in 1965, and would do so again in 1974. It’d be wrong to say it was out of circulation altogether, though. Just because Sinatra had the rights, it didn’t mean the film was (yet) heading back to cinemas.
![richard condon the manchurian candidate richard condon the manchurian candidate](https://miro.medium.com/max/1200/1*aoRuAmxX3iJiFKOLegi13g.jpeg)
#Richard condon the manchurian candidate movie#
One of the reasons he did so was that the original deal his team made with UA for the film had been a poor one, and in the words of Michael Schlesigner – who would be responsible for a subsequent reissue of the movie – “Sinatra’s attorneys opted to take the movie back and bury their ‘mistake.’” UA had a seemingly-generous contract for the film for ten years, but Sinatra himself got the rights to The Manchurian Candidate in 1972. As Tina Sinatra, Frank’s youngest daughter, told Premiere back in summer 2004, the film was withdrawn from release, but that was down to distributor United Artists, who chose to do so out of respect to Kennedy. The tale then goes that Sinatra sought to have prints of The Manchurian Candidate removed from distribution, and that the film wouldn’t be seen again on US cinema screens until 1987, some 24 years later.Īs it turns out, there seem to be little scraps of truth to the story, but not that many. He was in the midst of filming Robin And The Seven Hoods when he heard the news, and was said to have “virtually disappeared” in the days afterwards, consumed by grief. Their relationship had cooled by the time of Kennedy’s death, but Sinatra was devastated by his death. Sinatra was an avid admirer of Kennedy, and had campaigned for him in 1960. Yet in the case of The Manchurian Candidate, a story began to circulate that Frank Sinatra had been responsible for the pulling of the film from circulation. And a story began to circulate as to why that was. The Manchurian Candidate, however, would be off release just over a year later, and wouldn’t be seen again in American cinemas for over two decades. There aren’t too many other such pressing times in US history where a story of outside forces trying to influence whoever holds the office of the President of the United States would feel more relevant.
![richard condon the manchurian candidate richard condon the manchurian candidate](https://i.etsystatic.com/26364801/r/il/c9c42a/3507984228/il_794xN.3507984228_48vs.jpg)
In that climate came the story of a Communist covert plot to kill the President of the United States. Its release date of October 24th 1962 found an America in the midst of the Cuban Missile Crisis, that took the world to the brink of nuclear war. The movie stars Frank Sinatra, Laurence Harvey, and Janet Leigh, and couldn’t have been released at a more testing time.
![richard condon the manchurian candidate richard condon the manchurian candidate](https://s.hdnux.com/photos/12/21/67/2694600/6/1200x0.jpg)
But it’s the 1962 original film, directed by the late John Frankenheimer, that’s rightly regarded as one of the finest American thrillers in cinema history. In truth, as much as it’s internet law to slam remakes, Jonathan Demme’s 2004 take on the material – starring Meryl Streep and Denzel Washington – is worth a look. Richard Condon’s political thriller, The Manchurian Candidate, has twice been turned into a feature film.