{"id":1492,"date":"2026-04-27T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-27T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fightinginthewarroom.com\/THOB\/?p=1492"},"modified":"2026-04-27T15:51:06","modified_gmt":"2026-04-27T15:51:06","slug":"389-the-manchurian-candidate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fightinginthewarroom.com\/THOB\/2026\/04\/27\/389-the-manchurian-candidate\/","title":{"rendered":"389 &#8211; The Manchurian Candidate"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"758\" src=\"https:\/\/fightinginthewarroom.com\/THOB\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/manchurian-thob-1024x758.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1493\" srcset=\"https:\/\/fightinginthewarroom.com\/THOB\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/manchurian-thob-1024x758.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/fightinginthewarroom.com\/THOB\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/manchurian-thob-300x222.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/fightinginthewarroom.com\/THOB\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/manchurian-thob-768x568.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/fightinginthewarroom.com\/THOB\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/manchurian-thob.jpeg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 1362px) 62vw, 840px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>If you make a remake to a cinema classic (and Oscar nominee), chances are the buzz starts there. But in revamping The Manchurian Candidate to the post-9\/11 culture, Oscar winning director also added the pedigree of recent winner Denzel Washington and then-recent nomination record breaker Meryl Streep, the buzz multiplied. But this version of a paranoia thriller about a political candidate whose brain has been hijacked was a mild summer success, kept only in the race by Streep in villain mode.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This episode, we talk about whether or not the material comfortably fits in with the era&#8217;s concerns and the period after Washington won his second Oscar. We also discuss Liev Schreiber breaking out of Cotton Weary mold, the film&#8217;s pseudo-incestuous bath scene, and a double Six Timer hottie quiz for Washington and Schreiber.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Topics also include surprise Ann Dowd, the 2004 Supporting Actress race, and sleeper cell activation phrases.<\/p>\n<div class=\"powerpress_player\" id=\"powerpress_player_964\"><audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-1492-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/3563080\/fightinginthewarroom.com\/THOB\/EP\/THOB_EP_389_The_Manchurian_Candidate.mp3?_=1\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/3563080\/fightinginthewarroom.com\/THOB\/EP\/THOB_EP_389_The_Manchurian_Candidate.mp3\">https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/3563080\/fightinginthewarroom.com\/THOB\/EP\/THOB_EP_389_The_Manchurian_Candidate.mp3<\/a><\/audio><\/div><p class=\"powerpress_links powerpress_links_mp3\" style=\"margin-bottom: 1px !important;\">Podcast: <a href=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/3563080\/fightinginthewarroom.com\/THOB\/EP\/THOB_EP_389_The_Manchurian_Candidate.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_pinw\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Play in new window\" onclick=\"return powerpress_pinw('https:\/\/fightinginthewarroom.com\/THOB\/?powerpress_pinw=1492-podcast');\" rel=\"nofollow\">Play in new window<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/3563080\/fightinginthewarroom.com\/THOB\/EP\/THOB_EP_389_The_Manchurian_Candidate.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_d\" title=\"Download\" rel=\"nofollow\" download=\"THOB_EP_389_The_Manchurian_Candidate.mp3\">Download<\/a><\/p><p class=\"powerpress_links powerpress_subscribe_links\">Subscribe: <a href=\"https:\/\/fightinginthewarroom.com\/THOB\/feed\/podcast\/\" class=\"powerpress_link_subscribe powerpress_link_subscribe_rss\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Subscribe via RSS\" rel=\"nofollow\">RSS<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you make a remake to a cinema classic (and Oscar nominee), chances are the buzz starts there. But in revamping The Manchurian Candidate to the post-9\/11 culture, Oscar winning director also added the pedigree of recent winner Denzel Washington and then-recent nomination record breaker Meryl Streep, the buzz multiplied. But this version of a &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/fightinginthewarroom.com\/THOB\/2026\/04\/27\/389-the-manchurian-candidate\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;389 &#8211; The Manchurian Candidate&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[923,5,1428,1520,13,2136,2137,45,144,798,189,438,2134,456,63,2138,3,2139,6,702,1475,2135],"class_list":["post-1492","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-aarp-movies-for-grownups","tag-academy-awards","tag-ann-dowd","tag-anthony-mackie","tag-best-supporting-actress","tag-bruno-ganz","tag-dean-stockwell","tag-denzel-washington","tag-golden-globes","tag-jeffrey-wright","tag-johnathan-demme","tag-jon-voight","tag-kimberly-elise","tag-liev-schreiber","tag-meryl-streep","tag-miguel-ferrer","tag-movies","tag-obba-bobatunde","tag-oscars","tag-simon-mcburney","tag-ted-levine","tag-zeljko-ivanek"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fightinginthewarroom.com\/THOB\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1492","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fightinginthewarroom.com\/THOB\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fightinginthewarroom.com\/THOB\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fightinginthewarroom.com\/THOB\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fightinginthewarroom.com\/THOB\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1492"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/fightinginthewarroom.com\/THOB\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1492\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1494,"href":"https:\/\/fightinginthewarroom.com\/THOB\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1492\/revisions\/1494"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fightinginthewarroom.com\/THOB\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1492"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fightinginthewarroom.com\/THOB\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1492"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fightinginthewarroom.com\/THOB\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1492"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}