The Manchurian Candidate (novel)/YMMV


 * Alternative Character Interpretation: In the 1962 film, Janet Leigh's character of Rosie (the Love Interest) meets Marco on the train and they have a singularly bizarre conversation. Later she bails him out of jail and through a shorter but just as weird conversation we learn that she's left her fiancee for him despite only meeting him once. Then she has no impact on the rest of the movie at all other than to fill out some dresses very nicely. The very odd nature of Rosie and Marco's meeting and the general uselessness of her character have led some, including Roger Ebert, to theorize that she's a Chinese agent sent to keep an eye on Marco. Others guess that she's actually an American agent investigating the conspiracy, as
 * Word of God (John Frankenheimer) said on the DVD commentary that the scene in question came straight from the book and he had no idea what that bizarre conversation meant.
 * Big Lipped Alligator Moment: From the remake, Marco's breakdown on the train is basically a triple play of these.
 * Complete Monster: Eleanor Iselin, Up to Eleven.
 * High Octane Nightmare Fuel: A graphic depiction of a murder by asphyxiation with plastic wrap in the 2004 film. The victim gags and vomits while his eyes bulge and he claws desperately at his assailant, all to no avail.
 * Angela Lansbury's performance in the original. Lady Macbeth is less evil.
 * Then Meryl Streep went and topped it!
 * It Makes Sense in Context: but you probably couldn't get away with a heated fight scene in a modern thriller wherein the hero continually screams "HOW DID THE OLD LADIES TURN INTO RUSSIANS?"
 * Jerkass Woobie: Raymond Shaw, especially in the 1962 film. Quite the Jerkass, but what happens to him is awful.
 * Magnificent Bastard: Eleanor Iselin. People who know Angela Lansbury from Murder She Wrote would be surprised to watch this movie.
 * Memetic Mutation: "Raymond Shaw is the kindest, bravest, warmest, most wonderful human being I've ever known." It even got referenced in A Very Potter Musical.
 * Paranoia Fuel: The 2004 remake.
 * Protagonist Title Fallacy: In the novel and first film, the Manchurian Candidate is Senator John Iselin, a villain who is Mrs. Iselin's husband, confidante, and pawn. The 2004 film puts its own twist on this, referring to a corporation called Manchurian Global.
 * Uncanny Valley: The animated video used to brainwash the subjects in the 2004 film is just realistic enough to raise the hackles.