• Post category:Movies
  • Post last modified:November 15, 2021

The Candidate

TOO HANDSOME. TOO YOUNG. TOO LIBERAL. DOESN’T HAVE A CHANCE. HE’S PERFECT!

The Democrats hire a young lawyer (Robert Redford), the former Governor’s young son, to run for the Senate… but he’s not supposed to win the seat. The message here is that politics is dirty and the little person easily falls prey to the system; the genuine, inexperienced candidate is transformed into a predictable, cookie-cutter politician. Disillusionment existed before Watergate as well. But the filmmakers also show how a single individual can take charge and make changes. Everything looks convincing, it’s almost as if this is a documentary, and the actors are right, including Redford as the Kennedy-like liberal. 

1972-U.S. 109 min. Color. Produced by Walter Coblenz. Directed by Michael Ritchie. Screenplay: Jeremy Larner. Cast: Robert Redford (Bill McKay), Peter Boyle (Marvin Lucas), Don Porter (Crocker Jarmon), Allen Garfield, Karen Carlson, Melvyn Douglas.

Oscar: Best Original Screenplay. 

Last word: “That movie was about my anger and my cynical view of our system. I thought I’d make a very dark film about how we get people elected in this country — it’s all about cosmetics, purely about image and cosmetics. And that was 1971. I had no idea it would have that kind of carrying power — to be here in 1994, and nothing has changed. That you’d end up with Dan Quayle.” (Redford, Rolling Stone)

 

IMDb

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