Flickgrrl

1.) "Gabriel Over the White House" (1933): An odd, memorable movie by Gregory La Cava. I've always liked La Cava very much, and he has a distinctive touch, but beyond "odd and memorable," it's very hard to nail down. He may be the only director who can create scenes that are at once pixilated and unsettling - that's as close as I can come.

"Gabriel" is a one-of-a-kind movie, with a strong lead performance by Walter Huston. The plot, courtesy of IMDb:

"Newly inaugurated President Judson Hammond is content to live out the next four years exercising a hands-off approach and leaving the problems of Depression America to local authorities. But after a miraculous recovery from an auto accident, Hammond is ready to take on every social ill and neither Congress, gangsters nor the nations of the world will stop him."

This is one of the few movies where you get a sense of how close to radical the common political impulse of the early 1930s was.

2.) "The Phantom President" (1932): Starring George M. Cohan, brought to my attention by a Stanley Kauffman review. The plot, again courtesy of IMDb:

"Too bad for presidential hopes of banker T.K. Blair; his party feels he has too little flair for savoir faire. But at a medicine show, the party bosses find Blair's double: huckster Doc Varney. Of course, they scheme to make Varney T.K.'s public spokesman; at first, he even fools Blair's girlfriend Felicia, providing a romantic complication. As election eve approaches, the conspirators face the problem of what to do with Varney...who has difficult decisions of his own to make."

That familiar-sounding plot leads to...

3.) "Dave" (1993): Charming. Sometimes, that's enough. Interesting in a funny way for its careful avoidance of any real politics.

4.) "Dick" (1999): A great lost comic gem. Dan Hedaya's Tricky Dick is easily the best Nixon I've seen. The explanation of how Watergate happened ought to be true, even if it's not. Also has some of the best uses of period songs anywhere - I'll never hear "You're So Vain" again without thinking of Nixon. The way the songs are used to expand the possible meanings of a scene is the exact opposite of how Nora Ephron uses songs to force us to take only one meaning from a scene.

5.) "The American President" (1995): In retrospect, kind of a first draft for "The West Wing." But the romance between Michael Douglas's President and Annette Bening's lobbyist is a treat, and gives this movie a life of its own.

6.) "Point Break" (1991): Easily the most bizarre use of Presidents ever.

Funny how the 1990s saw such a concentration of movies featuring the President. That must say something about the public's feelings toward Clinton - although someone smarter than me would have to explain it.

The best fake president is by far David Palmer from the first 4 seasons of 24, he was assasinated, that tells you all you need to know, only great presidents get killed.

Wwolfe,

Didn't mention "Gabriel," which I love, because I don't think it's available on DVD.

Eknight,

I don't know about William McKinley, but Lincoln and Kennedy, yeah.

To keep this sane, just focus on campaign-related films. No Mr. Smith, no Dick (though, wow, I do love that movie).

How about Primary Colors? No film better captures why and how we fall in love with candidates. TB, indeed.

Michael Ritchie's "The Candidate" (1972)with Robert Redford.

Carrie--

My nominations/favorites would be two from the same era - Otto Preminger "Advise and Consent" and Franklin J. Schaffner's "The Best Man."

--Joe

There was a movie called "Kisses for My President" with Polly

Bergan as the first female president and Fred MacMurry as the first

first gentleman. I think it was released in the late 50s,

I love Lee Tracy's performance in "The Best Man." Every time I see it, I want to vote for him. (Henry Fonda also renders an excellent depiction, or possibly indictment, of Adlai Stevenson.)

Ed,

How could I forget "Kisses for My President"? I think it's 1964. Joe, Wwolfe, JDM: absolutely agree on "Advise and Consent," "The Best Man and "The Candidate," all excellent films about the political process. Adam. I like "Primary Colors," esp. Emma Thompson as Hillary Clinton and Kathy Bates as the DeeDee Myers. But after all these years I'm on the fence about Travolta. Whomever mused about all the political films made during the Clinton era -- "Primary Colors," "Wag the Dog," "Dave," "The American Pesident" among them -- should remember that Clinton made politics sexy. Right now the only Geo W Bush I can think of in film is the Dennis Quaid character in the misbegotten "American Idol" satire "American Dreamz."

Actually, Bush reminds me more of the Randy Quaid character in "Brokeback Mountain."

FYI to Ed and to Carrie. A few months ago, there was an announcement of a planned new comedy with Meryl Streep as the first woman president and (I believe) Kevin Kline as the country's frist man. It wasn't identified as a remake of "Kisses for My President," but it sounded a lot like it. At the time, it was listed under Streep's credits on IMDb, but is no longer there. I've no idea if it was canceled or just postponed, but it no longer seems to be in the works. Does anyone else remember reading about it? (I know I'm not imagining this because I recall going to IMDb immediately to check it out.)

Joe's right. Maybe it died a natural death or got dumped in the force majeure wave of deal cancelations, but it was there and it's gone.

Yes, I remember, too. That Streep "woman president" movie was tobe written and directed by Diane English.

The Candidate featured an Oscar winning original screenplay, wonderful performances from Redford and Peter Boyle, and one of the greatest, still quoted, concluding lines ("What do we do now?") in film history. Still relevant in terms of the questions it raises about the impact of television on politics and democracy, and its depiction of modern campaigning. Should be on the list of films slected for preservation by the Library of Congress.

US dream http://www.1stfirstgentleman.us/ We will again countdown to change idea of the Year2008