The Manchurian Candidate

- Joint raided! - No, no.

It's just our Raymond. Our lovable Sergeant Shaw.

All right, let's go, you men! Come on!

Let's go.

Come on, Sarge. Gertrude buy you beer.

What's the matter him?

I'm afraid our Saint Raymond, he don't approve.

Well, maybe he's got a girl back home or something.

Him? Our Raymond? Are you kidding?

Come on, Stevens, get up! Let's go!

- Hey, Silver, how about the robe? - What do you mean, my robe? Get outta here.

We gotta go. We gotta go.

Bad here.

- How do you know? - Chunjin born two miles from here, Captain.

So far, every place we've been in Korea, this joker was born two miles from it.

- What's so bad about it? - Tricky.

Swamp all around. Thirty yards up may be quicksand.

Nobody said anything about quicksand.

Can't we go around it?

No, Sergeant.

What's your personal advice?

All walk in single line next 200 yards.

Rejected. Not tactical to travel forward in a single line.

Patrol sink.

Can't we go around it?

- No, Sergeant. - Never mind.

Okay, pass the word.

This nation jealously guards its highest award for valor,

the Congressional Medal of Honor.

In the Korean War, with 5,720,000 personnel engaged,

only 77 men were so honored.

One of these 77 men was Staff Sergeant Raymond Shaw.

Raymond Shaw was returned from combat and flown directly to Washington

to be decorated personally by the president of the United States.

This is why his presence, or the presence of any Medal of Honor winner,

is sufficient to bring generals to their feet, saluting.

Congratulations, son. How do you feel?

Like Captain Idiot in Astounding Science Comics.

Hold it, General!

Hold it, General, please!

Come on, Jack. We've got to get in there quickly. Quickly!

Mother, what is this? What are you doing here?

- Senator Iselin, how about a statement? - Thank you, General.

How does it feel to be the father of a Medal of Honor winner?

He's not my father!

The senator is Raymond's stepfather. However, Raymond's always...

I can only say that as one who has devoted his life to the service of his country...

You did this, Mother.

You organized this disgusting three-ring circus.

But, darling, you're a Medal of Honor winner.

Incidentally, congratulations.

I was going to write to you, but we've been in the most frightful mess the last few months.

- This moment will stand out as the proudest... - All right, all right. Let him through.

That's enough now. That's enough, I say. Let him through.

Say "cheese."

All right, that's enough now. Let the poor boy through now. Please.

What is the matter with you, Raymond? We've gone to a good deal of trouble to...

- Arranged a parade for you and so forth. - A parade?

Get that... Get that out of here.

Why, you publicity-sick, flag-simple boob.

Raymond, just because your parents, and the entire country for that matter,

- happens to be proud of you... - Who's kidding who, Mother?

Johnny's up for reelection in November.

You've got it all figured out, haven't you?

Johnny Iselin's boy, Medal of Honor winner. That should get you another 50,000 votes.

Raymond, I'm your mother. How can you talk to me this way?

You know I want nothing for myself.

You know that my entire life is devoted to helping you and to helping Johnny.

- My boys. My two little boys. - Mother, stop it. Stop it.

- Stop it. - That is all I want.

On the afternoon of his arrival in Washington,

Raymond Shaw was decorated at the White House

by the president of the United States.

His citation attested to by his commanding officer,

Captain Bennett Marco,

and the nine surviving members of his patrol, read in part...

"Displaying valor above and beyond the call of duty,

did single-handedly save the lives of nine members of his patrol,

capturing an enemy machine gun nest

and taking out, in the process, a full company of enemy infantry.

He then proceeded to lead his patrol,

which had been listed as missing in action for three days,

back through the enemy lines to safety."

A gift from the Citizens For Iselin Committee for his last birthday.

It's absolutely saved our lives during the campaign.

You see, this opens up into a double bed.

This is the press room.

And this... this is my private office.

Anything to take the pain out of campaigning, huh?

That's what I always say.

May I take this thing off now, Mother?

Oh, Raymond, what is the matter with you?

You look as if your head were going to come to a point in the next 13 seconds.

Johnny, fix him a drink or something. Sit down, Raymond. Relax.

We'll be home in less than two and a half hours.

I'm not going home with you, Mother. I'm going to New York.

What?

I've got a job on a newspaper.

Research assistant to Mr. Holborn Gaines.

Holborn Gaines? That Communist?

He's not a Communist, Mother. As a matter of fact, he's a Republican.

But the terrible things he's written about Johnny.

He came to interview me at the White House this morning.

Afterwards, I asked him for a job. He gave it to me.

We discovered that we had a great deal in common.

What could you possibly have in common with that dreadful old man?

Well, for one thing, we discovered that we both loathe and despise you and Johnny.

And that's a beginning.

The war in Korea was over.

Captain, now Major Bennett Marco had been reassigned

to Army Intelligence in Washington.

It was, by and large, a pleasant assignment, except for one thing.

Night after night, the major was plagued by the same reoccurring nightmare.

Stop him.

Stop him, Mama. Stop him, Mama.

Stop him.

Stop him.

Another modern discovery which we owe to the hydrangea...

concerns the influence of air drainage upon plant climate.

Many years ago, when I was traveling about the country,

I noticed magnificent hydrangeas on the hills

where the air drainage was, uh, perfect,

and very poor specimens,

or perhaps none at all,

in the valleys.

Formerly, we used to consider sheltered valleys

more favorable to plants than hilltops.

But the avoidance of late spring and early autumn frosts

enjoyed by sites with good air drainage,

where the cold air can drain safely away to lower levels,

gives the hills a decided advantage.

Thus it was the hydrangeas that gave the first pointer

in another modern discovery of horticultural importance.

From this it might appear that the hydrangea is a fairly simple plant,

but there are more complications.

The cultivation of hydrangeas was evolved from a number of varieties

originally found in Japan,

not all of which, of course, have the same characteristics.

Two of them do not share the quality of producing blue flowers

in mineral-rich soils.

Allow me to introduce our American visitors.

I must ask you to forgive their somewhat lackadaisical manners,

but I have conditioned them,

or brainwashed them, which I understand is the new American word,

to believe that they are waiting out a storm

in a lobby of a small hotel in New Jersey

where a meeting of the ladies' garden club is in progress.

You will notice that I have told them they may smoke.

I've allowed my people to have a little fun

in the selection of bizarre tobacco substitutes.

Are you enjoying your cigarette, Ed?

Yes, ma'am.

Yak dung.

Oh, tastes good like a cigarette should.

Now then, comrades...

May I present the famous Raymond Shaw.

The young man you've flown 8,000 miles

to this dreary spot in Manchuria to see.

Raymond, pull your chair over here by me, please.

I am sure you've all heard the old wives' tale

that no hypnotized subject may be forced to do

that which is repellent to his moral nature,

whatever that may be.

Nonsense, of course.

Oh, you note-takers might set down a reminder to consult Brenman's paper,

"Experiments in the Hypnotic Production of Antisocial and Self-Injurious Behavior,"

or Wells' 1941 paper which was titled, I believe,

"Experiments in the Hypnotic Production of Crime."

Or, of course, Andrew Salter's remarkable book,

Conditioned Reflex Therapy,

to name only three.

Or if it offends you that only the West is working

to manufacture more crime and better criminals...

against the modern shortages,

I suggest Krasnogorski's Primary Violence Motivation,

or Serov's The Unilateral Suggestion to Self-Destruction.

My dear Yen,

as you grow older you grow more long-winded.

Can't we get to the point?

Has the man ever killed anyone or has he not?

I apologize, my dear Dimitri.

I keep forgetting that you're a young country and your attention span is limited.

Tell me, Raymond, have you ever killed anyone?

- No, ma'am. - Not even in combat?

In combat?

Yes, ma'am, I think so.

Of course you have, Raymond.

Raymond has been a crack shot since childhood.

Marvelous outlet for his aggressions.

May I have the bayonet, please?

Not with the knife. With the hands.

With the hands?

Here. Have him use this.

Ah. Da, da.

Raymond, whom do you dislike the least in your group here today?

- The least? - That's right.

Well, I guess Captain Marco, ma'am.

You notice how he is always drawn to authority.

That won't do, Raymond.

We need the captain to get you your medal.