The Manchurian Candidate (BFI Film Classics) [Paperback]

Greil Marcus (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 22, 2008 | Series: BFI Film Classics

As Greil Marcus reconstructs the drama, "The Manchurian Candidate" is a movie in which the director and actors were suddenly capable of anything, beyond any expectations. This book shows how the film has burrowed into American culture.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Greil Marcus is the author of Mystery Train (1975), Lipstick Traces (1989), The Old, Weird America: The World of Bob Dylan's Basement Tapes (1997/2001) and Double Trouble: Bill Clinton and Elvis Presley in the Land of No Alternatives (2000). In 2001 he taught an American Studies seminar on 'Prophecy and the American Voice' at Princeton and the University of California, Berkeley.

Product Details

• Paperback: 79 pages
• Publisher: British Film Institute (January 22, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0851709311
• ISBN-13: 978-0851709314
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.3 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,626,392 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Possibly the Worst Entry in an Excellent Series, February 6, 2003

By 

George Hatch (Staten Island, New York United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Manchurian Candidate (BFI Film Classics) (Paperback)

Griel Marcus is so out-of-sync with "The Manchurian Candidate" that he has absolutely nothing interesting or informative to say but manages to make his fifty-five page essay sound like one long run-on sentence. Each chapter is further padded with desperate introductory quotes -anything vaguely referencing the film- as Marcus belaboredly tries to build a case for - What? He has no point of view other than "The Manchurian Candidate" is the single best film between "Citizen Kane" and "The Godfather"; though is knowledge of film is questionable. He wildly overpraises the casting of a black actor as a psychiatrist, a professional, and asks, "How many other American movies use a black actor to play what audiences expect to be a white character without patting themselves on the back to congratulate themselves?" I guess he never saw Sam Fuller's 1951 film "The Steel Helmet".

This book isn't so much a commentary as it is a rant. Rob White, the series editor, seems to have let this slip into print with no concern for it's complete lack of content and deleriously circuitous writing "style". It's a shame because, as usual, the book is generously illustrated with stunning B&W stills from the film.

I have over two dozen commentaries from the BFI Modern Classics Series, each filed along side the DVD or VHS of the film itself. This book has no place in anyone's library. The definitive analysis of this classic has yet to be written, and but Marcus and BFI have misfired with this one.

14 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A surprising ... in the classy BFI Film Classics series, February 11, 2003

By 

Douglas Payne (Springfield, Virginia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Manchurian Candidate (BFI Film Classics) (Paperback)

What a waste. Whoever thought Griel Marcus had anything of value or merit to add to the lexicon of film artistry - much less one of the great works of film artistry - completely missed the boat - or doesn't care to see this film get the passionate discussion it deserves. BFI Film Classics have issued an incredible set of books devoted to individually worthy films - such as this one. But this must be the worst book in a truly great series. Honestly, this must be a joke. It's got to be. I don't care if Griel Marcus is a professor, esteemed or respected, outré-hip or passé-hip. This guy has no business talking about, reflecting on or wasting anybody's time with his useless commentary on film. He was the wrong man for the job. This is a book about film as cultural signifier - and little else. Kennedy and Oswald. Columbine and George Bush. Kennedy and Sinatra. Who cares. The book, the film, and ultimately, the meaning of "The Manchurian Candidate" has nothing whatsoever to do with Bob Dylan, Aretha Franklin or any of the endless quotes Marcus pulls from a library trip's worth of newspaper articles that refer back to the film. If you had no other point of reference other than this book, Marcus may convince you that this film is more symbolic than meaningful - and even hollowly symbolic. This is not a book about film, the art of film, the art of this particularly magnificent film or the artists who had anything to do with this film. It's about Marcus and the way he views the world - or the way he views the world through the lens of this film. Again, who the hell cares? This film is far too important to be left to someone whose trite aphorisms are as meaningless as those of Griel Marcus - an alleged writer who seems awfully damned confident to write his subject off so easily. Proof that you just can't hide behind other people's quotes - or your own cleverly-worded turns of phrase that have little to do with the subject at hand.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Marcus on movies", August 31, 2007

By 

R. E. Price (Carrollton, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Manchurian Candidate (BFI Film Classics) (Paperback)

Few writers can blend American history, politics, pop culture, and "high art" more skillfully than Greil Marcus. Starting with his columns for _Rolling Stone_ in the 1970's, I have followed his writing career as he taken on subjects ranging from punk music to prophecy. He brings all his skills to bear in this lean, thought-provoking analysis of the classic 1962 political thriller.