That was the cry of the soothsayer in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. It's also been the cry of anyone foreseeing a political downfall of any kind.
It's interesting, then, that the Ides of March is actually a celebration of war. It's a day to commemorate the God of War, Mars, complete with military parades.
Here are my five favorite films about political assassinations, real or imagined.
THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE (1962)
Directed by John Frankenheimer
Written by George Axelrod/George Frankenheimer (uncredited)
Based on a book by Richard Condon
The Manchurian Candidate is the grandaddy of all political conspiracy films. Frankenheimer's film (and Condon's novel) was, in a way, the soothsayer of the real world, telling us that a great assassination (JFK's) would soon be considered one of the great conspiracies of all time.
Ben Marco (Frank Sinatra in one of his best roles) is a Korean War veteran with honors. Lately, he's been plagued by crazy dreams that he finds out others from his platoon are also having. Raymond Shaw (Laurence Harvey), Marco's sergeant, seems to be going even further down the rabbit hole of these dreams. But what happened in Korea stays in Korea…or did it follow them home. And what does Shaw's horrible mother (Angela Lansbury) have to do with all of it?
Definitely one of the most paranoid films of all time, The Manchurian Candidate is a political thriller that shows us just how "in control" we really are…or how much others can control us.
Contrary to popular belief, the movie wasn't pulled from theatres because of the JFK assassination, but JFK did help get it made when he personally called one of the producers on behalf of his friend Sinatra to tell him that it was ok to make the film. Nearly three decades later, Kennedy would get his own paranoid conspiracy theory movie...
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