Catch me up on the political movies that I need to see.

[phylla]

For years I had little time or money to indulge in movies of any kind.

Occasionally DU-ers mention movies that all seem to recognize. I feel that I should make an effort to watch these films to get "up to speed".

If not too much trouble, could someone make a list of the movies, both classics and newer releases, that you consider every progressive political junkie (like me) should watch.
Thanks !

[central scrutinizer]

1. Salt of the Earth is #1

In no particular order:

Dr. Strangelove
Wag the Dog
Z

are also recommended

[phylla]

2. Check

[Sydnie]

3. a few

Good Night and Good Luck
The Hunting of the President
Bush's Brain
Bush Family Fortunes (was that the name of it? hummmm)

[SaveElmer]

4. All the Kings Men...

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
The Candidate
American President
Clear and Present Danger
The Devil and Dan Webster
Wilson
Fail Safe

[Sydnie]

5. Good list

I would add Inherit the Wind to that as well.

[phylla]

6. Fabulous! 17 so far. thanks!

[garybeck]

7. Invisible Ballots and Electile Dysfunction

the most important issue is election fraud and electronic voting. if the elections are rigged we do not live in a democracy.





these two films are vital.

you can get them both here

http://www.solarbus.org/store/videos.shtml

[phylla]

8. Great1 I think that I will start a Friday night pot luck/ movies fest for

my Democratic Committee.
Great movies and people and a learning experience to boot.
Perfect.

[Captain Hilts]

9. "The President's Analyst." The phone company is behind it all. nt

[phylla]

10. Already added that one from your post. :-) thanks!

[Blue_In_AK]

25. That's one of my all-time favorite movies...

...weirdly prescient, it seems.

[lwcon]

54. Hey, you gave away the ending!

Next thing, you'll tell people that Rosebud was the sled.

___

Hey, the liberal light is always on at the Vast Left-Wing Conspiracy. Please stop by and say "hi!"

[cyberpj]

80. Embedded, Why We Fight, The Power of Nightmares, and for fun

(because you'll need it after that) - Primary Colors!

[quisp]

11. Matewan...

an excellent John Sayles picture, for the labor perspective. It's a true story.

[phylla]

12. Added to make 20 so far. thanks!

[mcscajun]

13. A short list, in no particular order...

Where more than one version exists, I've listed the year of release of the original (best) version.

1776
A Man for All Seasons (1966)
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
The American President
Network
Inherit the Wind (1960)
Seven Days In May (1964)
Good Night, and Good Luck
Wag the Dog

On Edit: HOW could I have forgotten This one? State of the Union (1948)
and this one: Meet John Doe

[phylla]

14. Thank you! Collated that makes 25 'must sees'

[phylla]

15. Check Check, that makes 27. Thank you!

[phylla]

16. This is wonderful. I am going to make a list and have it sent out

in our next Democratic Committee newsletter!
I will bet that everyone will be glad to have the list.

[Strelnikov_]

17. 'Bob Roberts' n/t

[phylla]

20. Very good. Thanks! 29 on list so far!

[lwcon]

55. When "Bob Roberts" came out...

... I wasn't that impressed with it. But seeing it now, it's like watching "Karl Rove's Playbook: The Movie." Except that Roberts isn't a dim bulb like Dubya, it's scary how much Tim Robbins and company extrapolated the Reagan / Bush I zeitgeist into the essence that would become the Bush II campaign.

___

Hey, the liberal light is always on at the Vast Left-Wing Conspiracy. Please stop by and say "hi!"

[JeffR]

18. I mean this seriously

Planet of the Apes (1967) - not the remake.

It's more social satire than political, but it's very, very relevant.

[phylla]

19. added! thank you

[CAcyclist]

61. General political true stories

And The Band Played On
Erin Brockovich
The Insider

[hyphenate]

21. Here are a couple

The Candidate
Good Night and Good Luck
The Manchurian Candidate (both versions are excellent)
Fahrenheit 911
The Hunting of the President
Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room

[phylla]

28. Excellent. Thanks!

[jerry611]

22. Here is a little list

Some have more politics than others...I labeled what each movie deals with...
(in no particular order)

Wag the Dog - public deception
Traffic - drug war
Spy Game - international espionage, CIA politics
1984 - Future dystopia, totalitarianism
The Hunt for Red October - cold war politics, naval warfare
Minority Report - criminal justice philosophy
A Clockwork Orange - criminal justice philosophy
Thirteen Days - crisis management
Dave - public deception (comedy)
My Fellow Americans - corruption (HILLARIOUS)
The Manchurian Candidate - public deception
V for Vendetta - dystopia, public deception, totalitarianism
Fahrenheit 451 - dystopia, censorship, totalitarianism
The Bourne Identity - international espionage
All the President's Men - journalism
Dr. Strangelove - cold war politics (satire)
A Time to Kill - racism (court drama)

[phylla]

30. Thank you , thank you! that makes 46 must-see movies

[CPMaz]

44. Some great choices here so far

and in case no one else has suggested it, "Dave" with Kevin Kline, Sigourney Weaver, and Frank Langella (who character was 'Rovian' before that was a word. :) )

And it's not purely a political movie, but I have to strongly recommend "The Milagro Beanfield War".

[CAcyclist]

63. Oh, that was the one I was trying to think of - The Milagro Beanfield War.

nt

[Bozita]

23. "Being There" with Peter Sellers (helps understand current regime)

[phylla]

31. Thanks, that makes 47.

[Blue_In_AK]

24. Why We Fight...

...excellent documentary on the military-industrial complex.

[Supersedeas]

33. yes - The Conversation, JFK, and Good Night and Good Luck

[MGKrebs]

26. An Inconvenient Truth.

The Al Gore movie, coming soon to a theater near you. Very powerful documentary regarding global warming.

I was fortunate enough to see a sneak preview the other day and V.P. Gore was there to answer questions. He looks good.

[phylla]

27. Al Gore and Wes Clark have been right about most everything!

What a thrill-you lucky ducky!
Thanks for the info. I will see it as soon as it makes it's way to Virginia.

[AlGore-08.com]

73. Pledge with MoveOn to see "An Inconvenient Truth" opening weekend

Take the pledge here:

http://political.moveon.org/seethetruth/

[wiggs]

29. Three Days of the Condor. CIA, oil empire, black ops. nt

[phylla]

32. That makes 49. I think that we need to find at least one more :think:

[mim]

34. Last but not least

The Corporation

[Adelante]

35. Syrianna

I saw it last night. It was great. Not about an election, but about the real political powers running the world.

[faithnotgreed]

36. "missing" (jack lemmon) and "hidden agenda" (frances mcdormand)

highly recommend movies both based on true stories

missing is from 1982 also with sissy spacek and john heard
and hidden agenda is i think 1990 also with brian cox (who is really great in this part)

i think the rest have been covered here pretty well but i wouldnt do without those 2 - both eye opening exposes on how the govt machinery really works and why
hidden agenda is particularly interesting because it really delves into the whys and whos (and even names some famous names) of whats truly going on in the sinister world of political machinery

[laugle]

37. V for Vendetta was one of the most entertaining movies

I have seen in many years.

Fun to watch and politcal themes abound.

I guarantee you will love it!!

[Cookie wookie]

38. 7 Days in May

with Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas. Very scarily relevant to a course things could take.

On the Beach with Gregory Peck. Same with this one. A classic.

[mim]

40. Seven Days in May

I secretly wanted to see Seven Days in May when it came out in 1964, but I'm glad that I saw it a few years ago when I was better able to understand it. And one thing that I was glad to know, either already or soon after seeing it, was that in the early 30's a group of millionaires hatched a plot to overthrow FDR, or at least reduce him to impotence. The plot was foiled when the general they recruited for the job was horrified and blew the whistle. I found that out from seeing "The Corporation."

So my advice is to see both. They're both excellent.

[Cookie wookie]

42. I didn't know anything about that plot.

Guess I should watch "the Corporation." I have felt, though, that military (pentagon) take-over kind of plot now is not outside the realm of possibilities, particularly after * ended up at US Northern Command during Rita, and those photos made him look more than unhappy. I got the feeling someone might have clued him in on who was REAllY in charge, and that he was to play the puppet from here on out. That's when all that posse comitatus stuff was coming up.

Tin foil? Maybe. Maybe not.

[mcscajun]

45. Plot to overthrow FDR? I didn't know it until your post.

Then I squirrelled around the 'Net and found an A&E/HIstory Channel DVD for sale, among other links.

This bears some more reading, thanks. :)

[mim]

47. Here are some links

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_Plot(take the comment about Mayor LaGuardia with a whole bag of salt; it is from a LaRouchie source and flies in the face of LaGuardia's early opposition to Hitler)
http://www.eclectica.org/v1n1/reviews/wharton_plot.html
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/2/27/112936/440


And here are two links to an e-text of Jules Archer's The Plot to Seize the White House (1973), which is o.p. and extremely hard to find in hardcopy:

http://www.clubhousewreckards.com/plot/plottoseizethewhitehouse.htm
http://www.chris-floyd.com/plot/

For a more skeptical view, go here.

[Gabi Hayes]

87. jules archer/7 Days in May/Smedley Butler....check it out

http://www.eclectica.org/v1n1/reviews/wharton_plot.html

[RJRoss]

39. "Manufacturing Consent:

Noam Chomsky and the Media". Highly recommended.

"Control Room" - about Al Jazeera's reporting the early days of the war on Iraq

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

41. For an eye-opening view of RW media...Outfoxed.

"Some people say" it's a revelation. :) MKJ

[Jade Fox]

43. The Insider....

True story about a whistle blower caught in the cross-hairs as the major TV media is being bought up by Corporations. It is not the most overtly political movie, but it acts as a microcosm for how Corporate ownership has neutered the media as a force for truth in this country.

[Monkey see Monkey Do]

46. Punishment Park

With the Vietnam war spiralling out of control and increasingly unpopular with the American public, President Nixon declares a state of national emergency and Federal authorities are given the power to detain persons judged to be a "risk to national security".

In a desert region in California, a civilian tribunal passes penal sentences on groups of dissidents but offers the alternative of 3 days in "Punishment Park". Peter Watkins' film vividly imagines a world where political dissidents are hunted down by the forces of law and order in a deadly game of cat and mouse.



As relevant today as when initially released, Punishment Park is a stunningly visual political film with strong elements of thriller. In light of Guantanamo Bay, the Patriot Act and the recent polarisation of political viewpoints in the US, the film represents a hauntingly resonant vision for the contemporary viewer. It is a savage indictment of American political consciousness from one of the most underrated of British filmmakers.

http://www.punishmentpark.co.uk/film.php
http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/content.php?contentid=3654
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0007UQ2BY?v=glance

It was pretty much blacklisted in America when it came out in 1971. IIRC it ran for 4 days in one NY cinema before it was pulled.

[mim]

51. Peter Watkins

What a film director. I saw two of his films as a college student in the late 60's: The Battle of Culloden and The War Game. Both were mock documentaries. The first was about a last-ditch attempt in the early 18th century by Scots loyal to "Bonnie Prince Charlie" (or sometimes just to their own families) to restore the Stuarts to the British throne. There was an "interview" with one of the rank-and-file Scottish soldiers, and I couldn't understand a word he said. Of course I couldn't; he was speaking Gaelic.

The War Game was something else again. It was about what would happen if a nuclear attack hit Britain, filmed as tho it really happened. I learned the word "firestorm" from it. Most harrowing was the part about the aftermath of the war. SPOILER ALERT: At the end of the film, a group of children were asked what they wanted to be when they grew up. The answers: "I don't want to be nothing." "Me neither." "Me neither."

That night, in the middle of the night, I heard a fire siren and at first I thought the world was ending.

[Captain Hilts]

52. Nice to see Tracy and Hepburn's "State of the Union" on the list.

It shows how a decent guy gets deluded/corrupted by the handlers around them.

It's also a favorite of film triva buffs for the fact that Tracy's original co-star, Claudette Colbert, walked out on the film on the Friday afternoon before filming began Monday morning, thinking they'd have to meet her demands because filming was about to begin. Think again, Claudette. Hepburn gives an edge to what would have been a weepier role had CC played it.

And co-star Adolf Menjou had named Hepburn as a pinko to HUAC gives there scenes a bit of an edge, but by all accounts they were collegial on the set. Tracy's supposedly going to studio head LB Mayer and telling him he'd better get Menjou to shut the fuck up about Hepburn or he would punch him out might have helped.

A neat time piece of the politics of 1948. Harry Truman loved it.

[BewilderedCitizen]

48. Excellent Resource

For anybody, like myself, trying to keep up with this growing list:
1776
1984
7 Days in May (Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas)
A Man for All Seasons (1966)
All the Kings Men...
An Inconvenient Truth
Being There
Bob Roberts
Bush Family Fortunes
Bush's Brain
Clear and Present Danger
Control Room
Dave
Dr. Strangelove
Electile Dysfunction
Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room
Fahrenheit 911
Fail Safe
Good Night, and Good Luck
Hidden Agenda (Frances McDormand)
Inherit the Wind (1960)
Invisible Ballots
JFK
Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media
Matewan
Meet John Doe
Missing (with Jack Lemon)
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
Network
On the Beach (Gregory Peck)
Outfoxed
Planet of the Apes (1967)
Punishment Park
Salt of the Earth
Seven Days In May (1964)
State of the Union (1948)
Syrianna
The American President
The Candidate
The Conversation
The Corporation
The Devil and Dan Webster
The Hunting of the President
The Hunting of the President
The Insider
The Manchurian Candidate (both versions are excellent)
The Milagro Beanfield War
The President's Analyst
Thirteen Days
Three Days of the Condor
V for Vendetta
Wag the Dog
Why We Fight
Wilson
Z

[CAcyclist]

64. In addition to the ones I mentioned above I would add for fun

WarGames
Hackers

[tirechewer]

49. All of mine I think have been listed except....

1. Hearts and Minds (1974)

A documentary of the Viet Nam war. It covers the history and the mindset of the opposing sides. It uses news footage and interviews with the filmmakers and their footage shot on the subject. Good examination of American racism and entitlement and how they create wars like Viet Nam and Iraq. The film also lets the Viet Namese people speak about the war and how it affected them. Lots of parallels with Iraq. Especially the way the people of Viet Nam are treated by the US propaganda of the time. Good film if you can still get it.

2. Bowling for Columbine

Good companion piece to Fahrenheit 9/11. An examination of American militarism, obsession with guns and and violence and how the US is a society driven and manipulated by fear. It was made before 9/11 and is especially interesting in light of what is happening afterward.

[mim]

50. Political movies

If you're seeing 1984, go for the remake with John Hurt and Richard Burton.

And don't forget:

Winter Soldier
Investigation of a Citizen above Suspicion
The Conformist (might be hard to catch)
Point of Order
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
The Front

And of course, Good Night and Good Luck is a must!

The TV miniseries Blood and Honor is not available anywhere in any format, but if it ever becomes available, snap it up!

[Spaceman Spiff]

53. A list like this wouldn't be complete

without mentioning "They Live!"

<>

"I've come here to kick ass and chew bubblegum! And I'm all out of bubblegum.":headbang:

[cyberpj]

81. Just wanted you to know I liked your post.

Don't know who that is and have never heard of it but now I want to see it.

[mrgorth]

56. I don't think anyone's mentioned

Fog of War.

[RJRoss]

59. "Fog of War"

What a sad movie that is. Robert McNamara is truly a tragic figure.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

57. The one that is most relevent to our times...

is "All The President's Men".

It's almost a direct mirror of what we are seing now with the Bush Administration. It's also a nice reminder that Nixon had been reelected with Watergate over his head and that it took a very long time for him to finally fall.

It also harkens back to a day when Bob Woodward was a journalist instead of a stenographer.

[mim]

58. Bob Woodward

How have the mighty fallen! :(

[Supersedeas]

60. "The Conversation" didn't make the list? or "Enemy of the State" see Link

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Conversation

many of the same theme in Enemy of the State

[lwcon]

62. WMD by Danny Schecter was a decent doc about the embedded press

___

Hey, the liberal light is always on at the Vast Left-Wing Conspiracy. Please stop by and say "hi!"

[kskiska]

65. The Front

Woody Allen. About the 1950s blacklist. Woody uses blacklisted actors, writers, etc. (Zero Mostel, Herschel Bernardi, Dalton Trumbo, Walter Bernstein) in the picture.

[faithnotgreed]

66. kicking so others can see some important movies

and share their favorites too

[BewilderedCitizen]

67. Two more of my recent favorites

The Constant Gardener
The Girl in the Café

[cyberpj]

82. I loved The Girl in the Cafe - Bill Nighy is an all-time favorite!

Hitchhiker's Guide
Shaun of the Dead
Love Actually

Stir Crazy!

OMG - Blow Dry!!

[phylla]

68. Thanks again everyone! Y'all are the best!

Now off to Blockbuster......I have about 75 movies to start on!

[LeftofU]

69. The Corporation

A real eye opener.

[LeftofU]

70. THe Power of Nightmares

Look for the BBC doc.

[kath]

71. Not "political" in the same sense of many of the films already listed, but

thought by many to be the best anti-war movie of all time:
Paths of Glory (directed by then 29-year-old Stanley Kubrick, in 1957)

[rman]

72. extensive list here:

http://www.myspace.com/theothernews


What I've Learned About U S Foreign Policy
Trials Of Henry Kissinger
Sir! No Sir! - The GI Revolt
Why We Fight (BBC Storyville)
Private Warriors (PBS Frontline)
Life and Debt
Death of a Nation - The Timor Conspiracy
Fidel - The Untold Story
Plan Colombia - Cashing-In on the Drug War Failure
An Act Of State - The Execution of MLK
The "War on Drugs"
Manufacturing Consent
Orwell rolls in his grave
Outfoxed - Rupert Murdoch's war on journallism
Control Room
The myth of the liberal media
The Corporation
Spin
Overthrow - America's Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq (Democracy Now!)
Chavez: Inside the Coup - The Revolution Will Not Be Televised

also recommended:
"JFK"
"Nixon"
The Insider

[rman]

74. "Lord of the flies"

"A group of boys are marooned on an island after their plane crashes. With no adult survivors, they create their own "micro-society". Ralph is elected "chief", and he organises shelter and fire. Jack, the head of the choir takes his boys hunting for food (wild pigs). A bitter rivalry develops between Jack and Ralph as both want to be in charge. The "hunters" become savage and primal, under Jack's rule, while Ralph tries to keep his group civilised. The growing hostility between them leads to a bloody and frighting climax."

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057261/plotsummary

[coda]

75. Advise & Consent

About the Senate and the confirmation process.. Henry Fonda

Best Man. Henry Fonda and Cliff Robertson

Primary Colors

Reds. Warren Beatty, Diane Keaton

Wild in the Streets

Dr. Zhivago. Omar Sharif, Julie Christie

Bullworth. Beatty

A Face in the Crowd. Andy Griffith, Patricia Neal

Judgement at Nuremburg



I'd visit PBS too, and look for Frontline series titles....they're some of the very best. And the American Experience series, as well.


Edited to add, "The Oxbow Incident"

[mim]

86. Are you sure ...

that you want to recommend "Wild in the Streets"? That was a hate flick against lowering the vote to 18; its premise was that the young were fascists who, if they could vote, would herd their elders into concentration camps and force them to drink LSD.

[phylla]

76. WOW what a wonderful list-Thanks to all.

[chieftain]

77. Two that I don't think have been mentioned:

Medium Cool: set in Chicago during the '68 Democratic convention
The War Room; documentary showing inside of the Clinton campaign staff

[martymar64]

78. I liked Bulworth

Warren Beatty lays out alot of truth in this sometimes silly movie. He goes on a rap (word!) during a television interview that is very profound once you get past the shock of Beatty in a hiphop persona.

[otohara]

79. Smartest Guys in the Room

featuring "Kenny Boy" and in light of being spied on "Minority Report"

[phylla]

83. Added. thank you!

[Gabi Hayes]

84. Love and Anarchy

The Nasty Girl
Shoah
State of Siege
Hannah K
The Spider's Strategm
The Garden of the Finzi Continis
Swept Away (first one)
1906
Secret Honor
Johnny Got His Gun
Medium Cool
The Whistle Blower
Defence of the Realm
Ballade vom kleinen Soldaten
Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion

[phylla]

85. Amazing! Thank you- I have to get ready for a summer of flicks!