Time's 15 Best POLLitical Films Of All Time

Haven't seen a lot of these. Might go "Election," although I wonder if I saw it again, it'd decline in my estimation, much as "Wag The Dog," "Bulworth," and "All the President's Men" did.

think election is the one that maybe gets american politics most and manchurian candidate is the best overall but parallax view is the one i most want to watch again right now looking at that list so i voted that.

A very short list of those among the missing:

The Great McGinty
JFK
Bob Roberts
Reds
The War Room
The American President
Being There
The Fog of War
The Front
Good Night, and Good Luck.
The Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover
Dave
13 Days
The Times of Harvey Milk
anything and everything by Peter Watkins

o totally would've voted great mcginty

Don't harangue me here, Eric: All the President's Men, then The Candidate, then Election or The Manchurian Candidate or The Best Man. Haven't seen Z, regrettably. Concur with JFK, The War Room, The Times of Harvey Milk, and (with some reservations) The Fog of War. Would add Nixon, Advise and Consent, and I'm sure I've forgotten others. (Omitting stuff like Nashville, where politics is central but bubbling under.)

i went great dictator over all the president's men

bullworth is shit

Voted Bulworth.

Won't harangue you here because here's one genre where it at least makes sense to be stuck in the '60s and '70s.

Can't believe I forgot Advise and Consent.

Parallax View gets my vote.

i enjoy all the president's men but beyond the perps in question it doesn't strike me as much more political than yr average law & order tbh

It's also sloooooow.

I'd also add Primary Colors--to the Time list even. It's as flashy as Clinton himself, and therefore will annoy some people, but it's quite effective.

JFK isn't really a political film, but it still deserves to knock out Frost bloody Nixon.

primary colors movie sucked imo, movie should've held closer to the tone of the book, much broader and more cynical - like wag the dog or my fave nixon movie dick - instead it was a more ribald american president. that does remind me though has anyone here seen this? i actually remember it coming up in a trivial pursuit game me and casino played a LONG time ago where we were all 'wtf is that?' so was kinda 'a ha!' when i saw that carson thing.

manchurian candidate. "i had thought to spend the afternoon at macy's. madame yen has given me the most aPALLing list."

corny joke on a couple levels but delivery gets me

hahahhaha wow balls, i don't even remember that but i totally believe you and that made my evening really

i recall 3 questions from that trivial pursuit game: something about that miniseries none of us had even heard of, what time you're supposed to buy shoes, and what was jesus's zodiac sign (under 'science and nature')

hahahahah god no wonder emilys became fedup with the entire thing

fed up, even

i DO remember the jesus zodiac thing though!

that's the only one i know the answer to ('capricorn'), my outrage at that being in science and nature has faded to bemusement though.

Great Dictator for me

I mean, I guess constellations are a feature of the natural world...

Glad you don't remember starting date of WWII, balls.

What is the right time to buy shoes?

afternoon/evening when your feet have stretched from a day's use iirc

Also missing:
anything and everything by Ken Loach
In the Loop
Dr Strangelove
Battle of Algiers
lots of J-L Godard
etc etc

"Political film" is almost as difficult to pin down as horror or comedy. It's like that Hal Phillip Walker line in Nashville: "All of us are deeply involved with politics whether we know it or not, and whether we like it or not." (Quite fatuous in the film, of course.) I assume the Time list is based on films with actual politicians.

And Election

and Downfall

Absence of Strangelove is straight up baffling, normally it's a shoo-in for lists like this.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Found a copy of Z in a local library, so I'll finally get around to seeing that. Don't ever remember a rep screening around here. Altman's Tanner '88 should have been on Time's list--I'd put that right alongside The Candidate as my second favourite.

Yeah, def voting Parallax View.

Really surprised that Battle of Algiers isn't on there given that Gavras' film is.

I need to watch Downfall

Voted for underdog The Candidate, I think its Redford at maybe his most endearing and I thought it was really good when we watched it in high school civics class.

I don't understand the love for Bulworth I thought it was obnoxious, dumb, unrealistic and I well, I just hate Warren Beatty anyway.

kind of dislike most of these films, except 'manchurian' and 'mr smith' (which got my vote).

can't believe bulworth was 1998. seems like 92 or something.

Bulworth was a film where I cringed the whole way through, and knowing that I was supposed to be cringing didn't make the experience any more rewarding.

Election over The Manchurian Candidate.

Ditto, more or less.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

how in god's name does Bulworth have more votes than All the President's Men