While Jesse Walker’s Reason article about movies starring politicians doesn’t precisely break new ground – you get the feeling that you’re being told things that you could have easily worked out on your own – it’s pretty well written and mentions some films that I’ve never heard of. That’s always nice to see, especially the latter… although I fail to understand why the subgenre of personally kickass President (Air Force One, Independence Day, Captain America) was not mentioned. Action flicks have psychological and cultural relevance too, you know.
4 thoughts on “What, no comments about ID4?”
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Sorry. The article sent me off. Redford in the late sixties made some simply magnificent movies, without his future hagiography and liberal slant.
Barefoot in the Park
Downhill Racer
The Hot Rock
The Candidate
Jeremiah Johnson
are enough to retire on
And The Candidate may indeed be the best political movie ever made. Having won the election, Redford sits back in the limousine and says:
“What do we do now?”
I could not disagree more, there are several political movies which are much better – The Manchurian Candidate, State of the Union, Bob Roberts, and The Last Supper.
Three good movies indeed. (Can’t speak to Last Supper)
My standards would include:
1) Quality as a movie
2) Closeness to reality, while remaining entertaining.
3) Subject matter actually politics and campaigning.
None of yours qualify here. “Last Hurrah” and “Best Man” might. Did you read the article?
Thanks for the link. I don’t know if the kickass president movie counts as a political movie — there’s not much politics there — but it’s a genre that definitely deserves an essay of its own. Perhaps you’re the man to write it, Moe…
(And hey — I do write about action movies when I get a chance!)