Primer. Political Thrillers.

For [Richard] Condon, the ugliest political struggles exist within families. The relations between political scion Raymond Shaw and his mother and stepfather are characterized by shady alliances, duplicity, manipulation and mind control - a microcosm of the larger international story line. The political arena is merely a larger stage for the psychological tensions and conflicts that bind families and tear them apart. If you want to know the true nature of what goes on in Washington, Condon is saying, look no further than your family homestead.

Steve Goldstein on John Frankenheimer's The Manchurian Candidate in our latest primer, "Political Thrillers," ranging from Welles and Hitchcock to Oliver Stone and David Mamet by way of Pakula, Coppola, Antonioni and Costa-Gavras to name a few.

Posted by dwhudson at July 13, 2006 2:12 PM