"they can make him do anything. anything."

Damn, all kinds of brainwashing and ideological infiltrations from the inside and outside in this satire about the disturbing double-bottom realities of politics. Deeply infused with Cold War paranoia and the McCarthyism narrative of the enemy within.

Republican Senator Joseph McCarthy was not joking when he went on his hunt for “commies” in the late 1950s — blacklisting and ruining the lives of thousands of innocent people along the way. Public opinion finally turned against him when he went for the army. Hold the line, patriots, haha. Even if his power diminished almost instantly, he’s still somewhat considered the father of modern-day conspiracy theories — turning complex socio- and geopolitical realities into simple them-versus-us narratives, dipping into primordial fears and anxieties and instrumentalizing these for his own political agenda and rise in power. Sure does sound familiar.

Frankenheimer clearly succeeds in messing with us here. It’s often very confusing, thereby underlining the postmodern fear of lack of control. At the beginning I didn’t really understand what was going on at all. There’s something phony about all this. Agreed!

The director’s satirical take on McCarthyite hysteria in an era of rising global complexity, with political turmoil on all sides of the equation, softens the lines between good and bad to the extremes — obliterating our sense of self-image and world order. So McCarthy was not who we thought he was, yet he was right after all? About the red scare? Mind-boggling to say the least. It’s a wildly exaggerated materialization of the agitated zeitgeist of the times, of the unsettling feeling that there is a secret nature in all this.

“Who is this mysterious they?” one of the victims asks our Korean War veteran, mind-controlled assassin — played by the great Laurence Harvey. Ironically, he’s the most conscious and morally integral character, “the kindest, most bravest, warmest and wonderful human being you can imagine.” So it’s our best man being corrupted — undermining our faith in our own decency along with it.

The social commentary is very much relevant to this day. More than ever, obscurely distorted depictions of reality are used as partisan weapons — just like attacking unpopular minorities in the name of patriotism and a seemingly threatened national security. The wish for clear responsibilities in a highly complex world increasingly marginalizing people on the lower end of society is as big as ever. Maybe the hidden force is just plain and simple corporate greed in an unregulated capitalism. No wonder communists are the biggest enemy here. You have to be in political power to deregulate correctives for maximizing profits. Politics, as displayed here, are nothing more than the extended arm in installing this environment. That does ring a bell in me. The less socioeconomic power the masses have, the more they crave being part of something bigger — gravitating toward a powerful authoritarian leader. The inversion of the American Dream. Or perversion, I don’t know.

Frankenheimer hints at the destructive force brought to society by right-wing demagogues and their hidden agenda. Their calculated division — exploiting the fear of a foreign threat, even placing this anxiety in our very middle — is doing the exact opposite of what they claim. Instead of empowering, they’re weakening the country from within, provoking politically motivated violence in the form of riots and, as shown here, assassinations. And with all this turmoil, ultimately strengthening their path to authoritarian power.

A deeper analysis of the female villain — played by Murder, She Wrote star Angela Lansbury, the true queen of diamonds here — would be insightful. Maybe she is supposed to disrupt our feeling of security even more, going for the wife and loving mother, dismantling this vital image at the heart of patriarchy. She seems truly evil. A corresponding shadow figure within this patriarchal setting — manipulating and acting through men is her only way to come into power.

Immensely relevant and endlessly rewatchable classic.

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watched the 4k restoration by Kino Lorber, great commentary with John Frankenheimer, so insightful, love listening to him. 5/5