Cinema Verité: 9 Films About Elections To Distract From This One
The news that a top general had to tell Congress that the U.S. armed forces will have no role in carrying out the 2020 election process or resolving a disputed vote put bones on a story that the Democrats are contemplating having the military get Donald Trump out of office.
The announcement from General Mark Miley reminded many of a classic 1964 movie Seven Days In May in which a rogue general (Burt Lancaster) seeks to overthrow a president (Frederick March) who tries to negotiate a disarmament treat with the Soviet Union. A loyal Marine colonel (Kirk Douglas) foils the plot by the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Many consider it one of the classic American political movies. One thing is certain, Seven Days In May is not a movie that will be made under the Oscars’ new socially acceptable quotas for women, minorities and approved Red Guard social themes.
As the American 2020 Vote-A-Palooza heads toward a very uncertain finish, it might be time to list the best election/ political dramas in U.S. cinema history.
Ides Of March (2012). A charismatic presidential candidate Mike Morris (George Clooney) appears to have everything going for him. Except a nasty secret that his junior campaign manager (Ryan Gosling) learns about. Morris has had an affair with an intern (Democrats? Interns? No!). That leads to her committing suicide after an abortion. But that’s not what makes this great political theatre. The intrigues among candidates, the rivalries between the political pros who run the campaigns, a terrific script from Clooney, Grant Heslov, and Beau Willimon and a great cast (Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Paul Giametti, Marisa Tomei) make this authentic. The showdown in a deserted restaurant in Cincinnati between Clooney and Gosling may be one of the best-written scenes in modern film. Cynical, sad but exhilarating— this is classic political theatre.
2) The Candidate (1972). Bill McKay (Robert Redford), the idealistic, son of a former California governor is recruited to run for California’s Senate seat. Capturing the zeitgeist of Flower Power, he is gradually coarsened by a political pro (Peter Boyle) as he takes on a Nixon-esque incumbent, While a little dated, The Candidate is knowing and well scripted as McKay surrenders on policy and to a tryst with a beautiful stranger. Redford is Clooney’s role model, and The Candidate shows his awkward charm and radiant beauty.
3) Election (1999) is a diabolically clever Alexander Payne movie about high school, ambition and (never!) a rigged election. Matthew Broderick is a hapless teacher who is destroyed by an eager Hillary Clintonesque student (Reese Witherspoon) in the course of a high-school presidential campaign in a small midwestern U.S. city. The idea that even nice people will do corrupt things for poetical reasons has never been more apt.
4) Wag The Dog (1997) is a delightfully cynical Barry Levinson movie with a script from David Mamet and Hillary Henkin about a flailing president (whom we never see) who is rescued by a Hollywood producer. Dustin Hoffman chews on the scenery as he creates a fake narrative about a captured U.S. serviceman “Ol’ Shoe” (Woody Harrelson). The problem comes when Hoffman refuses to stay silent about his masterpiece of subterfuge. The movie’s release coincided with Bill Clinton’s woes with Monica Lewinsky and bombing Kosovo— adding real-life cred to the concept of political deception.
5) All The President’s Men (1976) The quintessential journalist’s fave about two very junior reporters, Bob Woodward (Redford) and Carl Bernstein (Hoffman), taking down U.S. president Richard Nixon with the help of anonymous source (gasp) Deep Throat. Taut, authentic and gifted with a great cast (Jason Robards, Jack Warden, Hall Holbrook, Jane Alexander, Martin Balsam), APM gives insight into the moment the Democratic Party earned its SJW wings. The origins of today’s acrimony were sewn in the dirty tricks of Nixon and the Left’s abandonment of the middle class.
6) Bob Roberts (1992) A Tim Robbins vehicle, this movie prefigured the emergence of Barack Obama. Okay, in this movie it’s a folksinging neocon mystery man with shady backers and what seem to be (for the times) racist undertones. But Obama’s ascension from Illinois nobody to the pious first black president of the U.S. was no less startling or disturbing. It’s worth watching for the odious Alan Ryckman character, which reminds us that the late actor was one of the top ten actors off his generation.
7) Meet John Doe (1941) Frank Capra was always at the heart of American populism, and nowhere was it more in evidence than Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck in this B&W classic. Cooper is John Doe, a derelict being used by a corrupt newspaper editor (Edward Arnold) to win the presidency. Stanwyck is reporter Ann Mitchell who digs up Doe from the gutter and then falls in love with him when he becomes a national sensation with his message "Be a better neighbour”. It all works out in the end.
8) Shampoo (1975) is a Warren Beatty vehicle written by him (and Robert Towne) with Beatty in the lead as George Roundy, a philandering hair dresser in Hollywood (I know, a stretch). The action takes place over the days in which Nixon is elected in 1972. Again, a strong cast (Jack Warden, Julie Christie, Lee Grant, Goldie Hawn, Carrie Fisher) shows Beatty at his boyish best. The clincher is a Nixon election night party where George is thought to be gay by the husband of one of his conquests— then is found bare-assed humping the woman. A perfect companion piece to All The Presidents Men, this highlights the decadence of Nixon’s GOP and the boundless self absorption of the Democrats who are trounced that night.
9) Napoleon Dynamite 2004. A counter-culture companion piece to Election, Napoleon Dynamite a socially awkward 16-year-old mouth breather from Preston, Idaho, who helps his friend Pepé win election at their high school. The low-budget hit is a Nerd fest with Napoleon saving Pepé’s campaign with a truly unhinged dance routine to "Canned Heat" by Jamiroquai . Words fail, but Napoleon Dynamite heralds the birth of nerd power, a forerunner to today’s gender and racial fluidity.
Bruce Dowbiggin @dowbboy is the editor of Not The Public Broadcaster (http://www.notthepublicbroadcaster.com). The best-selling author of Cap In Hand is also a regular contributor to Sirius XM Canada Talks Ch. 167. A two-time winner of the Gemini Award as Canada's top television sports broadcaster, his next book Personal Account with Tony Comper will be available on BruceDowbigginBooks.ca this fall.