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Two years later, Raymond is a newspaper publisher in New York. He despises his mother (Angela Lansbury), a mettlesome political advisor to easy-going muckraker U.S. Senator Iselin (James Gregory). Lansbury is wed to Iselin, which makes him Raymond's father-in-law. The ambitious Lansbury schemes to make the dimwitted Iselin the next president of the United States.
Meanwhile, Raymond's former commanding officer Marco (Frank Sinatra) has been suffering from a recurrent nightmare. In it, Harvey kills two platoon members upon command, proof that he will do whatever he is instructed. Marco eventually convinces Army brass that Raymond is an unwitting assassin. But can Lansbury's plan be foiled in time?
In supporting roles are Janet Leigh, who plays Sinatra's girlfriend; John McGiver, who plays a senator understandably opposed to Iselin; Leslie Parrish, Raymond's former girlfriend and his sole hope for happiness; and two evil foreign agents, Khigh Dhiegh and Henry Silva.
How others will see it. This paranoid, suspenseful black comedy received two Oscar nominations. Lansbury's malevolent performance garnered the greatest praise, but it has to be said that Harvey's stone-faced morbidity was also ideal. The film is a regular on the imdb.com Top 250, and its influence is obvious on other films, notably The Parallax View (1974).
How I felt about it. In a 2007 interview for Esquire Magazine, Charlize Theron admitted that Reindeer Games was her worst film. Since her career was on a roll following The Cider House Rules, why did she choose to make Reindeer Games? After all, she had read the script. The answer: it was directed by John Frankenheimer.
If Theron was impressed by Frankenheimer's prior work, it was unlikely to be because of three relatively overrated movies also involving burly, pompous Burt Lancaster: Birdman of Alcatraz, Seven Days in May, and The Train. No, Frankenheimer's reputation rests on The Manchurian Candidate, his one bona fide classic.
Credit is also due to George Axelrod, who adapted the screenplay from Richard Condon's novel. Axelrod is presumably responsible for my favorite line from the film, involving the perpetually morose Raymond Shaw: "Twelve days of Christmas. One day of Christmas is loathsome enough."
Not that the film is perfect. For example, Janet Leigh's character is completely unnecessary. And it is curious how she throws herself at Frank Sinatra, to the extent that you wonder if she is a Federal or foreign agent herself.
It is also a remarkable coincidence that Parrish wears the queen of diamonds to a costume party. And no bartender, or anyone else for that matter, would tell off someone by suggesting that they play Solitaire. And if Harvey planned to take out his parents, he wouldn't aim his rifle at the presidential nominee until the last moment.
But one has to marvel at the bravery of a film that implies that communist agents are secretly manipulating national politics. You know, they just might not have our best interests at heart. Unlike, for example, domestic opportunists such as Rush Limbaugh.