Laurence Harvey Runs Amok as ‘The Running Man’ 1963

Do blondes have more fun? Laurence Harvey & Lee Remick in 'The Running Man.'

The 1963 romantic suspense film The Running Man is rather reminiscent of Patricia Highsmith’s The Talented Mr. Ripley. The suspense comes from a charismatic but amoral schemer who unravels as his grand plans go awry. The romance is the woman drawn to both the cad and the good guy. Laurence Harvey is the title character, con man Rex Black, with Lee Remick as his wife Stella, and Alan Bates as the enigmatic insurance man. Rex is a charming ne’er-do-well who feels cheated out of an insurance settlement after surviving a private plane crash. With the help of Stella, he fakes a glider plane crash the next year, and the “widow” collects on the insurance. Who would suspect, right? Logic isn't the strong suit of this movie, but then, neither is it in even the best Hitchcock films!

'The Running Man' stars Alan Bates, Laurence Harvey, & Lee Remick.

After the dust settles, Rex visits Stella, where they plan their future elsewhere. Then, an insurance man just happens to stop by, to tie up some loose ends. Talk about coincidences—this movie is loaded with them. Rex and Stella later reunite in Spain, where he has disguised himself and has taken another person's identity—and his passport. Guess who just happens to show up shortly after? That's right, the insurance man…again! However, all is not as it seems.

Alan Bates as the insurance man who shows up more unexpectedly than 'Columbo!'

From there on, The Running Man is more cat and mouse than a Tom and Jerry cartoon. This type of sexy suspense thriller was a trend in mid-century movies, inspired greatly by Alfred Hitchcock. The Running Man is no classic, but it's an intermittently entertaining suspense film, which becomes more of a character study, as the main characters’ personalities become clear. In the early scenes, Laurence Harvey shows the charming "Larry" Harvey that made him the life of the party off-screen. Harvey’s Rex feels like his insurance scam is his rightful payday and has big plans for himself and his wife. Stella is the dutiful wife, who would be dull if she wasn't played by lovely, warm Lee Remick. Stella reunites with the reinvented Rex in Spain, complete with another identity, bleached blonde hair and matching mustache, and worst of all, a flamboyant Australian accent that comes and goes. Simply put, Larry's scheming character is The Talented Mr. Ripley's Dickie Greenleaf and Tom Ripley combined: the entitled prince and the scheming poser.

Laurence Harvey is a brunette charmer as Rex Black, here with Lee Remick.

Stella is initially a bit shocked. But once the insurance man shows up, Rex loses his confidence and his cool. Soon, Rex acts like every other character Laurence Harvey ever played: snide, sneering, sullen, sour, etc. And did I mention that the insurance man is played by Alan Bates, at the height of his youth and good looks? Not only that, but Alan Bates has more onscreen warmth and presence in his little finger than Harvey has in his entire scrawny body. Once Bates' character, Stephen Maddox, is smitten with Stella, you wish that Harvey’s Rex would take another plane ride. Rex's boorish behavior escalates when he realizes that Bates attracted to Stella, and that she in turn is drawn to him. Perhaps that’s because her husband’s behavior makes it quite easy?

Here's Alan Bates & Lee Remick looking gorgeous as the insurance man & the widow.

And here's Laurence Harvey as Rex in his new disguise, blonde & sunburned!

Laurence Harvey, Alan Bates, & Lee Remick in 'The Running Man.'

As the movie saunters along, like a summer afternoon, Remick and Bates become more sun-kissed and golden. Larry, however, looks like a bleached blonde red lobster. Even worse is when Larry sports a Speedo for an extended scene and looks utterly emaciated. Alan Bates is such a warm, subtle, masculine film presence here that you wish Alan and Lee had appeared in a romantic film together, without Laurence Harvey hogging the scenes with his hammy performance. Lee Remick was one of a legion of actors who disliked working with Harvey, but she's empathetic as always as the loving but bewildered wife.

Ah, there's the Laurence Harvey we all know and love!

After a too-long second-act, there's a twist ending that proves the third time is NOT the charm for Harvey's charmless Rex. The Spain location filming by Robert Krasker is stunning. Director Carol Reed, famed for many films, including The Third Man, was still reeling from tangling with Marlon Brando before he got fired from Mutiny on the Bounty, and then had to deal with difficult Laurence Harvey. Also, Reed’s health was failing, though he’d go on to win an Oscar for Oliver! The script is by John Mortimer, from a well-received novel by Shelley Smith. The star trio is backed by a dependable supporting cast.

Alan Bates is a sight for sore eyes as Stephen Maddox, after watching scrawny sourpuss Laurence Harvey as Rex Black in 'The Running Man.'

The Running Man often gets run down by critics and movie fans, but the clever story, lovely locations, and Remick and Bates made for a moderately entertaining suspense movie.

Lee Remick made many suspense thrillers, but none for Alfred Hitchcock.
Remick would have made a wonderful Hitchcock blonde!

For my take on Laurence Harvey’s best performance, here’s my post on The Manchurian Candidate:

https://ricksrealreel.blogspot.com/2017/10/the-manchurian-candidate-1962.html

And here’s my look at the breakthrough movie for Lee Remick, Anatomy of a Murder:

https://ricksrealreel.blogspot.com/2016/08/anatomy-of-murder-film-fiction-draws.html

 

FYI: I put all the movie overflow on my public FB  movie page. Check it out & join!  https://www.facebook.com/groups/178488909366865/

One more shot of lovely screen stars Lee Remick & Alan Bates in 'The Running Man.'

 

Best 'BUtterfield 8' Moments from Taylor & O’Hara

Elizabeth Taylor wakes up to MGM's "BUtterfield 8!"

If Elizabeth Taylor wasn’t the star, would 1960’s BUtterfield 8 be worth watching at all? While the sexy soap opera has curiosity value, the movie was made for one reason—MGM wanted to cash in on its star, before Taylor checked out of her long-time studio.

BUtterfield 8 isn’t a great movie—or even a good one, in reality. The slick saga of a sinner has been routinely scorned, with no revisionist reappraisals. Elizabeth Taylor’s performance, though mostly praised upon its release, has since been overshadowed by her sympathy Oscar win, for nearly dying of pneumonia that year. Even the John O’Hara novel gets a knee jerk reaction as trashy, though it’s one of his best books.

A rare happy moment between the happy couple of 'BUtterfield 8.'
Even then, Harvey's Weston Ligget has a pouty moment!

Despite controversy and criticism, BUtterfield 8 is worth watching: as a look at sexual attitudes of the Playboy generation; as how morally two-faced filmmaking was in mid-century Hollywood; and especially, as proof of star power, pulling in audiences with a weak vehicle.

MGM played up the connection between O'Hara's Gloria Wandrous & Hollywood's Elizabeth Taylor to sell the movie.

The back story to BUtterfield 8: Elizabeth had shot to superstardom with WB’s Giant in 1956, but was still working off a measly contract with MGM. When Taylor married showman Mike Todd, they forced Metro to agree that 1958’s Cat on a Hot Tin Roof would be her last film for them. Todd famously died in a plane crash that year—and guess what? The gentleman’s agreement between Mike and Metro went poof! MGM let Taylor make Suddenly, Last Summer as a freelancer, but when she started negotiations for Cleopatra, Metro reminded Taylor that she owed them one more film for $125,000—not quite the million she was angling for Cleo. When Elizabeth asked MGM head of production Sol Siegel if this was anyway to end an 18 year relationship, he famously replied, ‘Fortunately, or unfortunately, Miss Taylor, sentiment went out of this business a long time ago.’ That quote illustrates why Taylor became such a tough customer to studios, as an independent star.

Elizabeth Taylor's message to MGM, when forced to make 'BUtterfield 8,' or to sit off-screen
for two years?

Another reason MGM was so hot to get another movie out of Taylor is because she had become a bigger star than ever, with the legendary Liz-Eddie-Debbie scandal. I once read that MGM offered Elizabeth three scripts in a row for that last film role—all prostitutes. If you look at Metro’s miniscule 1961film releases during this time, it’s not hard to figure out the other two flicks: Ada was a southern hooker who ends up a politician’s wife. This epic would surely have come back to haunt Elizabeth when she later became a Republican senator’s wife! Susan Hayward, 15 years older than Taylor, played the tough hooker. The other, demurely titled Go Naked in the World, went to Gina Lollobrigida as a hooker who falls for prodigal son Tony Franciosa, only to find out blustering Greek tycoon Ernest Borgnine was one of her best customers! For those who think BUtterfield 8 was bad, just imagine Elizabeth stuck in one of these clunkers.

John O' Hara's second novel captures an era.

What’s a pity was that BUtterfield 8 is based on one of John O’Hara’s most praised novels. Set in early ‘30s New York City, post-stock market crash era, looks at the last days of a notorious party girl, Gloria Wandrous. And if you think Gloria’s name is a bit much, she was based on Starr Faithfull, who died young, under mysterious circumstances. The story is surprisingly sympathetic toward the heroine and is a sharp snapshot of an era.

Gloria Wandrous from the BUtterfield 8 novel and her real-life inspiration Starr Faithful are routinely described as a call girl, prostitute, or nymphomaniac. There is no evidence that Starr Faithful was a prostitute; nor is Gloria Wandrous described as a call girl in the novel. Starr and Gloria were both promiscuous, stemming from issues of molestation as a child. I’m no sex therapist, but female promiscuity isn’t the same as nymphomania, is it? The movie is ambiguous over Gloria’s morals and how she makes a living. She fusses over “taking money” for a torn dress. Her character is unashamedly sexual, so she must be a nympho, right?

Taylor & Harvey laugh with director Daniel Mann. It's been said ET didn't like Mann,
but I've lots of happy shots like these. 

However, the script Elizabeth received was modernized and turned into a voyeuristic soap opera that capitalized on her own personal scandal. Taylor’s defiance at being forced to perform in BUtterfield 8 actually worked for the role of wild child Gloria. Long-time MGM producer Pandro S. Berman made Elizabeth a star in National Velvet 15 years prior.  Berman knew that despite her threats, Taylor’s professionalism had been drummed into her head starting at age 10 by Metro and Sara, her stage mother. Berman told ET: “Play this and you’ll win the Oscar.”

I recall watching the Oscars back in ’77, when Berman was given the honorary Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award, they ran clips from the producer’s long career. When snippets of BUtterfield 8 with Taylor were shown, there was a ripple of laughter from the audience—that’s how legendary the feud between the producer and his star had become. Ironically, the big winner of the night was Network’s Paddy Chayefsky, a friend of Elizabeth’s who did some rewrites for BUtterfield 8 as a favor. When Taylor presented the revisions to Berman, he tossed them in a waste paper basket without even looking. According to the producer, Taylor flew off the sofa, ready to claw his eyes out. Personally, I think Pandro saw their prior collaboration, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, a few too many times!

Elizabeth Taylor as a bad brunette & Dina Merrill as a pure blonde at odds over bad boy Laurence Harvey.

What’s amazing is how the MGM script throws Elizabeth’s tabloid notoriety in her face under the guise of Gloria getting flack. In the novel, the other characters do not insult Gloria for her supposed lack of morals. And in the text version, Gloria knows she is deeply troubled, but she’s not teary and ashamed, like Taylor’s Wandrous in the last half of the film.

Like so many movies from the first half of the ‘60s, BUtterfield 8 has one foot stuck in the fuddy-duddy ‘50s while trying to swing with the ‘60s. The film feels contradictory because it’s hypocritical. First, BUtterfield 8 salivates over Gloria’s “sinning” and later slams her for it, by humiliating and punishing her. Once Gloria falls in love, she’s in misery. The screenwriters are forced by the censors to fall back on the old cliché: once a whore, always a whore.

No sale! This was how MGM was selling ET post Liz-Eddie-Debbie scandal.

As for Taylor’s “sympathy” Oscar, won after having almost died six weeks prior to the ceremony— obviously the star won out of sentiment. What’s been forgotten: Elizabeth was nominated for playing Gloria Wandrous before she was near death. And that BUtterfield 8 was MGM’s biggest grossing movie of 1960. The Academy, especially then, liked nominating box office hits. Also, Elizabeth got mostly good personal reviews—and it was widely known that Taylor was forced to play her part. This was Taylor’s fourth consecutive Oscar nomination, after career-changing Giant: Raintree County; Cat on a Hot Tin Roof; Suddenly, Last Summer; and now BUtterfield 8. Maybe Shirley MacLaine should have won for The Apartment, but Taylor’s win wasn’t a total head scratcher. Robert Osborne compared Taylor’s win to when Bette Davis won a consolation Oscar for 1935’s Dangerous—anyone remember that classic?—when Davis was famously overlooked for her career-defining Of Human Bondage. Davis put over Dangerous, much like Taylor enlivens BUtterfield 8.

Shaky Elizabeth Taylor accepted her Oscar only six weeks after nearly dying.

A testimony to Taylor’s drawing power was that—despite people who wrote to fan mags, columnists, and MGM, swearing they’d never see an Elizabeth Taylor picture again—moviegoers flocked to her films. It didn’t matter whether it was artistic fare like Taylor’s Tennessee Williams, Edward Albee, or Shakespeare adaptations, or sudsy cinema that played off her personal life, like BUtterfield 8, The VIPS, or The Sandpiper. In that sense, the public was just as hypocritical as MGM.

I’ve always heard that the movie version of BUtterfield 8was totally different from O’Hara’s novel. Frankly, in an era when the studios bought novels for their premise only or a Broadway musical for a couple of hit songs, I was surprised that even the framework of the novel made onscreen. Aside from the updated era, the movie’s attitude is what’s so different from the novel. It’s too bad the 1935 book feels more mature and three-dimensional than the 1960 film.

The dense atmosphere of the novel is lost in the film update, yet BUtterfield 8 offers a glossy snapshot of sex in the Playboy era. Participants play like they’re swingers, but there’s lots of ‘50s Hollywood guilt attached, especially for the woman. Gloria’s married lover Weston Liggett comes off like a sourpuss version of Mad Men’s Don Draper, jealous, judgmental, and berating Gloria for her behavior, which is the same as his—except she’s not judging. BUtterfield 8 now seems ironic, since this was how Elizabeth Taylor was judged at the time. Everyone in the movie takes potshots at Gloria/Elizabeth, with the cast voicing what a segment of the audience was probably thinking about the star. Taylor was routinely referred to as a home wrecker, but Eddie Fisher, who left his wife and children, was just viewed as helpless.

'Peyton Place' stars Mildred Dunnock & Betty Field spend most of their time in 'BUtterfield 8' gossiping about Gloria.

As for the acting, Elizabeth is especially zingy as the unrepentant party girl. When the script has Gloria go from lust to love, the movie becomes a sappy soap opera. Taylor tries to inject pathos into the part, but she must contend with the scriptwriters making Gloria character traits change on a dime. BUtterfield 8 has a terrific supporting cast, but they’re all archetypes or stereotypes: Dina Merrill as Emily Liggett, a nicer Betty Draper; Susan Oliver as Norma, the jealous girlfriend; Mildred Dunnock as Gloria’s mother in denial; Betty Field as Mrs. Wandrous’ snarky best friend; and Kay Medford as “Happy,” the one hour motel owner.

Laurence Harvey as married cad Weston Liggett, played with charm that made Larry the ideal 'Manchurian Candidate.'

The two men in Gloria’s life are hopeless. Laurence Harvey was a charming party boy off-camera and became instant friends with Elizabeth Taylor. In his heyday, Harvey always played the sneering heel. As Weston Liggett, Harvey looks sleek as the rich ne’er-do-well, but his supercilious disposition becomes borderline psychotic. Why a fiery, fun girl like Gloria would give the film Weston the time of day, much less her phone number, is beyond me. Harvey always seemed to be rehearsing for The Manchurian Candidate! Eddie Fisher, whose character was named Eddie in the novel, is changed to Steve for the film. Either way, Fisher is lethargic and dour, and hard to imagine why Gloria has remained life-long friends with this lackluster pal.

Elizabeth Taylor as Gloria gets some advice from 'Happy' the motel owner, zesty Kay Medford.

As for the film itself, Daniel Mann directs competently if not excitingly. For those who say that BUtterfield 8 is a bore, I’d say that’s half true. The film has some memorable moments, mainly in the first half: the opening near-silent scenes of Gloria’s ‘morning after’; Gloria scrawling ‘No Sale!’ in lipstick on her lover’s mirror; Taylor in a slip, covered only by a mink; Wandrous and Liggett’s sparring in a cocktail lounge, capped by her grinding a stiletto into his instep; Gloria’s repartee with her pal’s fiancée and her mother’s best friend; Gloria and Mrs. Wandrous’ confrontation, capped by Taylor crying, ‘Face it, Mama. I was the slut of all time!;’ Liggett’s nasty showdown with Gloria in the bar over the mink coat; Gloria’s childhood confession to pal Steve; and of course, Gloria’s red sports car crashing over an embankment.

Yes, the film drags once Gloria finds love, but not happiness. The movie’s muddled morals make for confusing character development. Blame MGM and the censors for that.

 BUtterfield 8 may not be great, but not because of Elizabeth Taylor or John O’Hara. Taylor’s herculean efforts and O’Hara’s intriguing heroine makes BUtterfield 8 worth a watch.

Eddie & Elizabeth to Susan Oliver: Did anyone ever tell you that you look like Debbie Reynolds?!

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'The Manchurian Candidate' 1962

Angela Lansbury as the monstrous mother in "The Manchurian Candidate."
With Laurence Harvey as her son, who was just three years younger than Lansbury!

The Manchurian Candidate was considered a provocative political shocker when first released November 24, 1962. Like A Face in the Crowd five years before and Network 14 years after, The Manchurian Candidate, while applauded as audacious, was also considered a farfetched political scenario. However, the new political reality emerged swiftly, when the controversial Kennedy assassination shattered the United States on November 22, 1963. From then on, assassinations, unending scandals, and the ever-polarizing politics of the last six decades have left this country cynical.

Larry and Frank pass the time by playing a little solitaire.

Aside from satirical targets that are current as ever—campaign mudslinging, faux-patriotism, commie-baiting, politicized torture, controlled-pawn candidates, strange political bedfellows—The Manchurian Candidate remains relevant because of its lean storytelling and almost documentary style black and white filming. For that, credit goes to television-trained director John Frankenheimer, faithfully following Richard Condon’s satiric and prophetic novel.

While The Manchurian Candidate works as a suspense melodrama or political drama, it’s really a black comedy, though the humor admittedly is the gallows variety. It’s no accident that George Axelrod, famed for sexy comedies like The Seven Year Itch, wrote the script. But then, some people don’t get the nightmare humor of Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? or Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, either.

Director John Frankenheimer in '62.

I’d like to do my part to dispel the myth that Frank Sinatra had The Manchurian Candidate pulled from distribution after the Kennedy assassination, so disturbed was he by the film’s echoes of the actual tragedy. I watched it on TV as a child of the ‘70s. I watched it on VHS in the ‘80s. And I have watched it on DVD ever after. It’s been said there was a distribution rights tangle somewhere between TV showings and the advent of home video. To Sinatra’s credit, the often irascible singer was full of praise for the film’s story and director. When it first came out on video, Sinatra even sat for an interview, to discuss The Manchurian Candidate.

The plot of The Manchurian Candidate has many truly twisted turns, which I’ll try not to reveal too much about, for those who haven’t seen this cult classic turned true film classic.

During the Korean War, a group of American soldiers are captured by Soviets and taken to Manchuria. Let’s just say that part of their stay at the Hotel Manchuria includes free brainwashing. Cut to the film’s present—very early ‘60s USA—the soldiers who returned are experiencing horrifying dreams and display inexplicable behavior. Major Marco Bennett, deeply affected, is determined to figure out why these nightmares are occurring and how it is tied to Staff Sergeant Raymond Shaw. He is a fellow soldier that the regiment feels compelled to automatically express admiration for, though he was universally despised by them.

Raymond is a priggish rich kid, determined to break away from his mother, Eleanor Shaw Iselin, and her political tool of a husband, Johnny Iselin. Eleanor’s ambition is to get Johnny on the ticket as the vice-president nominee at that summer’s presidential convention. The political wife from hell is willing to use any means necessary, including using her son’s war hero status, and oh, so much more. The film is a hair-raising race for Ben Marco to get to the bottom of what happened in Manchuria and what it is currently doing to Raymond Shaw.

Despite appearances, Frank Sinatra's aces as Bennett Marco.

The Manchurian Candidate features one of the most eclectic ensemble film casts ever. Frank Sinatra gives one of his strongest dramatic performances as the troubled but determined Ben Marco. Two older friends in my life have told me that they preferred Sinatra as an actor rather than a singer! At first, I thought that was absurd, but came to see why, watching his movies over the years. Sinatra at his best is naturalistic, low-key but charismatic, much like his friend and idol, Humphrey Bogart. Also, like some of the great actors of that era, Sinatra has a marvelous speaking voice. John Frankenheimer, a young hot shot director from TV’s “golden era,” knew how to work fast, and that Sinatra gave his best in the first couple takes. At this point in his career, the ‘Rat Pack’ image was rapidly taking over, and this was one of the last serious movies Frank Sinatra made. 

Frank Sinatra as Ben Marco, fighting sleepless nights with some heavy reading!

That’s not to say there isn’t some fun “inside” Sinatra stuff in The Manchurian Candidate: There’s a scene where brainwashed Raymond is “set off” in a bar called Jilly’s, as in Jilly Rizzo, a friend of  Frank’s; that swanky‘60s plane the Iselins campaign in belonged to Sinatra. This was also the period when Frank was cultivating a “serious” side to offset his swinger image. So, when Ben Marco can’t sleep, he’s reading classic tomes the size of cement blocks. Sinatra also played a “serious” writer in Some Came Running, with the female lead exclaiming over his “exciting talent.” I’m sure many women did!

Laurence Harvey as the tortured Raymond Shaw.

I’ve always been confounded by Laurence Harvey. Off-screen, he was a boy toy to aging showbiz folk in his youth, the life of the party, and someone who didn’t seem to take acting too seriously. On-screen, however, Harvey was always cast as the heel or uptight jerk. In movie after movie, Laurence was always cold, snippy, humorless, stiff, wooden, glowering—I’m running out of adjectives—but let’s just say Larry made Charlton Heston look like Jerry Lewis in the cut-up department. As the boorish Raymond Shaw turned brainwashed, robotic assassin, Laurence Harvey is perfectly cast. This is the best role Harvey ever had. The character of Raymond is truly pathetic, with the hand he has literally been dealt, crushed by an overbearing mother at every turn. Harvey conveys this in the movie’s quiet moments quite well. Off-screen, Harvey was one of the most disliked actors in Hollywood, for being very difficult to work with. But Sinatra, like Elizabeth Taylor, always stood up for the underdog. Sinatra usually said it his way, too: direct, if politically incorrect. When Frank’s personal valet complained, saying that the actor kept hitting on him, Sinatra replied, “Larry has the handicaps of being a homo, a Jew, and a Polack, so people should go easy on him.” Awww, Frank!

Remember this actor from Hawaii Five-0? Scary here, too!

James Gregory, one of the most familiar character actors of his era, is a scene stealer as Johnny Iselin, the buffoon who is indeed the Manchurian candidate. An obvious take-off on mudslinging Joseph McCarthy, Gregory is a symbol for every cardboard cutout politician who has aspired to higher office by taking the low road every step of the way. Gregory is the satiric comedy relief as the boozy political hack, who can never remember how many commies he’s supposed to claim there are in the Defense Department.

John McGiver, another great familiar face, seemed to be in every TV show and movie of my childhood. Here, he plays Thomas Jordan, the Iselins’ political nemesis. McGiver is both slyly humorous, with that great, distinctive voice of his, and also the voice of decency, as he denounces the sleazy Iselins.

Leslie Parrish, an unfamiliar face to me, was a popular starlet in the early ‘60s. She is appealing as Jocelyn Jordan, Thomas’ daughter and Raymond’s true love. Parrish offers some rays of romantic light when Raymond rediscovers her, and some heartfelt tragedy with her fate.

Henry Silva and Frank Sinatra pulling some pretty smooth martial arts moves!

In typical Hollywood old-school style, Henry Silva, who is Italian and Spanish, was cast as Chunjin, a North Korean agent! Equally as dicey is Silva’s infamous martial arts scene with Sinatra’s Ben, busting up Raymond Shaw’s apartment in the process. Allegedly, they did their own stunts, but I’m not totally convinced. Still, as the commie agent posing as Raymond’s manservant, Silva is suitably unnerving with his intense gaze and soft-spoken voice. And Khigh Dheigh, famous as one of Hawaii Five-O’s best villains, is creepily humorous as the puppet master villain, Dr. Yen Lo.

Frank Sinatra and Janet Leigh having some very awkward first date chat!

Janet Leigh is another breath of fresh air in this hot house atmosphere of villains and diabolical corruption. As Rosie, Leigh comes out of nowhere, to first offer Ben Marco comfort, and then falls in love with him at warp-speed. Their first scene together on a train is infamous for its bizarre dialogue. Some viewers believe that their conversation is so stilted as to be coded, and that Leigh’s Josie is an agent for the U.S., assigned to keep tabs on Marco. That doesn’t pan out as the film progresses, but it’s an interesting theory. My thought is that since movie dramas must always have a romantic interest, director Frankenheimer turned the classic “meet-cute” of the hero and leading lady on its ear. Whatever the case, Sinatra and Leigh have a warm rapport that off-sets the movie’s cool toughness. I once watched TCM’s Robert Osborne interview Janet Leigh. Janet recalled with great emotion, despite decades that had passed, how then-husband Tony Curtis announced that he was leaving her, the morning before she filmed the train scene. Leigh said that Frank was great, gently guiding her through that extended, dramatically tricky scene. When I watch Janet Leigh in movies from this era—warm, intelligent, no-nonsense, talented, lovely, with that crisp, unique voice—I wonder why the hell Hitchcock didn’t use her again after Psycho.

James Gregory as the doltish politician & Angela Lansbury as the scheming wife.
Why, that's never happened in real life!

I saved the best for last: the greatest performance in The Manchurian Candidate is Angela Lansbury as Eleanor Shaw Iselin. As the ultimate political wife, Lansbury got one of the great supporting actress roles ever—and Angela gives it everything she’s got. People who think of Angela Lansbury as kindly, owl-like Jessica Fletcher on Murder, She Wrote or Teapot in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast will be in for a surprise. Lansbury was only 37 when she played Laurence Harvey’s monster mommie—and only three years older than Larry! Movie and theater critics have always lamented that Lansbury should have been a big movie star, but frankly, I can see why she didn’t. Do I smell the Internet torches being lit? Here’s the deal: Angela always looked older and was not conventionally beautiful in golden age Hollywood, where youth and beauty were all. And is showbiz really all that different today? Lansbury always reminded me of Bette Davis, who fought a similar casting bias by sheer strength of personality and will. Angie was often cast older—she played Hedy Lamarr’s older sister in Samson and Delilah and had just played Elvis’ mother in Blue Hawaii the year before. Lansbury most definitely looks matronly and motherly in Manchurian, especially next to whippet-lean Laurence Harvey.

Lansbury checked her ego at the door when she played Larry's mother.

I’ve always been fascinated how women in Hollywood were cast in terms of age. By all rights, an older actress like Bette Davis would have been awesome as Harvey’s awful mother. But the surprise factor would have been nil, since Davis was renowned for playing villains. Sinatra suggested Lucille Ball—a fascinating thought, since Ball was domineering off-camera. But audiences only knew her as lovable Lucy, and such casting could have blown up in the Manchurian makers’ faces. Frankenheimer had already worked with Lansbury in All Fall Down and decided Angela’s acting would carry her.

The rest is showbiz history, as Lansbury gave an instantly legendary supporting actress performance. Angela surely would have won an Oscar that year, but like Bette Davis, was shut out by a performance from the screen version of The Miracle Worker—with Lansbury, it was for Patty Duke’s remarkable turn as young Helen Keller.

Angela Lansbury was 37 when she starred in 'The Manchurian Candidate.'

Lansbury is quoted as saying The Manchurian Candidate is the most important film in her career. Angela is brilliant, and like Bette, was great at being both villainous, yet riveting. As Eleanor, the power behind the politician, Angela Lansbury is ambitious, crass, loud, domineering, funny, and as the master plan is revealed, utterly chilling.

For me, The Manchurian Candidate is one of the best films of the 1960s. I’ve seen it at least a dozen times, always amazed at how this dark satire predicted our nation’s political future. Or perhaps The Manchurian Candidate just pulled back the curtain on what was already happening in the Cold War political scene. Either way, The Manchurian Candidate paints a scary picture, in the guise of satire, of what politicians will do for power.

Frank, Janet, Larry: The stars of 'The Manchurian Candidate.'

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