Election Day Film Fest

Check out these political movies AFTER you cast your ballot

I'm just about to head to the polls to cast my votes—but I thought that first, I'd re-post this blog about killer election related films, with a few new entries.

Before he hit the bigtime with the wine-tasting black comedy masterpiece Sideways, director Alexander Payne perfectly adapted Tom Perotta's fantastic novel, Election. The 1999 film, starring Reese Witherspoon and Matthew Broderick, makes metaphor for US politics by following a Middle America high school election that goes haywire. Very funny stuff here, well worth a revisit in the Sarah Palin era.

Another good campaign film is Barry Levinson's Wag the Dog. Robert DeNiro and Dustin Hoffman are wonderfully manipulative in this '90s tale of political smokescreens and shell games to cover up an embarrassing gaffe by the sitting US president. Look for Woody Harrelson's brilliant turn as a "Joe the Plumber."

Director Frank Capra' Meet John Doe, (1941) is a classic starring Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck. It's not an election-politics film persay, but I do love this movie, and what it has to say about media manipulation of public figures. Its just as timely now as it was in its post-Depression era release.

I also love The Manchurian Candidate (1962), by director John Frankenheimer. Ahead of its time in many ways, most startlingly, this assassination-themed thriller was one of President John F. Kennedy's favorite films, just before his own horrible fate. Star Frank Sinatra made sure the film stayed out of circulation for years after Kennedy's assassination, but its available now on dvd. Angela Lansbury burns up the screen as a malevolent, mother of rising politician Lawrence Harvey. Director Jonathan Demme put some interesting spins into his 2004 remake, starring Denzel Washington and Meryl Streep.

I'm sure Barack Obama has seen The Candidate, the 1972 black comedy about California politics, starring Robert Redford as an idealistic candidate for a state senate  run. If he hasn't, he should. This whip-smart film by Michael Ritchie, one of my favorite 1970s directors, holds up beautifully and has a terrific, ambiguous final scene. Also, lots of East Bay locations were used, including the Paramount Theatre in Oakland.

The 1990s version of The Candidate is Warren Beatty's acerbic Bulworth. Beatty plays a US Senator, whose near-nervous breakdown creates some highly questionable campaign tactics. Beatty co-wrote the screenplay and directed this very subversive gem that holds up very well 10 years after its original release.

A lesser known, but worthwhile  documentary is A Perfect Candidate. This 1996 doc follows the Virginia Sate Senate campaign of Oliver North (he of the 1980s Iran-Contra hearings and more recently of Fox News) against incumbent Chuck Robb. The nastiness of political campaigns comes  front and center in this revealing, at times jaw-dropping film. Good stuff.

Finally, Charlie Wilson's War is out on dvd and its worth a look, particuarly for Philip Seymour Hoffman's scene-stealing performance as a CIA operative who knows every in and out of clandestine operations. East Bay native Tom Hanks plays Charlie Wilson, a Texas congresssman who loved bourbon, women, and fighting the Russian Commies via the Afghanistan rebels in the 1980s. West Wing-scribe Aaron Sorkin and director Mike Nichols use black humor in adapting George Crile's sensational book, the result is a very entertaining, adults-oriented feature that's all-too-rare at the multiplex these days.

Posted at 01:09 AM in Pete's Popcorn Picks | Permalink