Nets Nix Hot Plot

“The Manchurian Candidate,” director John Frankenheimer’s 1962 thriller about an American serviceman turned into a political assassin through Communist brainwashing, may still be too controversial for network viewing.

Frank Sinatra, who starred and controls distribution rights, took the critically praised film off the market after the assassination of John F. Kennedy in 1963, re-releasing it theatrically and in video last year. The film grossed $2.72 million in its limited reissue; video sales totaled $2.5 million.

Nonetheless, Norman Horowitz, MGM-UA Telecommunications prez, tells us all three networks have passed on broadcast rights.

“They didn’t feel it was appropriate for prime time,” Horowitz said. “We’re going to try to sell it to independent stations now.”

The film’s age and the fact that it was shot in black and white could have been factors in the networks’ decision to pass on it. But Frankenheimer said network execs have told him his film will always be “too hot” for prime-time viewing.

“(The rejection) has to be for its political content,” Frankenheimer insisted. “There’s no other reason. . . . I consider it a compliment to the movie, because (that means) it still holds up after all these years.”