BEFORE: Well, I've already taken on one political film this year, with "Vice" detailing the activities of the Cheney administration - sorry, you probably know it better as the George W. Bush administration, but you've just GOT to stop fooling yourself there... So, here's another political film from last year, and I've got more political material on the way in June when I start my documentary film chain in June.
Hugh Jackman carries over again from "Movie 43"
THE PLOT: In 1987, U.S. Senator Gary Hart's presidential campaign is derailed when he's caught in a scandalous love affair.
AFTER: This film couldn't have come along at a more crucial time - I suspect that people in Hollywood, like many of us, have their eyes on the next election in 2020. If you don't remember Gary Hart, he ran for President in 1984 when, and stop me if you've heard this one before, the Democratic vice-president from four years prior finally declared he was running, and suddenly took over the front-runner position. Sound familiar, current Democratic candidates? That was Walter Mondale, and he went on to get completely crushed by the incumbent Republican President, who was an aging entertainment icon who had a knack for giving incoherent speeches. Again, sound familiar? I hope we're not schedule for a repeat of all this in 2020, but if Biden crashes and burns against Trump, remember that you heard it here first.
But the focus of this film is really the 1988 election, four years later when Mondale was damaged goods and didn't run again, leaving the field wide open for other candidates, like Gary Hart. Only Gary seemed to have an eye for the ladies, and was sort of semi-separated from his wife, and he met a lady on a boat trip and conducted some late night "job interviews", and then eventually even the press found out about it. And while the press had previously afforded candidates and Presidents a certain level of discretion (*cough* JFK *cough*) there was this thing in the 1980's called the Moral Majority, and conservative politics sort of demanded that all candidates had to be happily married men who had never cheated on their wives, went to church and practiced one of three acceptable faith denominations, and so on.
But what the hell happened since then? How did our country, much of which still claims to be conservative in politics and faith, elect our current corruptor-in-chief? A guy who's been divorced twice before, and you just KNOW he cheated on all of those wives, PLUS there were rumors (now confirmed) of an affair with a porn star, PLUS there was that tape where he talked about being a famous person who could seduce/molest any woman he wanted, even if they were resistant - what the HELL were we (collectively) thinking? We can re-hash the 2016 election over and over, but I think what it came down to was people voting for the lesser of two evils, as they perceived it. I told all my liberal friends that though I was voting for Hillary, I didn't think she could win, all because of how she reacted when her own husband was caught cheating. She did what every American woman in the public eye is "expected" to do, which is to forgive her husband and stand by him, or at least pretend to.
When the Clinton scandals broke, Hillary was clearly in a no-win situation, if you ask me. She could forgive Bill for cheating, which made her appear to be either a doormat in the relationship, or someone who didn't want to give up the position of First Lady, and all the perks that came with it. Or she could have divorced him, which would carry its own stigma in certain parts of the country, and many would say that would also have ruined her chance at winning the Presidential election herself - a divorced woman as President? Conservatives would have had a field day. Me, I would have wanted to see Bill Clinton's clothes thrown out into the Rose Garden, if she had had the balls to kick him out of the White House for screwing with an intern. So, if you ask me, the roots of Hillary's loss in the 2016 Election go all the way back to the Monica Lewinsky scandal - if you want somebody to blame for Trump being in the White House, you've got to trace it back to that. It's Bill Clinton's fault, but history will probably give him a pass on this, as it has on just about everything else. (And I say this as a registered Democrat, just one looking for the cause and effect.). But it's clear that Mr. Clinton learned nothing at all from the election of 1988.
Anyway, back to Gary Hart - the implication here in this film is that when asked about his fidelity and his extramarital relationships, his response to the press SHOULD have been "None of your damn business!" Only it wasn't - he (more or less) said to a reporter, "Go ahead, follow me around, you'll be bored..." Only they did, and they weren't, the senator from Colorado was enjoying a rather active nightlife, it turned out. Leaving us to wonder about the alternate reality that would have taken place if Hart hadn't been caught, or if the newspapers had allowed the campaign that 24 hour grace period to properly manage the scandal. Would he have beaten George H.W. Bush in the full election, would there then have been a Clinton administration later, would Al Gore have narrowly lost to George W., and so on?
With a slate of 20 or so Democratic candidates announced for next year's election, what can we learn from this, besides the fact that history tends to repeat itself? Are we living in a new world of acceptance, now that we know our President has never been faithful, not to anyone, or at least not for very long? Are the Democratic candidates going to be held to a higher standard, or do they just have to be better than Trump? Already we're seeing Joe Biden's fitness for office being questioned with people complaining about times when he was too familiar and "hands-on" with people, not respecting their personal space issues. OK, granted he might have some boundary issues, but to my knowledge he NEVER SLEPT WITH A PORN STAR while married to a European former model. Also he never ran three bankrupt companies into the ground, lied on his taxes for several decades, defrauded people with a bogus "university", had immigrant kids put in cages, been palsy with TWO dictators (Russia and Korea), etc. etc. etc.
I can also see the other side of this issue, though, namely that the current generation of young folk is a bunch of big babies. "Oooh, I don't like the way that the former vice-president touched my shoulders..." Grow up! Back in the early 1960's people were lined up around the block just to shake John F. Kennedy's hand, and I don't remember ever hearing anyone complain about the way he did it. "Oooh, the vice-president smelled my hair, that was creepy..." Well, think how much worse it could have been, if you were alone in a room with Donald Trump! He'd probably be trying to touch more than your hair... Also if Biden becomes president, these same people are probably going to be talking on and on about how the future president smelled their hair, and it was a bit weird, but at least he said their hair smelled great!
I'm very afraid with what's going to happen in the next 12 months, because it takes a lot to get an incumbent out of office, even one as corrupt and perfidious as Trump. Whatever Democrat comes out on top, that person needs to have a SPOTLESS record, in both public and private life, I'm afraid. Meanwhile, I'm very suspicious of anyone who runs for President, because of all the power and the perks that come with the office. I've said time and time again that if somebody WANTS to be President, that's a red flag for me right there, that they probably shouldn't be elected. Can't we devise a system that would find the perfect person for the job, even if that person doesn't WANT the job? As a matter of fact, I'd kind of prefer it that way. But I realize how unlikely that sounds.
Look, I'll vote for whoever ends up going against Trump, probably. Unless there's a candidate willing to take a stand against Daylight Saving Time, then I'm going to support that man or woman. If Biden ends up being the Democratic nominee I'd like to think that he'd develop into the next Obama, but my fear right now is that he's instead going to be the next Walter Mondale.
But the focus of this film is really the 1988 election, four years later when Mondale was damaged goods and didn't run again, leaving the field wide open for other candidates, like Gary Hart. Only Gary seemed to have an eye for the ladies, and was sort of semi-separated from his wife, and he met a lady on a boat trip and conducted some late night "job interviews", and then eventually even the press found out about it. And while the press had previously afforded candidates and Presidents a certain level of discretion (*cough* JFK *cough*) there was this thing in the 1980's called the Moral Majority, and conservative politics sort of demanded that all candidates had to be happily married men who had never cheated on their wives, went to church and practiced one of three acceptable faith denominations, and so on.
But what the hell happened since then? How did our country, much of which still claims to be conservative in politics and faith, elect our current corruptor-in-chief? A guy who's been divorced twice before, and you just KNOW he cheated on all of those wives, PLUS there were rumors (now confirmed) of an affair with a porn star, PLUS there was that tape where he talked about being a famous person who could seduce/molest any woman he wanted, even if they were resistant - what the HELL were we (collectively) thinking? We can re-hash the 2016 election over and over, but I think what it came down to was people voting for the lesser of two evils, as they perceived it. I told all my liberal friends that though I was voting for Hillary, I didn't think she could win, all because of how she reacted when her own husband was caught cheating. She did what every American woman in the public eye is "expected" to do, which is to forgive her husband and stand by him, or at least pretend to.
When the Clinton scandals broke, Hillary was clearly in a no-win situation, if you ask me. She could forgive Bill for cheating, which made her appear to be either a doormat in the relationship, or someone who didn't want to give up the position of First Lady, and all the perks that came with it. Or she could have divorced him, which would carry its own stigma in certain parts of the country, and many would say that would also have ruined her chance at winning the Presidential election herself - a divorced woman as President? Conservatives would have had a field day. Me, I would have wanted to see Bill Clinton's clothes thrown out into the Rose Garden, if she had had the balls to kick him out of the White House for screwing with an intern. So, if you ask me, the roots of Hillary's loss in the 2016 Election go all the way back to the Monica Lewinsky scandal - if you want somebody to blame for Trump being in the White House, you've got to trace it back to that. It's Bill Clinton's fault, but history will probably give him a pass on this, as it has on just about everything else. (And I say this as a registered Democrat, just one looking for the cause and effect.). But it's clear that Mr. Clinton learned nothing at all from the election of 1988.
Anyway, back to Gary Hart - the implication here in this film is that when asked about his fidelity and his extramarital relationships, his response to the press SHOULD have been "None of your damn business!" Only it wasn't - he (more or less) said to a reporter, "Go ahead, follow me around, you'll be bored..." Only they did, and they weren't, the senator from Colorado was enjoying a rather active nightlife, it turned out. Leaving us to wonder about the alternate reality that would have taken place if Hart hadn't been caught, or if the newspapers had allowed the campaign that 24 hour grace period to properly manage the scandal. Would he have beaten George H.W. Bush in the full election, would there then have been a Clinton administration later, would Al Gore have narrowly lost to George W., and so on?
With a slate of 20 or so Democratic candidates announced for next year's election, what can we learn from this, besides the fact that history tends to repeat itself? Are we living in a new world of acceptance, now that we know our President has never been faithful, not to anyone, or at least not for very long? Are the Democratic candidates going to be held to a higher standard, or do they just have to be better than Trump? Already we're seeing Joe Biden's fitness for office being questioned with people complaining about times when he was too familiar and "hands-on" with people, not respecting their personal space issues. OK, granted he might have some boundary issues, but to my knowledge he NEVER SLEPT WITH A PORN STAR while married to a European former model. Also he never ran three bankrupt companies into the ground, lied on his taxes for several decades, defrauded people with a bogus "university", had immigrant kids put in cages, been palsy with TWO dictators (Russia and Korea), etc. etc. etc.
I can also see the other side of this issue, though, namely that the current generation of young folk is a bunch of big babies. "Oooh, I don't like the way that the former vice-president touched my shoulders..." Grow up! Back in the early 1960's people were lined up around the block just to shake John F. Kennedy's hand, and I don't remember ever hearing anyone complain about the way he did it. "Oooh, the vice-president smelled my hair, that was creepy..." Well, think how much worse it could have been, if you were alone in a room with Donald Trump! He'd probably be trying to touch more than your hair... Also if Biden becomes president, these same people are probably going to be talking on and on about how the future president smelled their hair, and it was a bit weird, but at least he said their hair smelled great!
I'm very afraid with what's going to happen in the next 12 months, because it takes a lot to get an incumbent out of office, even one as corrupt and perfidious as Trump. Whatever Democrat comes out on top, that person needs to have a SPOTLESS record, in both public and private life, I'm afraid. Meanwhile, I'm very suspicious of anyone who runs for President, because of all the power and the perks that come with the office. I've said time and time again that if somebody WANTS to be President, that's a red flag for me right there, that they probably shouldn't be elected. Can't we devise a system that would find the perfect person for the job, even if that person doesn't WANT the job? As a matter of fact, I'd kind of prefer it that way. But I realize how unlikely that sounds.
Look, I'll vote for whoever ends up going against Trump, probably. Unless there's a candidate willing to take a stand against Daylight Saving Time, then I'm going to support that man or woman. If Biden ends up being the Democratic nominee I'd like to think that he'd develop into the next Obama, but my fear right now is that he's instead going to be the next Walter Mondale.
Also starring Vera Farmiga (last seen in "The Commuter"), J.K Simmons (last seen in "The Meddler"), Alfred Molina (last seen in "Vice"), Sara Paxton, Mamoudou Athie, John Bedford Lloyd (last seen in "Winter Passing"), Spencer Garrett (last seen in "Bobby"), Steve Coulter (last seen in "American Made"), Ari Graynor (last seen in "Whip It"), Kaitlin Dever (last seen in "The Spectacular Now"), Toby Huss (last seen in "Destroyer"), Steve Zissis (last seen in "The House"), Bill Burr (last seen in "Daddy's Home"), Kevin Pollak (last seen in "War Dogs"), Mike Judge (last heard in "Sandy Wexler"), Tommy Dewey, Molly Ephraim, Josh Brener (last seen in "The Internship"), Mark O'Brien, Alex Karpovsky (last seen in "Girlfriend's Day"), Oliver Cooper, Chris Coy (last seen in "Greenberg"), Courtney Ford, Rachel Walters, Randy Havens (last seen in "Boy Erased"), Jennifer Landon, Joe Chrest (last seen in "Gifted"), Mike Lawrence, Lee Armstrong, Jenna Kanell, RJ Brown, Jonny Pasvolsky, Jeff Witzke (last seen in "Vice"), Michael Crider, with archive footage of Walter Mondale, Geraldine Ferraro, Jim Bakker, Tammy Faye Bakker, Tom Brokaw (last seen in "Eat That Question: Frank Zappa in His Own Words"), Johnny Carson (last seen in "The Paperboy"), Jane Pauley (last seen in "Michael Jackson's Journey from Motown to Off the Wall"), Maria Shriver.
RATING: 5 out of 10 policy advisors
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