Movies about political paranoia were favorites of mine, until they… let's say there were some things mentioned to me… things I picked up while watching TV test patterns back in the day… things that just seemed a little out of place… Maybe I had better hurry up writing this article and get out while the getting is good.
1962's The Manchurian Candidate sported quite the cast - with Frank Sinatra, Laurence Harvey, Janet Leigh and Angela Lansbury, how could you go wrong? The movie hinges on a Korean war veteran who was brainwashed by the commies. You could tell he was brainwashed - he was the only person who didn't cheat at solitaire. C'mon, admit it. That's why you don't like online solitaire - because it's too hard to cheat! They're always watching…
We can easily pair a Chinese baijiu with The Manchurian Candidate, a white liquor distilled from sorghum or some type of grain. However, people say that drinking it makes one look like the guy on the Jagermeister label. A South Korean soju might be a better play, especially if one's neck is sore from glancing over one's shoulder. Soju is made from rice, wheat, barley, sweet potatoes or whatever other starchy stuff you can find near the distillery. Just don't let anyone see you buying it…
Winter Kills is probably not as convincing as JFK, but is likely a lot funnier. The 1979 black comedy spins a yarn based on the John F. Kennedy assassination. Speaking of an all-star cast, how does this strike you? Jeff Bridges, John Huston, Anthony Perkins, Eli Wallach, Richard Boone, Toshiro Mifune, Sterling Hayden and Elizabeth Taylor. Despite the roster, the team didn't make the playoffs. Winter Kills tripped over its own complexity and earned only a fraction of its budget at the B.O.
While Kennedy was in the White House, he reportedly had Champagne flowing like it was going out of style. Pick up a bottle of your favorite Veuve Clicquot and drink like it's Camelot all over again.
The 1974 political thriller The Parallax View will take in anyone who ever worried about American corporate greed, wealth and power. Who is the assassin? Where is the assassin? Why is the assassin looking at me? Directed and produced by Alan J. Pakula, the film is the second of what people call his "paranoia trilogy," sandwiched between Klute and All the President's Men. Sink into The Parallax View and you start to believe all that crap people say about Google.
Santa Barbara County's Martian Ranch and Vineyard has a Mourvedre which they call Parallax. They hung that name on it after getting googly-eyed while looking at grapes in the vineyard. Open it at the same time you see the black umbrella, while listening to Revolution 9 backwards.