November 4, 2008, - 9:17 pm
Some Favorite Presidential Movies
By Debbie Schlussel
Recently, I was inducted as a member of the Detroit Film Critics Society.
That means that along with Tom Long of The Detroit News and other prominent Detroit-area movie critics, I vote on our choice of the year’s best film, etc. It’s similar to the other film critic societies that each major city around the country has. You often read of their choices for best picture in the national papers.
About a month ago, members of our organization were asked by a Lansing, Michigan reporter to note two of our favorite films depicting American Presidents, real or fictional.
I picked one of each:
* Terry Crews’ portrayal of President Camacho–reader Ari reminds me that his full name is President Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Herbert Camacho–in the 2006 movie, “Idiocracy“: This is a movie readers of this site know well, since I constantly note how fast we’re approaching that fiction as our reality. If you haven’t seen that movie, you must rent it. Trust me, you’ll love it, since it documents well our dumbing down and decline. I’ve posted this video several times before, but I just can’t get enough of President Camacho’s “State of the Union” address sometime in the year 2500. Pour yourself a glass of Brawndo, because with tonight’s overwhelming vote for Obama, we’re headed there even faster and sooner than expected.
* Charlton Heston’s magnificant portrayal of President Andrew Jackson in his pre-White House days in “The President’s Lady.” A classic, classy movie from 1953.
Which movies and Presidential portrayals would you pick?
How about Paul Giamatti as John Adams? Jefferson and Washington as portrayed in the same series were also excellent.
ibn Abu on November 4, 2008 at 9:44 pm