Douglas Caddy Posted January 28, 2020 Share Posted January 28, 2020 The 34 best political movies ever made Our critic’s list includes ‘Malcolm X’ and ‘Mean Girls.’ What’s your vote? https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/2020/01/23/34-best-political-movies-ever-made/?arc404=true&fbclid=IwAR1GI_q-bbcKShAG6yL2e4WofXoyvb78LiHe4zeTolaO5auL7AKUiQGYuJY Joseph McBride commented on Facebook about this article: I guess Ann Hornaday of the Washington Post deserves plaudits for being broadminded in choosing a film written by a member of the Communist Party as her #1 political movie. MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON, which has always been one of my favorite films, was written by Sidney Buchman, who was a CP member at the time and was later informed on by director Frank Capra and blacklisted. Not only that, Hornaday doesn't mention that MR. SMITH was plagiarized from a Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Maxwell Anderson, BOTH YOUR HOUSES. I don't think Buchman or Capra were responsible for that, since Columbia only discovered the similarities shortly before the film's release and bought the rights to the play (though without giving Anderson screen credit). I wonder about Lewis R. Foster, who received the only Oscar given to MR. SMITH for what purported to be his original story. For all these revelations, see my 1992/2000 book FRANK CAPRA: THE CATASTROPHE OF SUCCESS and my 2019 book FRANKLY: UNMASKING FRANK CAPRA. It's a piquant irony that Buchman, a brilliant writer who was found guilty of contempt of Congress in 1953, has his work lauded by Hornaday for writing "Hollywood’s most stirring, convincing and timeless reminder that the Constitution is a sacred trust that all American citizens — and their representatives — have responsibility for bearing." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Bulman Posted January 29, 2020 Share Posted January 29, 2020 The total dismissal of JFK in the preface, which I disagree with, almost made me dismiss the rest. An interesting and informative list and description of the films. Several I've never seen. I'm no critic. Maybe Citizen Kane and The Grapes of Wrath might be rated higher in a classic sense? I was surprised to see High Noon included, but the guy does make the case well for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Ness Posted January 29, 2020 Share Posted January 29, 2020 Z Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cliff Varnell Posted January 29, 2020 Share Posted January 29, 2020 (edited) 1 hour ago, Bob Ness said: Z State of Siege Burn! The Wages of Fear Three Days of the Condor Team America: World Police The Parallax View Seven Days in May The Year of Living Dangerously Salvador Missing Bob Roberts Chinatown Edited January 29, 2020 by Cliff Varnell Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Ness Posted January 29, 2020 Share Posted January 29, 2020 Haha Team America! Yes! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cliff Varnell Posted January 30, 2020 Share Posted January 30, 2020 Brazil Throne of Blood Weekend (Godard) Casablanca Fight Club Easy Rider Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cliff Varnell Posted January 30, 2020 Share Posted January 30, 2020 V For Vendetta Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cliff Varnell Posted January 30, 2020 Share Posted January 30, 2020 (edited) I mean, if we're going to consider High Noon then why not: The Draughtman's Contract LA Confidential Enemy of the State Who Framed Roger Rabbit? Paths of Glory Miller's Crossing Edited January 30, 2020 by Cliff Varnell Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Bulman Posted January 30, 2020 Share Posted January 30, 2020 And all this time I thought The man Who Shot Liberty Valance was the best political movie of all time. John Wayne as the assassin on behalf of the uncorrupted reluctant politician Jimmy Stewart. https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=liberty+valance+legend&qpvt=liberty+valance+legend&FORM=VQFRML https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=liberty+valance+legend&qpvt=liberty+valance+legend&view=detail&mid=B35ED02E7AAB30ECD716B35ED02E7AAB30ECD716&&FORM=VRDGAR&ru=%2Fvideos%2Fsearch%3Fq%3Dliberty%2Bvalance%2Blegend%26qpvt%3Dliberty%2Bvalance%2Blegend%26FORM%3DVQFRML https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=liberty+valance+legend&qpvt=liberty+valance+legend&view=detail&mid=6EBCB0B9520C1246482D6EBCB0B9520C1246482D&&FORM=VRDGAR&ru=%2Fvideos%2Fsearch%3Fq%3Dliberty%2Bvalance%2Blegend%26qpvt%3Dliberty%2Bvalance%2Blegend%26FORM%3DVQFRML https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=liberty+valance+legend&qpvt=liberty+valance+legend&view=detail&mid=6202DA96E59DC7CB4FE56202DA96E59DC7CB4FE5&&FORM=VRDGAR&ru=%2Fvideos%2Fsearch%3Fq%3Dliberty%2Bvalance%2Blegend%26qpvt%3Dliberty%2Bvalance%2Blegend%26FORM%3DVQFRML The good guy won. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joseph McBride Posted January 30, 2020 Share Posted January 30, 2020 (edited) I would definitely put LIBERTY VALANCE, such a profound film, right up there with MR. SMITH. I use LIBERTY VALANCE to end my course on films about American history. It even prefigured the JFK assassination in 1962 with its "Grassy Knoll" flashback of Wayne firing incognito from the darkened alleyway with the help of Woody Strode, and the newsmen covering up the truth as the lie becomes history. Artists are the canaries in the coal mine. The Post list is rather absurd, though. Edited January 30, 2020 by Joseph McBride Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Ecker Posted January 30, 2020 Share Posted January 30, 2020 How could a good movie be more about politics than The Best Man, written by Gore Vidal? (And if only we could have a Secretary of State like Henry Fonda, instead of the present toad.) The line I still remember is how a politician "has to pour God all over everything like ketchup." BTW I Googled that line to be sure I had it right, and I found it, not in Vidal's screenplay, but in a 2019 book called Leaping to the Stars by David Gerrold. Maybe it's an old saying and Vidal just borrowed it too, I don't know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Andrews Posted January 30, 2020 Share Posted January 30, 2020 (edited) Of course, it's still #toosoon to mention Vice, the Dick Cheney film by Adam McKay, or the deregulation politics of McKay's The Big Short. This is a feel-good list for cross-Beltway housewives that kisses its own a$$ by making All the President's Men number 2, and thinks it's edgy for citing Bulworth. So nobody should feel hurt that Z goes unremembered. Of interest: the header illustration by Stephen Bliss references the neopolitik kitsch of Jon McNaughton, "Trump's favorite painter," whose work (e.g., The Forgotten Man and You Are Not Forgotten) is too nuanced to be dismissed. https://www.salon.com/2020/01/26/trump-propaganda-painter-jon-mcnaughton-greatest-artist-of-our-time/ Edited January 30, 2020 by David Andrews Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cliff Varnell Posted January 30, 2020 Share Posted January 30, 2020 (edited) A top political flick yet unmentioned because it’s so obvious: The Godfather Part 2 Edited January 30, 2020 by Cliff Varnell Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Prutsok Posted January 30, 2020 Share Posted January 30, 2020 The Campaign. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
W. Niederhut Posted January 30, 2020 Share Posted January 30, 2020 Interesting thread. Coincidentally, I've been reading a fascinating book this week about the history of Hollywood during WWII and the ensuing Cold War, called Army of Phantoms, by former Village Voice film critic J. Hoberman, which has multiple references to the work of Joseph McBride I can hardly put the book down. https://www.amazon.com/Army-Phantoms-American-Movies-Making-ebook/dp/B004W3UGU0/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=Army+of+Phantoms&qid=1580406558&sr=8-1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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