It’s natural for me, your humble political correspondent, to mark Sunday’s 94th Academy Awards ceremony by offering 20 of my favorite political movies.
Before you rip my slate apart, consider that I’m not including documentaries or biopics. The greatness of films like Lincoln, Malcolm X, Selma, The Queen, Milk and others is established. This list is of fictional movies.
Though politics and media are like ham and eggs, I omitted journalism movies, so my list won’t include All the President’s Men, Citizen Kane, The Paper and Network. I’ll save commentary on those movies for the next time I buy a round at one of our spots.
I must point out that Hollywood has a terrible record in producing political films set in communities of color.
Let me know your top picks.
20 Miss Sloane (2016)
Miss Sloane is a gritty look at political lobbying run amuck. Jessica Chastain plays a lobbyist pushing gun control legislation. But her personal life becomes an issue and things spiral out of control.
19 The Candidate (1972)
Robert Redford stars as an underdog California Senate candidate who pulls off the upset.
“What do we do now?” he asks his team in the closing scene.
18 Devil in a Blue Dress (1995)
Denzel Washington and Don Cheadle star in a film based on one of Walter Mosely’s Easy Rawlins novels.
It’s a neo-noir mystery set in 1948 Los Angeles and deals with issues related to racism, passing and corruption. A seedy mayoral race is in the backdrop.
17 O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)
This Coen brothers’ film is an adaptation of Homer’s The Odyssey and is set in depression-era Mississippi. With lots of folk music and a comedy crime capper plot, the politics here is secondary, but wickedly good. Charles Durning’s supporting role as Mississippi Gov. Menelaus “Pappy” O’Daniel is based on Texas governor W. Lee Pappy O’Daniel.
16 Dave (1993)
A president enlists a lookalike to stand in for him to cover up an affair with a staffer in this political comedy. When the president has a stroke, Dave, played by Kevin Kline, gets to play to role in earnest. I love the scene where Dave brings in an accountant, Murray Blum, to cut spending in order to save a public works bill. If only.
15 The Best Man (1964)
This gem stars Henry Fonda and Cliff Robertson as bitter rivals vying for the Democratic Party nomination for president. I like it because it features a brokered convention, a political writer’s dream. Gospel legend Mahalia Jackson and journalist Howard K. Smith make cameo appearances.
14 Casablanca (1942)
There’s so much to like in this Humphrey Bogart classic. But amid the interplay between Bogart and Ingrid Bergman are some fantastic political scenes. The singing of La Marseiallaise in Rick’s Café to drown out the occupying Germans’ anthem Die Wacht am Rhein is moving. The film captures the politics of the resistance movement and the occupiers trying to crush it.
13 Paths of Glory (1957)
Stanley Kubrick’s anti-war film packs a punch. Set during World War I, it tells the story of the bogus trial and execution of three French soldiers charged with cowardice. Not only does the film display the brutality of war, but it showcases the callousness of military leaders consumed by petty politics and ambition.
12 The Contender (2000)
A president nominates a female senator (Joan Allen) as vice president. A background check reveals that the nominee attended an orgy as part of a sorority initiation. Senators looking to derail the nomination add false details to the incident, knowing that the president’s nominee won’t respond. The film is a stinging indictment of the Senate confirmation process.
11 The Apartment (1960)
Okay, it doesn’t feature government or shady political operatives. But The Apartment does succeed in telling an engaging story about office politics. A wonderful snapshot of corporate life in 1960, Billy Wilder’s tale is about a man who gets ahead by loaning out his apartment to trifling executives who are cheating on their wives. In the end, Lemmon has to evaluate whether winning the office politics game is worth giving up his soul.
10 Wag the Dog (1997)
After the president is caught trying to woo an underage girl, one of his crisis managers, played by Robert De Niro, develops a fake war with Albania to divert media attention from the scandal. Since it was released shortly before the sex scandal between Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky broke, the film’s title has become slang for starting a military action to deflect a negative story. Clinton bombed a factory in Sudan after his affair dominated news converge.
