Political Films

Falling Down (1993)



25 years later, not only is white victimization still a thing, but there’s enough of them out there to get Donald Trump and his cronies in office. Within the context of 1993, it can be argued that Falling Down (directed by Joel Schumacher of Batman & Robin infamy) is a black comedy. It’s the story of Michael Douglas (in Dilbert cosplay) losing his shit and picking fights with whomever crosses his path, whether it be petty or not. But the movie has proven to be a great commentary on a certain type of mental and emotional disease.

Douglas plays a character that’s unemployed, divorced, away from his daughter and living with his mom. Instead of trying to improve his life, or at least channel his frustration through an healthy outlet, he takes out his anger and violence on random strangers.

We’ve seen that manifest itself in the age of social media. People on both sides of the political spectrum spend hours fighting with each other over silly things and the crazier ones take that into the streets and cause mayhem. Whether you liked Obama or not, unlike Trump, at least he didn’t add fuel to the fire. Keep that mind when voting on Tuesday.

JFK (1991)



Later this year we’re getting a movie about Dick Cheney using the Vice Presidency to war profiteer. Oliver Stone already made that movie, and no, I ain’t talking about W. JFK is Stone at his most inflammatory. The movie is about how the government killed JFK so we could go to war with Vietnam. Goddamn, Stone. At least some people say the mob killed him. lol. Kidding aside, the movie is a technical marvel and should be on everyone’s must-watch list.

Thirteen Days (2000)



Thirteen Days is the most terrifying movie I've ever seen.  The Exorcist is a family film in comparison.  It's about the Cuban Missile Crisis.  Like most of you, I'm not old enough to remember the CMC.  I did however, grow up towards the end of the Cold War, and that was scary enough.  The CMC was glossed over in school as a scary but extremely brief couple of weeks that ultimately amounted to nothing.  There was probably no more than two questions regarding it on the history test covering that period of study.  

While there's no doubt that the events of the film have been altered for dramatic effect, I've since looked into the subject enough to realize that a disturbing amount of Thirteen Days is right on the money.  While the movie scared the #### out of me back when I saw it in a theater, that was pre-9/11.  Trying to imagine how the current batch of politicians would handle something as potentially catastrophic as the CMC is the stuff of nightmares.  I doubt we'd make it past the second day.

To think, Kennedy was criticized for being soft on commies.

From John G. Avildsen (director of Rocky and The Karate Kid) and Norman Wexler (writer of Saturday Night Fever and Serpico), comes the story of a father whose daughter (played by Susan Sarandon in her film debut) overdoses on drugs, and then in fit of rage, he kills her boyfriend. The father then stumbles into a bar and confesses his crime to a radical ring-wing factory worker named Joe (played by Peter Boyle in his breakout role). Joe celebrates the death of the boyfriend, since he feels that hippies are the root of evil in America, and considers the father to be a kindred spirit. Together, they're gonna clean up the town.

When Peter Boyle attended a screening of Joe, he was disgusted to learn that the audience was rooting for the titular character. I can't blame them because the movie does a terrible job of portraying Joe as the villain in the story. Critics and historians say Joe was a monumental moment for film and was among the group of movies that ushered in what's considered the greatest decade in American cinema: the 1970's. I don't disagree with that. Joe certainly paved the way for Dirty Harry, Death Wish and other conservative-leaning films. What I do disagree with is pairing Joe with left-wing movies such as Easy Rider or Midnight Cowboy. The intent of Avildsen and Wexler might have been to portray the radical right-wing in a negative light but they failed 100%. The fact that audiences were cheering for Joe proves my point.

The reason Avildsen and Wexler failed is because the hippies are portrayed as stereotypes. They're not human beings with intellect and emotions. They're just lame ducks for the main characters. Let's grab our shotguns and shoot up some hippies. It's right-wing fantasy. Some people have argued that Joe is a metaphor for the shift in political alliance. Once upon a time, the blue collar union workers were considered the left-wing. Then with the political turmoil of the 1960's in which the youth counterculture took over the mantle, the working class joined the business class as the right-wing. That might be true (or not) and it might have been a messaged layered onto the film, but it ultimately doesn't matter because the story is lopsided. If you don't present both sides equally then who are you really speaking to?

PhantomKnight

Just finished watching this. Shed a tear.