Favorite political movies/shows?

[Imamacuser]

The Great Dictator (1940) & Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939). I really liked Demolition Man (1993), which is more of an action movie, but it makes a lot of jabs at certain political theories.

[DLD]

I always thought that films like "Meet John Doe" and "Mr. Deeds goes to town" were more the fairy tale allegories about the epoch but not hardball political process dramas. Otherwise, "Duck Soup" should be counted too.

[ahalpert]

I always thought that films like "Meet John Doe" and "Mr. Deeds goes to town" were more the fairy tale allegories about the epoch but not hardball political process dramas. Otherwise, "Duck Soup" should be counted too.

I think it's all fair game.

PS I totally disagree about K&P's Mexican Standoff -

First of all, the central idea is to take the idea of outflanking ad nauseum to make it more ridiculous. So many movies have the sniper trained on your position red dot appear. I lost it when he said "BS that marriage is rock-solid." Such a straight delivery in a familiar form of a ludicrous detail.

But then you have Manchurian Candidate sleeper agent voice command activation, you have Infernal Affairs-style corruption investigation, and you have Mission Impossible removing the face masks.

I do think that it fell apart after they took a break to figure out what was going on. I didn't think the ending was as strong as the beginning and middle.

[combatentropy]

I'd have to go with "All the President's Men". The screenplay, the acting, the direction was all top notch.

+1. It's in my top 10, and normally I don't even like politics, but really it's a detective story.

It won best screenplay, but I read that William Goldman's version wasn't used (I read that in either Goldman's book, Adventures in the Screen Trade, or in a biography of the director, Alan J. Pakula). Goldman wrote something of a buddy comedy.

Goldman's acceptance speech is short and sweet, and he makes special mention of the cinematography by Gordon Willis.

My favorite actor in it is Jason Robards, who also won an Oscar for it.

[QuickHitRecord]

I'll probably get some eye rolls but I've yet to watch anything that tops The West Wing. The first season is a little hyperbolic and introduces some unrealistic characters (i.e. Mandy) but it finds its groove by the second season. I love films and shows that act as a mirror for our own potential as a society, if only we could unite and focus on what's most important. In that regard, The West Wing is right up there with Star Trek for me. And it has the best, most hopeful series finale I have ever seen.

[combatentropy]

That reminds me of a supercut of Sorkinisms.

[QuickHitRecord]

That reminds me of a supercut of Sorkinisms.

Wow. Never realized how much he liked to re-use lines so much.

[combatentropy]

In his defense, he has written 8 movies and over 100 TV episodes. He once mentioned that he had seen this supercut, and he seemed to say that it was unconscious.

[ahalpert]

I'll probably get some eye rolls but I've yet to watch anything that tops The West Wing. The first season is a little hyperbolic and introduces some unrealistic characters (i.e. Mandy) but it finds its groove by the second season. I love films and shows that act as a mirror for our own potential as a society, if only we could unite and focus on what's most important. In that regard, The West Wing is right up there with Star Trek for me. And it has the best, most hopeful series finale I have ever seen.

Yeah that's why I love Star trek. I haven't seen the west wing much at all. I would be unhappy if all drama was a morality tale depicting life as it should be. But it definitely hits a spot and lifts me up

[DLD]

From what I recall from "The adventures in the screenwriting trade", Goldman was unhappy that Hoffman kept faxing back the rewrites with correction suggestions, making it a lot more work than it should have been. But it was a borrowed copy of the book some 25 years ago. Maybe Bill rewrote it since then.