Politics As Usual—At Least in Hollywood

Lessons Learned From 15 Politically-Minded Movies

by Peter Weed | Published November 4, 2008

(Page 2)

Seven Days In May (1964)
Director: John Frankenheimer
Warner Home Video, $19.98
Beginning with Saul Bass’ title sequence that turns White House fencing into missiles, Seven Days In May rapidly unfolds as a penetrating look at the uneasy relationship between the military and elected government. Frankenheimer, who took a look at some of the darker corridors of government in The Manchurian Candidate, gives us a U.S. president (Fredric March) interested in dealing with the dreaded Reds. As General Scott, Burt Lancaster puts together a coup to unseat “the traitor,” while Colonel Casey (Kirk Douglas) unveils the perfidy. Interestingly, the film imbues television cameras with as much power as guns—a key component of the coup is the seizure of the television networks. Information is power.

The Candidate (1972)
Director: Michael Ritchie
Warner Home Video, $19.98
Ritchie’s film doesn’t take the easy road of portraying an idealist co-opted by an evil system. Candidate Bill McKay’s road to office is a bit more complicated than that. In his humble legal aid offices, McKay (Robert Redford) announces his Senate candidacy. Political operative Peter Boyle has told McKay that he can run his sure-to-lose campaign his own way, so his sideburns are shorn as he takes to the campaign trail with program specifics. But just as Willie Stark learned in All The King’s Men, McKay discovers that stats don’t sell. As the polls improve, McKay’s message changes, and herein lies the film’s strength, not only because of corrupting influences but because of McKay himself. He slides easily, with limited hesitation, into the role of consummate politician. As his ambitious wife notes at one point, “He has the power,” and he learns to wield it on the stump. As the campaign unfolds, McKay masters the rhetoric, evasiveness and memorable one-liners and in the process becomes more divorced from the original message. Simply put, he’s adrift. As the film ends, Senator-elect McKay is mobbed by supporters. He tries to shout above the crowd to Boyle and asks, “What do we do now?”

All the President’s Men (1976)
Director: Alan J. Pakula
Warner Home Video, $26.98
Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein’s (Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman) journalistic takedown of a president arrived on the big screen in 1976—a political thriller with telephones and typewriters in place of guns. Never before or after has the newspaper profession looked so noble. An important reminder of the role that the much-maligned fourth estate (when was the last time you heard those two words?) is supposed to play—a role often forgotten in the current political landscape with accusations hurled about by the right and the left. Somehow the movie restores faith in free speech while exposing a very compromised underbelly.

The War Room (1993)
Directors: D.A. Pennebaker & Chris Hegedus
Universal Studios, $14.98
A backstage pass into a modern campaign and a study in styles: The buttoned-down shirts of George Stephanopoulos and the LSU T-shirts of James Carville help to win the Presidency for nominee Bill Clinton. The inclusion of segments with Republican strategist Mary Matalin, Carville’s then-girlfriend and now-wife, ushers the film into “you-can’t-make-this-stuff-up” territory. From cobbling together commercials to convention choreography, it’s all about packaging, as candidate Clinton periodically enters the frame. The film is most notable for what’s missing: Any meaningful discussion about the issues. Rather, it’s about what will sell; the reality of the men behind the curtain.

Nixon (1995)
Director: Oliver Stone
Walt Disney Video, $14.99
From the opening haunted house shot of a very dark White House, Stone takes a grim look at a grim period in American politics. Nixon is Stone’s take on the most Shakespearean of modern politicians, Richard Nixon. It’s all here: Political genius, grotesque paranoia, internal corruption. Anthony Hopkins wisely avoids the easy caricature throughout this chronicle of Nixon’s complex political career. The familiar gang makes its shadowy entrances: Kissinger, Haig, the plumbers, Hoover, scary anti-Castro Cubans… What Stone does bring to the table is an interpretation beyond the familiar film clips. Nixon has always been a character quick to dismiss and vilify. Stone takes a crack at presenting the former President in all his complexity.

Wag the Dog (1997)
Director: Barry Levinson
New Line Home Video, $14.98
It’s no small accomplishment to be the most cynical of the films under consideration. Consider the premise of Wag the Dog: Got a sex scandal? Start a war. In this case, with the magic of Hollywood, over-the-top producer Stanley Motss (Dustin Hoffman sporting Bob Evans-esque glasses) does a bang-up job manufacturing atrocities via blue screen. So, with the help of Johnny Dean’s (Willie Nelson) “Old Shoe” ditty, the U.S. goes to “war” with troublesome Albania. Alas, manufacturing a war isn’t particularly new. Remember William Randolph Hearst’s apocryphal quote when considering the Spanish-American War: “You supply the pictures, I’ll supply the war.” Or as Robert De Niro’s Conrad Brean says here, “What difference does it make if it’s true? If it’s a story and it breaks, they’re gonna run with it.” From Swift boats to spurious draft letters, so it goes.

Bulworth (1998)
Director: Warren Beatty
20th Century Fox, $9.98
Imagine the possibilities of a burnt-out politician freed from the tyranny of trying to stay atop the polls. Reduced to taking a contract out on his own life, emancipated Senator Bulworth (Warren Beatty) eliminates his inner editor and the results are spectacular. The esteemed senator tells a black audience, “If you don’t put down that malt liquor and chicken wings and get behind someone other than a running back who stabs his wife, you’re never going to get rid of somebody like me!” From there, Bulworth adds rapping to his repertoire and manages a measure of redemption. Just imagining a candidate breaking into an obscene rap this fall may help one make it through another pre-programmed debate.

13 Days (2000)
Director: Roger Donaldson
New Line Home Video, $14.98
With all of the real-world caterwauling about symbolic banalities such as the importance of wearing American flag lapel pins, 13 Days offers a sobering reminder of what really is at stake in the White House. Donaldson’s film offers a compelling look at the pressure a president can face, in this case whether or not to invade Cuba when missiles are discovered. Faced with terrible options and potentially catastrophic consequences, John F. Kennedy (Bruce Greenwood) and crew are confronted by hawks eager for war. JFK, no softie on the godless Reds, desperately seeks an acceptable political solution. A back channel plan is worked out. Donaldson’s intelligent film shines a light on the pressures of the highest stakes of diplomacy.

The Fog of War (2003)
Director: Errol Morris
Sony Pictures, $14.94
Looking for your political lessons on a platter? Former Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara is your man. If you think Rumsfeld was controversial, take a look back at McNamara—Vietnam policy architect extraordinaire, with victory always just around the corner and the dominoes always about to fall. McNamara was one of the most public faces of the war, as he succinctly states, “A lot of people think I’m a son of a bitch.” In some ways The Fog of War was McNamara’s attempt at rehabilitation, but to his credit he doesn’t deny errors, rather he offers lessons from the experience. Unfortunately those lessons are a bit late. Fortunately they are available to leaders today. Following the lessons is another matter. As McNamara notes in lesson number two, “Rationality will not save us.”

Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004)
Director: Michael Moore
Weinstein Company, $14.95
Michael Moore follows the money and lets film roll and roll. Creating some disquieting moments, he looks at the lead-up and fallout from 9/11 as only he can. Provocative? Yes. Bold-faced propaganda? Yes. Manipulative? Yes. But also terrifying and maddening. There’s little new in Moore’s film, but it’s the presentation in one package that’s the most troubling. The litany of damning handshakes speaks volumes. And just letting the tape run offers some mind-bending moments. Watching President Bush’s reaction to news of a second plane hitting the World Trade Center is about as painful as it gets. Finally, Moore’s stunt of trying to get Congressmen to sign up their children for the military is the director at his comic, inflammatory best. Some might argue that it’s a cheap shot and unfair; but, hey, that’s politics.

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COMMENTS | POST A COMMENT

Comment by Prepaid Cell Phone Guy on 11/29/08 at 11:23 pm

The sad thing is so much of the liberal hollywood is as closed minded as some conservatives.  The closing of the mind… The inability to learn from the past or unwillingness to look at the past.

Comment by free g1 on 1/02/09 at 2:33 pm

Don’t mistake liberals and sonservatives

Comment by latest hindi movie reviews on 1/08/09 at 12:01 pm

This is such an enlightening article..thanks a lot.

Comment by Netbook Skin on 5/23/09 at 9:27 am

Politics isn’t entertaining to me. I pay movie prices to be thrilled and entertained. Falling asleep isn’t what I pay for!! lol.

Comment by custom lapel pins on 9/14/09 at 7:01 pm

Does it always have to be about politics?

Comment by The Pimps on 2/16/10 at 4:37 am

Given the challenges of security, privacy, policy-maker ignorance, etc., what would be a wise route to take towards upgrading our society to Democracy

Comment by مـنـتـديات on 12/18/10 at 11:59 am

thank you very much
تسريحات
صور للماسنجر

Comment by مـنـتـديات on 12/18/10 at 12:00 pm

thank you very much
منتديات
ميك اب

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