Novelist Declares ‘The Manchurian Candidate’ a Winner

The return of “The Manchurian Candidate” to movie houses after 25 years marks a thrilling comeback for its No. 1 fan, author Richard Condon.

“It’s a marvelous movie,” Condon said recently. “Along with ‘Dr. Strangelove,’ it’s my favorite movie.”

Adapted from Condon’s novel of the same name, the movie, currently playing at the Bay Theatre in Seal Beach, was re-released in February and by early May had grossed over $1 million, according to United Artists. The movie quickly went to theaters nationwide.

Condon, 73, has written 22 novels, including “Winter Kills” and “Prizzi’s Honor,” the basis for the highly successful 1985 film, for which he wrote the screenplay. He has just finished the Prizzi trilogy with “Prizzi’s Glory.”

Before he started writing, Condon worked in New York for 22 years as a press agent for the movie business, about which he can be scathing.

“They (movie stars) live in a walled city,” he said. “If I could remember them, I’d forget them. The same identical things happen to dentists, but who would care if a bunch of dentists were sleeping with different women?”

Stress-related health problems forced him out in the mid-1950s, and he turned to writing at age 42.

He spent much of his time in Mexico and Europe and now lives in Dallas so he and his wife can be close to some of their grandchildren.

He attributes his success as a writer to the years he spent in the film industry, watching movies and learning how plots and characters are developed.

In “The Manchurian Candidate,” a group of American soldiers is captured by North Korea, brainwashed and released. The lead character Raymond Shaw (played in the film by Laurence Harvey) is programmed to assassinate on command.

Back in the United States, Shaw is dominated by his ambitious mother (Angela Lansbury) who is also the force behind her second husband, a red-baiting senator modeled after Joseph McCarthy.

The climax is a shocking assassination scene--which was even more shocking because it was playing in theaters when President John F. Kennedy was killed in November, 1963.

The film has had a checkered and controversial history, almost as convoluted as its plot. It was first almost killed by Arthur Krim, then president of United Artists and finance chairman of the Democratic National Committee, on the grounds that it would embarrass Kennedy who, as a senator, had supported McCarthy.

But Frank Sinatra, who was co-producer as well as an actor in the movie, approached Kennedy directly. The President told him he had no objection to the film.

Released in late 1962, the film was a critical success, although it did not fare well at box offices outside of urban areas.

“The audience did not know if it was coming from the left or the right,” Condon recalled. “In the first week, it was picketed by Communists in Paris and the American Legion in Orange County.”

But the combination of Krim’s influence and the politically charged atmosphere of the time meant its release was short-lived. It was pulled after less than a year, shortly after the Kennedy assassination.

Speculation quickly surfaced that the film had inspired the killing.

Just 15 minutes after the assassination, “Fleet Street called to see if I felt responsible,” said Condon, who was living in Switzerland at the time.

“To this day, people have convinced themselves the film and novel were about the assassination,” he said.