The Pinnacle of Political Films

Thanks for another delightful visit to The Lounge. In honor of today being a rather "political" day because of the Florida Primary, I thought it might be fitting to conclude this month's visit with a post about political films. In Advocacy to Zealousness, two examples of films with political themes are Judgment at Nuremberg (1961) and All the King's Men (pictured, 1949). I recently found a group that votes for the best political films of the year, so I thought I would also raise the question here, expanding it to include all political films. What are some other great political films that should be on the list of the best political films of all time? Which films should be listed among the best of 2011?

Comments

[Colin Miller]

Some all time greats (in my opinion):

-Advise & Consent
-All the President's Men
-Bob Roberts
-Bulworth
-Dave
-Election
-In the Loop
-JFK
-The Manchurian Candidate (original)
-Nashville
-Nixon
-Seven Days in May
-Thirteen Days

[Kelly Anders]

These are all excellent choices. "Advise and Consent" was on my short list for "Advocacy to Zealousness," and I recently re-watched "Seven Days in May" on TCM. Yet another great film is the Capra classic, "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" (1939).

[Colin Miller]

"Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" is also a classic. Not so much of a classic was its loose 1977 remake, "Billy Jack Goes to Washington," which my AP Calculus teacher in high school loved and showed to us at the end the school year.

[Kelly Anders]

Was this some sort of "treat" for the class, or did it figure (pun intended) into his lesson plan?

[Jeff Lipshaw]

"Thirteen Days" minus Kevin Costner's attempt at a Boston Irish accent, perhaps. A far better treatment of the Cuban Missile Crisis was the made for television "The Missiles of October" with William Devane as JFK, Martin Sheen (very young) as RFK, Howard DaSilva as Khrushchev.

And an asterisk next to anything directed by Oliver Stone.

Some other candidates (no pun intended) - I don't endorse them all - just thinking out loud:

The Candidate
Z
The Best Man (with Henry Fonda and Cliff Robertson)
Sunrise at Campobello
The American President
Scandal (with Ian McKellen, Bridget Fonda, Joanne Whalley - about the Profumo affair in Britain)

[A Coot]

Meet John Doe

[Bill Turnier]

How about Blaze? It is one of those few movies with the distinction of having one Oscar nomination that still garnered an Oscar. Great cinematography!