How old was Raymond Shaw (the character) supposed to be.?
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — The Manchurian Candidate
kathy_in_wlsv — 12 years ago(March 10, 2014 08:24 PM)
I've watched the Lawrence Harvey version (the good one) multiple times. The one thing I can't figure out is just how old is he supposed to be?
His mother tells him he has to do his required service which would place him around college age at most, but rising to the rank he does seems unlikely.
22 in 1952? older? Younger? -
Altho73 — 11 years ago(April 26, 2014 11:14 AM)
There wasn't a war on when Raymond went into the army so that would have been 1949 when he would have been aged around twenty so Raymond would have been 23 in 1952 which seems right.
But rising to the rank he does seems unlikely
In real life my uncle was inducted into the Army around that time, even though he was not posted to Korea and did not see any combat action he was discharged two and a half years later with the rank of sergeant.
The fictional Raymond Shaw was posted to Korea and did see combat so it would NOT have been unlikely for him to have risen to the rank of Staff Sergeant. -
pmiano100 — 11 years ago(May 10, 2014 09:10 AM)
I joined the American Army as a buck private at 17 right out of high school. While serving with combat units in Vietnam as a medic I was eventually promoted to Sp/6 (E-6), the equivalent of a staff sergeant. I was only 19 years old. I was the youngest E-6 in my brigade, but it is possible.
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oldgoatee — 10 years ago(September 27, 2015 02:54 AM)
In the book, he was 24 in 1952 when the combat incident took place. He could have been drafted in 1949 or 50. In wartime someone like Shaw who was a college graduate with probably extremely high test scores and excellent marksmanship in addition to being an insufferable sycophant would probably have been promoted early and often.
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Wakanohana — 9 years ago(July 24, 2016 10:27 PM)
He could have entered as a commissioned officer, but after his mother persuaded him to break off his engagement to Jocelyn, Raymond said he enlisted the next day.
To address the question about Raymond's age, that would depend on whether we think this story took place during the 1952 or the 1956 election. Was Raymond activated as an assassin soon after his return from Korea, or was there a gap of a few years during which Marco and the others had the nightmares, and Marco started to look into the events? -
Altho73 — 9 years ago(October 21, 2016 12:43 PM)
The story definitely took place during the 1956 election, the film makes this clear. When Raymond is admitted to hospital (under the pretence of having been hit by a car) there is an argument between Zen-Lo and Zhilkov about whether they need Raymond to carry out another killing to make sure he is up to par. Zen-Lo is very much against this saying that it is a risk while Zhilkov is for it, arguing 'how can you know that he is still functioning properly, the man has not killed for TWO YEARS'.
Since Raymond shot Ed Mavole and Bobby Lembeck in 1952 it means that the hospital scene was in 1954 so it would have to be the 1956 election.