Top Ten Political Movies of All Time

A little short on topics today, so I thought I would break out my list of Top Ten Political Movies. There was some argument (yes, I argue with myself...get used to it) about what is the definition of political movies. I decided to define political movies as a movies whose main plot is political in nature. Maybe it is about the government or an election, either way you will get the gist once you see the list. Here we go:

10. The Manchurian Candidate (1962)--No, not the 2004 version, but the real version, the one with Frank Sinatra in it. This is one of the first great political thrillers and it still stands the test of time. Please don't base your opinion of this movie on the new version, go out and get the real version.

9. The American President--Another list that is talked about somewhat is the list of greatest presidential speeches in film. The speech the Andrew Shepard gives at the end of this movie clearly tops that list. "This is a time for serious people, Bob, and your fifteen minutes are up. My name is Andrew Shepherd, and I am the President." Awesome!

8. Wag the Dog--Put Dustin Hoffman and Robert De Niro in any movie and it is going to be great. Add William H. Macy, Woody Harrelson, Denis Leary, and Willie Nelson and you have a classic. This is probably the best political satire ever. "War is business, that's why we're here." Great line from a really funny movie.

7. The Best Man--Probably the best political movie that most of you have heard of. Henry Fonda is in this wonderful movie about political campaigns. The basic premise of this movie boils down to how much dirt a candidate is willing to fling to win their nomination. Funny story about this movie, apparently Ronald Reagan tested for this movie, but was turned down for "not having the presidential look."

6. All The President's Men--This is just a classic. I get excited to watch this movie every time I sit down to watch it, even though I have seen it about 50 times. Based on the Watergate scandal, this movie delivers in the toughest of circumstances. We already know the ending and the story, yet the movie keeps you intrigued right up until the end. That is tough to do.

5. Primary Colors--One of my favorites of all time. John Travolta and Emma Thompson are amazing and Billy Bob Thornton puts it over the top. Best line that sums up this movie comes from Emma Thompson's (the candidate's wife) character. She explained her husband like so, "your grandfather was a great man. Jack Stanton could also be a great man, if he wasn't such a faithless, thoughtless, disorganized, undisciplined shit."

4. The Candidate--Probably Robert Redford's best movie. If you are a political person you have probably seen this movie, otherwise you might not of. Redford's character runs for Senate with no chance of winning and they run their campaign that way. It is a fabulous story about political campaigns and contains the greatest line in political movie history. Redford's character has just won in a huge surprise and he is sitting on the bed in his hotel room and he looks up at his campaign manager with this worried look and says, "What do we do now?" Classic.

3. Citizen Kane--Easily could be considered the best movie of all time and I would have no problem with that. This still is a motion picture master piece. My favorite line from this movie is, "you're right, I did lose a million dollars last year. I expect to lose a million dollars this year. I expect to lose a million dollars next year. You know, Mr. Thatcher, at the rate of a million dollars a year, I'll have to close this place...in 60 years."

2. All the Kings Men (1949)--Unlike most, I like the Sean Penn version of this movie, but it is probably because I love Willie Stark, aka Huey P. Long. Still, the new version doesn't even hold water to the original version when Broderick Crawford plays Stark. It is a great story of how a person can get caught up in power and politics and Stark is just the kind of guy you root for even though he changes. It is also a great story of Stark's aid, who is just bright eyed and who becomes a political animal overnight. The best line in this movie and one of the greatest of all times is "Now, shut up! Shut up, all of you! Now listen to me, you hicks. Yeah, you're hicks too, and they folled you a thousand times like they fooled me. But this time, I'm going to fool somebody. I'm going to stay in this race. I'm on my own and I'm out for blood."

1. Mr. Smith Goes To Washington-- Not only does this top this list, it also tops my best movies of all time list. It is simply the greatest story ever told in a movie. My favorite line is when Jefferson Smith gets really mad, at least as mad as he can, and says, "I wouldn't give you two cents for all your fancy rules if, behind them, they didn't have a little bit of plain, ordinary, everyday kindness and a little looking out for the other fella, too." This movies gives you hope and makes you wish there were more leaders out there like Smith.