In The Manchurian Candidate, a young soldier is brainwashed by his mother and some communists into killing his crazy stepdad's political opponents every time he sees the Queen of Hearts, only to be thwarted by Frank Sinatra. But what if wasn't stopped? Undoubtedly, he'd be a puppet president, in the thrall of shadowy powers. And that's a risk Sylvester Stallone isn't willing to take. Which is why the former action icon posted a series of messages to his Twitter account yesterday urging voters to "get the Manchurian Candidate out of the drivers seat before were ALL soaring over the cliff to oblivion" and noting "the Manchurian Candidate is a movie about fake president put there by America's enemies."

Contacted by The Hollywood Reporter for comment, the actor denied that "fake president" is in fact real President Barack Obama. Rather, the tweets were posted "in the spirit of creating a conversation" and the "Manchurian candidate" reference was meant to describe "all career politicians."

Stallone will discuss this subject at greater length in his new film, The Manchurian Career Politician.

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Ray Gustini