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The latest YouTube video from the always delightful, always informative Reel Geezers offers a brief history of Hollywood’s political films, focusing mostly on movies about the electoral process. They cover some of my own favorites–Born Yesterday, The Candidate–and also meander into movies whose politics are meta, such as “It’s a Wonderful Life,” a movie that prompts Reel Geezer Lorenzo Semple to utter, “Frank Capra was a fascist.” That’s exactly wrong: Capra was a socialist with a populist impulse. (More on that pressing issue ’round Christmastime.)Â
The Reel Geezers don’t mention “The Manchurian Candidate,” one of the greatest films ever and certainly a great political film. That’d probably go down as my favorite, though the movie I’ve thought about most during this year’s election is 1972’s “The Candidate,” starring Robert Redford as a young, attractive, inspiring political upstart who overtakes a graying, seasoned, cynical political veteran. It’s uncannily parallel to 2008, down to the very subjects the characters debate: the environment, the economy, etc.Â
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