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Reader Question of the Week: Capraesque

Here is the question we put before readers a couple of weeks ago:

M.B.F. in Oakton, VA, asks: What is the best film on American politics, and why?

And here some of the answers we got in response:

J.B. in Hutto, TX: The answer, every day of the week and twice on Sunday, is Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. Anyone who says otherwise obviously has never seen Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.



C.J. in Redondo Beach, CA: You once again may have tipped your hand eluding to your choice on the question with a reference to Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. It's a great film, and you can rarely go wrong with Frank Capra or Jimmy Stewart. I have to go with Steven Spielberg's Lincoln, which is a masterpiece and an excellent study on how the arm-twisting game of politics can be played. Daniel Day-Lewis is tremendous as usual, but the cast is uniformly excellent (I wish it had won Best Picture that year, and I'll never be able to understand how it lost the SAG Best Ensemble Award; that was a travesty) and the writing is top-notch, as one would expect from Tony Kushner. Whenever I see it on TV, I am compelled to watch it to the end.



M.K. in Queens, NY: Although you are going to conclude the answer is Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, I'd swing to the other end of the emotional spectrum in these turbulent times. The Manchurian Candidate (1962) has the most realistic politician, willing to flip-flop or change any position for personal preservation, in James Gregory as Senator John Yerkes Iselin. And it has Angela Lansbury as Mrs. Eleanor Shaw Iselin, the most ruthless political handler there ever was. And what a family will do to each other for political gain!

Fantastic film.



S.S. in West Hollywood, CA: I often explain that I follow politics obsessively, the way some follow sports, but in politics who wins matters. I also follow films just as obsessively. The Oscars are my Super Bowl! (And yes, I will win the Oscar pool at your Oscar viewing party.) So the question of the best films about American politics was a natural for me.

First I listed all the films I could think of that fit the question. (I decided not to include documentaries. That felt like a different discussion.) I then narrowed it down to the films that had the most profound effect on me. So much, that I can remember exactly where I saw each one. With that, I present the best films about American politics:

  1. All the President's Men: C'mon, it's the GOAT of political films. You must already know that! (Awwwww, investigative journalism, remember that?)

  2. Bob Roberts: A satire about how easily American voters are manipulated by politicians with no ethics or morality. Meant as a reaction to the first Bush presidency. Even then I knew it was a prophetic warning of "anything to win" politicians who are only in it for the money making opportunities. Like the best horror films, you can't look away even when you want to.

  3. Frost/Nixon: About the 1977 Richard Nixon interviews with David Frost. Only the most extraordinary actors and filmmakers could turn that into an edge-of-your-seat, thought-provoking thriller.

  4. JFK: It's not a documentary and I wouldn't take anything it says at face value. Knowing that doesn't take anything away from its impact. It's a significant film accomplishment that's fascinating and hugely entertaining.

  5. Milk: As a queer man, this story and its historical significance hit me in a way other excellent biographical films didn't. (Representation matters!) About the 1970s rise of Harvey Milk from photography store owner to first successful openly gay politician at a time when most people weren't openly gay anything. And his murder at the hands of fellow San Francisco Board of Supervisors member Dan White. It's compelling, comprehensive, and inspirational. While also posing many questions about the murder and human behavior with still unknowable answers.

  6. Don't Look Up: Stop rolling your eyes, I know it's a flawed and very messy film. That said, a satire about scientists who are dismissed out-of-hand by politicians and the media while trying to save the planet from certain destruction just stuck to me. It's a not very subtle allegory for climate change. Like a documentary we're currently living, or, if you prefer, a nightmare we can't wake up from.


D.P. in Mt. Rainier, MD: Primary Colors. Really about the naive idealists who toil in the background (and become jaded in the process) so that the well-intentioned yet deeply flawed presidential aspirants can be elected.

Alternatively, Conclave. Even though it's not about American politics on the surface, Stanley Tucci's line about running for Pope just to keep more conservative elements from taking over and taking the Church backwards is a clear reference to American politics (if not liberal democracies in general).



D.E. in Lancaster, PA: I would nominate Advise and Consent, a 1962 film by Otto Preminger. The film has a stellar cast of Henry Fonda, Charles Laughton (his last film), Walter Pidgeon, Peter Lawford, Burgess Meredith, and Betty White among others (including historian David McCullough as a background extra). The film is based off the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name by Allan Drury, a reporter who covered the Senate during the Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman administrations. It was filmed in many D.C. locations, giving it further versimsilitude.

The film revolves around the Senate's duty to Advise and Consent, specifically to approve the controversial nomination of Robert Leffingwell to Secretary of State. Of course, it depicts a much quainter time when nominations rose and fell on matters of perjury and communist affiliations, and not on a loyalty test to the president or on how many investigations into drunken and/or drug-fueled behavior one had in their recent past. The film does a wonderful job of showing the various sides of an issue and the shifting nature of how factions are formed. It nicely shows that often times, political decisions come down personal antagonisms. Like many Preminger films, on the surface, things seems polite and cordial but underneath it's a vicious battle raging. Also like many of Preminger films, this one pushed the boundaries of the time by being the first to ever depict a gay bar—let's just say that someone has a secret to hide. For me, the greatest thing about this film is how the ending (while not completely legally accurate—it is a film after all) leaves you with a sense of just how hallow political victories can be. You will find yourself wondering, if for all the animosities, betrayals, and lives ruined and tarnished, was the "victory" worth it? Other film projects do a good job of depicting the Machiavellian nature of politics but this one does an excellent job of depicting the futility.

This film was shown in one of my social studies classes in high school—another sign of a quainter times because nowadays, what with its gay subplot, it would surely bring down the wrath of a Moms for Liberty boycott. Not only did the film open my eyes that there might be other people like me (I mean, at least enough to fill up one whole bar in NYC!) but equally importantly, it exposed me to the moral complexity and the fascinating but subtle battle of personalities that are the core of all politics. I really do feel that this is about as accurate a depiction of what it was like to be a Senator as has ever been filmed—well, at least, before a time when a senator from the opposing party in power is wrestled to the ground and handcuffed for the temerity of raising a question—and the party in power thinks that's just peachy keen. It's also many millions of light years away from where we tragically find ourselves today, where two state lawmakers were viciously gunned down in their homes by a madman with a political ax to grind.



B.B. in St. Louis, MO: Donald Trump's first term was A Face in the Crowd. His second term is Wag the Dog. Let's hope his third term doesn't become Dr. Strangelove.



T.S. in Maple Heights, OH: Wag the Dog: Is art imitating life, or is life imitating art? A movie that acknowledges the cynical and conspiratorial ethos of modern politics.

Good Night and Good Luck: A reminder that an independent free press is an invaluable resource for democracy.



M.M. in San Diego, CA: Wag the Dog parodies political operatives creating a distraction (a fake war) for an administration in hot water. Political operatives can only fantasize about getting that good (bad) at hoodwinking the entire country.



E.S. in Providence, RI: My nominee would be Charlie Wilson's War. It shows how some of the sausage gets made, the way secret decisions end up with horrible consequences, and has one of the greatest performances in film history from the sorely missed Phillip Seymour Hoffman.



G.T. in Cincinnati, OH: Andy Griffith's powerful characterization of a pre-Trumpian demagogue who wins over the masses to the point he can dictate his terms to smoke filled room politicians who are used to having their way. I keep waiting his climatic downfall to occur to Trump. Sigh. Until then, I'll keep watching the obits.



B.U. in St. Louis, MO: The Parallax View is super at capturing the political paranoia and conspiratorial thinking of late 60s and early 70s American politics. I suppose they're still with us.



P.D.N. in Boardman, OH: JFK. Because it indulges America's favorite pastime, conspiratorial thinking. That hasn't stopped since and never will.



A.G. in Scranton, PA: The Best Man. The one by Gore Vidal... not that fu**ing idiot Taye Diggs movie.

Despite being filmed during the Kennedy administration, the film's storylines could just as easily have happened in 2024.



S.I. in Minneapolis, MN: While the list of good American political movies is long, the "best film on American politics" is a movie that actually came out over 50 years ago—The Candidate. For those few who may not have seen it, Robert Redford plays an idealistic and charismatic liberal who agrees to run for the U.S. Senate as a longshot with no real hope of winning against a popular incumbent. (He welcomed the opportunity to spread his own values.) However, his political handlers keep dumbing down his message to a point at which the candidate really no longer has any views... and he keeps climbing in the polls. The classic final line of the movie, after he wins the race, pretty much selling his political soul in the process: "What do we do now?"



J.E.S. in Sedona, AZ: The best film ever made on American politics is Paddy Chayefsky and Sidney Lumet's Network. It was so prescient, and so accurate, in so many ways germane to our times that it barely tracks as satire anymore, especially after Team MAGA adopted Howard Beale's "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take this anymore" battle cry as a mantra, without apparently understanding that it was the scream of a television madman being controlled by his corporate overlords, so as to manipulate his viewers. The idiocy of shouty confrontational television, as depicted in Network doesn't look/sound at all out of line with the realities of our modern political broadcast, cable, and podcast biomes. The Mister Jensen monologue is one of the two greatest soliloquies in American film history, along with Charlie Chaplin's "Look up, Hannah" speech at the end of The Great Dictator. It's a masterwork of scripting, acting, set design, and cinematography.



A.B. in Lichfield, England, UK:

I don't have to tell you things are bad. Everybody knows things are bad. It's a depression. Everybody's out of work or scared of losing their job. The dollar buys a nickel's worth, banks are going bust, shopkeepers keep a gun under the counter. Punks are running wild in the street and there's nobody anywhere who seems to know what to do, and there's no end to it. We know the air is unfit to breathe and our food is unfit to eat, and we sit watching our TV's while some local newscaster tells us that today we had fifteen homicides and sixty-three violent crimes, as if that's the way it's supposed to be. We know things are bad - worse than bad. They're crazy. It's like everything everywhere is going crazy, so we don't go out anymore. We sit in the house, and slowly the world we are living in is getting smaller, and all we say is, "Please, at least leave us alone in our living rooms. Let me have my toaster and my TV and my steel-belted radials and I won't say anything. Just leave us alone."

Well, I'm not gonna leave you alone. I want you to get mad! I don't want you to protest. I don't want you to riot—I don't want you to write to your congressman because I wouldn't know what to tell you to write. I don't know what to do about the depression and the inflation and the Russians and the crime in the street. All I know is that first you've got to get mad. You've got to say, "I'm a HUMAN BEING, God damn it! My life has VALUE!"

So I want you to get up now. I want all of you to get up out of your chairs. I want you to get up right now and go to the window. Open it, and stick your head out, and yell, "I'M AS MAD AS HELL, AND I'M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!" I want you to get up right now, sit up, go to your windows, open them and stick your head out and yell "I'm as mad as hell and I'm not going to take this anymore!" Things have got to change. But first, you've gotta get mad!... You've got to say, "I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!" Then we'll figure out what to do about the depression and the inflation and the oil crisis. But first get up out of your chairs, open the window, stick your head out, and yell, and say it: "I'M AS MAD AS HELL, AND I'M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!"

No, not Donald Trump on his boutique social media site, but Howard Beale in Network (more accurately, Peter Finch as directed by Sidney Lumet, per Paddy Chayefsky's script).

It's also arguably a much, much scarier film in 2025 than it was in 1976.



S.M. in Milford, MA: My nominee is Bob Roberts. It basically predicted the MAGA cult, roasted the notion that SNL is a liberal program (go check who hosted the program in 2015 after he first announced his presidential candidacy), and exposed how the right manipulates the media and co-opts the language and techniques of populism and 1960s protest. The homages to Don't Look Back and This is Spinal Tap are just icing on the cake. I immediately thought of this movie when Mango Mussolini emerged with that absurdly large bandage on his ear to protect a wound that required no stitches. If you haven't seen it, be warned that the final act cuts a bit too close to home at this political moment.



J.D. in Greensboro, NC: Not exactly Capraesque, but a film that illustrates what happens when democracy goes wrong is The Front, a film made in 1976 starring, but not written by, Woody Allen. The film stealthily tells the tale of authoritarian creep during the McCarthy era, bolstered by the Cold War and fear of communist "infiltrators" in Hollywood and elsewhere. It is a story of the betrayal of thousands of citizens by their fellow countrymen to satisfy the ambitions of politicians. You can make comparisons to our present time if you like.

Because it starts out as a typical Allen film, with disarming humor covering serious themes, the movie draws you in and the ending takes you by surprise. Not only that, but you might recognize yourself in Allen's character, who thinks what he is doing really doesn't hurt anybody until he opens the curtain and takes a look at the destruction. His desire for fame and money greased the machinery but also drew him into it and he is confronted with that at a pivotal moment. Think about it—in order for these things to happen, betrayal of those you don't know or even those you know is necessary. Persecution is not a straight line, but must be a widening circle.

Zero Mostel portrays a person who has been betrayed by others in the film. In real life, he suffered from the very political persecution during the McCarthy era that the movie shows. His performance is phenomenal.

The ending of this film deeply affected me and made me realize that while our system is good, the wrong people in power can pervert it. Artists have been holding up the mirror to these things for thousands of years and we owe it to them to keep watching and learning. Long live movies like this one.



S.H. in Sutherlin, OR: The best movie about American politics is The American President, hands down. Honorable mention to The Manchurian Candidate.



S.R. in Stockton, CA: I am rather taken by Seven Days in May and The Manchurian Candidate—they both seem to have predicted events sixty years after their release (at least to a certain extent, hopefully).



S.R. in Hoboken, NJ: My vote goes to An American President, with two examples of the dialog to explain why:

Lewis Rothschild (Michael J. Fox): "I'm a citizen, this is my President. And in this country it is not only permissible to question our leaders, it's our responsibility!"

Sydney Ellen Wade (Annette Bening) [to the President]: "How do you have patience for people who claim they love America, but clearly can't stand Americans?"


J.B. in Bozeman, MT: Although not directly about politicians, I suggest Thank You For Smoking, about a sleazy yet suave tobacco lobbyist played by Aaron Eckhart. The film does an excellent job portraying corporate spin and misinformation which unfortunately remains a corrosive element of American political discourse (see media, social and warming, global).



D.C. in Jacksonville, FL: I love movies, and during the pandemic my wife and I took the opportunity to catch up on a lot of gaps in our movie-watching repertoire. We started by watching all the Best Picture nominees (at least where copies still exist and are widely available). We also watched a lot of "best movie" lists. The movie that jumps out for me as the "best" movie having to do with American politics is 1957's A Face in the Crowd. For those who haven't seen it, the movie will change your opinion of Andy Griffith forever. Through the lens of the 2025 movie watcher, A Face in the Crowd is incredibly prescient, chronicling the path of a loud-mouthed rabble-rouser as he assembles a populist following, rises to power, and becomes an uncontrollable force for chaos and mayhem. It amazes me that more than half a century ago the themes of modern day politics were on the minds of the movie-making industry.



A.M. in Brookhaven, PA: The best film on American politics is All the President's Men. It's based on a true and very significant political event. It shows the greed that politicians have to both win at all costs and, if you are already going to win, do whatever you can to run up the score. It has an all-star cast. It won 4 Academy Awards and made the cut in 4 of the AFI's 100 years top 100 lists.



T.F. in Craftsbury Common, VT: While not a comprehensive representation of politics nationwide, I think the best film for representing our current federal government and those of many states would have to be Idiocracy.



D.M. in Cleveland, OH: Unfortunately, it's the uncannily prescient documentary Idiocracy.



C.S. in Newport, Wales, UK: I do not know what is the best film on American politics to date. But I fear that if Donald Trump continues as he does, and is successful, then it may well soon be The Great Dictator.

Here is the question for next week:

F.J.H. in Las Cruces, NM, asks: I am an aficionado of historical fiction (book form) from waaaay back. So, what do you think is the best novel in the genre?

Submit your answers to comments@electoral-vote.com, preferably with subject line "Two Turtledoves"!



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