Leslie Parrish in Manchurian Candidiate (United Artists)
For some time I have been intrigued by the physical resemblance between the late British actor Laurence Harvey and the American actor Jon Hamm. More specifically, I have been intrigued by the emotional and personal similarities between one Raymond Shaw and Mad Men's Don Draper.
Raymond Shaw is the misbegotten protagonist of The Manchurian Candidate, a superb 1962 film directed by John Frankenheimer and nominated for two Academy Awards.
The dark and sinsiter film noir thriller revolves around a Korean War hero (Raymond Shaw), who is captured by the Chinese communists and brainwashed, along with his POW troop, into becoming a political killing machine. Raymond, stripped of all past emotional reserves, returns to his overpowering and ambitious mother, played by Angela Lansbury, who is the mastermind behind a plan to kill a U.S. Presidential candidate, using her son as the catalyst. Raymond's wooden, distant, robotic personality has strong parallels to Don Draper, as do other aspects of the chilling storyline.
(An interesting side note: The Manchurian Candidate was released the year before JFK's assassination and there was a great deal of speculation that Lee Harvey Oswald fashioned his shooting spree after viewing the movie several times. Rumors swirled that after JFK's untimely death, Frank Sinatra, one of the actors in the film, bought the rights and pulled The Manchurian Candidate out of circulation for decades, although this scenario has detractors.)
Laurence Harvey in
Manchurian Candidate (United Artists)
While I'm not implying that Don Draper is a killiing machine or anything remotely like that, the film had powerful psychological and political impact in the mid-1960s. It is not out of the realm of possibility to wonder if the image of Raymond Shaw as the ultimate disconnected American played any role in the casting of Jon Hamm.
Similarities:
- Jon Hamm and Laurence Harvey share a strong physical resemblance
- Raymond Shaw's wife, played by Leslie Parrish, has an uncanny resemblance to Betty Draper (January Jones)
- Both Raymond and Don come from very dysfunctional familes, with extreme parental estrangement
- Both served in the Korean War
- Raymond receives the Congressional Medal of Honor, which was undeserved; Don has his Purple Heart, also undeserved
- Both return from the war literally as different individuals, their old personas erased
- Both have tormented personalities that are cold, distant and wooden, with ideas of love non-existent
- (Purely as coincidence: The Manchurian Candidate opens with a fantasized garden party, attended by ladies with large flowery hats; and the climax of the film is at Madison Square Garden.)
An opening scene, plus overview from the film (unfortunate music attached):
Lindy King is a workaholic, who is also Marketing Director at LinkItUp.org and CommuterCars.com.
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