The Manchurian Candidate was remade with considerably less impact in 2004 by Jonathan Demme. In the updated version, Shaw and Marco were soldiers in the Gulf War, Shaw himself becomes a political candidate (for Vice President) rather than his stepfather, and the sinister force is no longer Communist China but a corporation called Manchurian Global.

Another of Richard Condon's novels of political paranoia was made into the film Winter Kills (1979). That story is based loosely on the Kennedy assassination. Condon's organized crime novel Prizzi's Honor was filmed in 1985 by John Huston with Jack Nicholson and Kathleen Turner.

Members of the Korean platoon captured and brainwashed by the Chinese are named after cast and crew members of the 1950s TV sitcom The Phil Silvers Show, which was set in an Army barracks.

The concept of "brainwashing" was first made popular by CIA-fronted writers around the time of the Korean War as an explanation of how the Chinese government was able to get hundreds of thousands of its citizens indoctrinated into Communism. The term itself likely first appeared in a book on the subject in 1950. During the Korean War, some American POWs made public statements of support for Communism and against the U.S.; these actions were explained away by insisting the soldiers had been brainwashed. But many studies have since debunked the idea, and certainly nothing supports the hypnotic method or extent depicted in the movie. Even those who have fallen victim to "coercive persuasion," have quickly reverted to their original beliefs and actions once the threat was withdrawn.

Frankenheimer followed this film with another tale of high-level political intrigue based on a popular novel, Seven Days in May (1964). In that film, American democracy is threatened not by Communism but by military leaders plotting to take over the government.

Writer George Axelrod and director John Frankenheimer teamed again for another political thriller, The Holcroft Covenant (1985), but it was not a great success. Axelrod tried his hand at the genre once more with The Fourth Protocol (1987), his last film.

The Manchurian Candidate's story was considered so politically controversial it was either censored or prohibited from theatrical release in many Eastern European countries then under Communist governments and even in neutral countries such as Finland and Sweden. The theatrical premiere for most of those countries was held after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1993.

In a 1996 interview with screenwriter George Axelrod published in Film Comment, author Patrick McGilligan said the film was "pilloried across the political spectrum by groups ranging from the American Legion to the Communist Party."

"I just want you to know that I think you gave one helluva performance." - Veteran actress Mary Astor upon encountering Angela Lansbury in a Malibu grocery store.

by Rob Nixon