Marco learns that another soldier from the platoon, Allen Melvin, has the same nightmare. When asked to describe Shaw, the other soldiers in his unit respond, "Raymond Shaw is the kindest, bravest, warmest, most wonderful human being I've ever known in my life." On the contrary, Raymond Shaw is a cold, sad, unsympathetic loner.Īfter Marco is promoted to major and assigned to Army Intelligence, he has a recurring nightmare: a hypnotized Shaw blithely murders the two soldiers from his own platoon before an assembly of communist military leaders to demonstrate their revolutionary brainwashing technique. Shaw returns to the United States, where his heroism is exploited by his politically motivated mother, Eleanor Iselin, whose plans are to further the career of her husband, Senator John Iselin. Upon Marco's recommendation, Shaw is awarded the Medal of Honor for saving his soldiers' lives in combat, though two men are killed in action. Three days later, Sergeant Raymond Shaw and Captain Bennett Marco return to UN lines. Army platoon during the Korean War, and take the men to Manchuria in communist China. Soviet and Chinese soldiers capture a U.S. It was selected in 1994 for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". It was widely acclaimed by Western critics and was nominated for two Academy Awards: Best Supporting Actress (Lansbury) and Best Editing. The film was released in the United States on October 24, 1962, at the height of U.S.–Soviet hostility during the Cuban Missile Crisis. The group, which includes representatives of the People’s Republic of China and the Soviet Union, plans to assassinate the presidential nominee of an American political party leading to the overthrow of the U.S. He returns to civilian life in the United States, where he becomes an unwitting assassin in an international communist conspiracy. Shaw is brainwashed by communists after his Army platoon is captured. The plot centers on Korean War veteran Raymond Shaw, part of a prominent political family. The film's leading actors are Frank Sinatra, Laurence Harvey, and Angela Lansbury, with co-stars Janet Leigh, Henry Silva, and James Gregory. The screenplay was written by George Axelrod based on the 1959 Richard Condon novel The Manchurian Candidate. The film was directed and produced by John Frankenheimer. The Manchurian Candidate is a 1962 American neo-noir, psychological political thriller about the Cold War and sleeper agents.