aww man the original is a great movie. A movie that is sadly not that known. The story is an all around excellent experience. It is one of those movies where the suspense relies on your involvment in the movie. I am up for a remake. why not? Dezel is a great actor, he delivers a great performance even in a bad film like out of time and man on fire. so i am anxious to see his abilities added to this great story.
I bought the old version on DVD because I'd heard it was really good, and it was! There were just a couple of minor ways in which I felt the cinematic conventions of its time detracted from the story. I think it held up very well over the years.
And it's really hard to think of setting that story in any time except the Cold War period. If I were going to remake it (yeah, right!) I think I'd leave the setting back then and only update the style of telling the story.
At first I wasn't sure that a remake was the best idea but so far all of the reviews that I've read have been nothing but positive. Plus Denzel and Meryl are both terrific. The web site is pretty awesome too, check it out if you haven't already...
I'm actually really pissed off that they're making a remake. Why make a remake of a really good thing? The original was great, and I LOVED angel lansbury in it. I don't see why they need to redo it at all. I'm totally not going to go see it. I really hope that people are going to see the original and rather than think that the new movie is the only one out there. Denzel Washing is a good actor but that doesn't mean it's going to be a good movie. I don't think Meryl Streep will ever be as awesome as Angela Lansbury was in the original though. Plus the whole irony of Lansbury's character being this really ambitious and intelligent woman and only being able to act through her idiotic husband is wonderful. I think you lose a lot of the complexity of that character when you actually make that character the senator. It's Lansbury's inability to truly act that, in some ways, perhaps drives her to behave that way. Anyway, if it gets spectacular reviews, I'll go see it; otherwise, I'd rather have the pure unadulterated original in my head. Plus, Demme's other remake (of Charade, no less, a great movie--and why in hell's name would you cast Thandy Newton (or was it Rosario Dawson?) and Mark Wahlberg as replacements for Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant?!) Charlie or whatever it was good was supposed to be utter crap so I'm not holding this one in high regards either.
I own the original Manchaurian Candidate on DVD, such a classic masterpiece and satire thrown into it.
But when i heard it was going to be remade, i thought "Why? you can't fix someting that isn't broken" but then when i saw it i thought it was suprisingly good just like the remake to "Dawn of the Dead" another classic.
Denzel Washington did a good job playing Frank Sinatra's role even if he's black, in 2006 there's going to be a Back to School remake with Cedric The Entertainer taking over Rodney's role.