What is the best political movie of all time?

[SN2903]

I would go:

1. JFK
2. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
3. Nixon


I have not seen all of the films I listed though.

[136or142]

There are a lot of other political movies, of course.  'Dave' the rather charming comedy with Kevin Kline (albeit more of a fairy tale), the much more serious 'Advise and Consent' from 1962 which, it seems, virtually every major star of the day appeared in. In between, I'd include the decent but ultimately shallow movie "Primary Colors" based on the book by the ultimately shallow journalist Joe Klein.

My personal favorites are 'The Parallax View' but I have that in second because it's not completely clear how political the movie is (which is kind of the point of the movie), so for me #1 is the very nice musical "1776."

[Cold War Liberal]

President Merkin Muffley is my favorite fictional portrayal of Adlai Stevenson II. I also love Kubrick. However, Dr. Strangelove is only my second favorite Presidential movie: All The Way is my favorite. Bryan Cranston and Bradley Whitford are phenomenal as LBJ and HHH.

[emailking]

Maybe Lincoln or Advise & Consent.

Vantage Point is the coolest.

[Reaganfan]

JFK is amazing.

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

Maybe Lincoln or Advise & Consent.

Vantage Point is the coolest.

these are good picks

[136or142]

JFK is amazing.

The Oliver Stone movie?  Completely disagree. Leaving aside the questionable logic and outright historical falsehoods of the movie, as a movie it's overstuffed and goes off on too many angles.

Since I've just reviewed the film as it is, I normally believe movies should show things rather than have somebody tell them.  So, in this case I would have advised Stone "rather than presenting a film that leads up to a courtroom scene, why not just show how you think the JFK assassination occurred and present that as action?"  Of course, I'm sure that Stone would have realized there were all sorts of holes in his theory and would have had a very difficult time doing that (in an honest way at least.)

I appreciate that when JFK assassination investigator Mark Lane was asked this very question he gave a reasonable reply of "I wasn't in charge of the investigation, so I didn't have subpoena power, so I can't piece together completely what happened." However, those same problems didn't stop Stone from simply altering the historical record at times.

[Rules for me, but not for thee]

Doktor Murkwürdichliebe

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

The Manchurian Candidate (1962) or Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.

[President Johnson]

Several of tem are great. I can also recommend Path to War, about getting into Vietnam and how LBJ struggled with it.

[Mr. Reactionary]

Interestingly, I dont really like any of these save Manchurian candidate and dr strangelove and Id hardly call the latter "political" in the same sense as the others. If we're being loose about what a political movie is, I'll say Forest Gump.

[The Undefeatable Debbie Stabenow]

Game Change is the most fun. Definitely not the most intellectual when compared to the others on this list, but very enjoyable (yet in a frightening way).

[dw93]

Several of tem are great. I can also recommend Path to War, about getting into Vietnam and how LBJ struggled with it.

Agreed. Michael Gambon did good as LBJ.

[NewYorkExpress]

The Post and Lincoln are my top two.

[SN2903]

JFK is amazing.

I agree. I like Nixon quite a lot as well.

[Adam Griffin]

I loved Primary Colors, but not because it was some great masterpiece or anything: just a halfway-funny, halfway-serious kind of film.

[brucejoel99]

Game Change is the most fun. Definitely not the most intellectual when compared to the others on this list, but very enjoyable (yet in a frightening way).

[Mr.Phips]

Nixon was definitely underrated.

[pbrower2a]

Doctor Strangelove isn't really about politics.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

The Candidate is a classic that has unfortunately become ever more relevant with each passing election. "'What do we do now?'"

[elcorazon]

Doctor Strangelove isn't really about politics.

Neither is All the President's Men.

[Orser67]

A lot of good choices, but I went with Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. Lincoln and In the Loop are also great.

Some other good ones not in the poll:

-Advise and Consent
-Fail-Safe
-Seven Days in May (my favorite out of this group)
-Being There
-Bob Roberts
-The Contender
-Charlie Wilson's War
-Good Night, and Good Luck
-Selma
-A Bridge of Spies
-Captain America: Winter Soldier (the only superhero movie to also be a political thriller)

[pbrower2a]

IF the President doesn't watch out, Seven Days in May could be a reality.

[Koharu]

Wag the Dog.

[Catholics vs. Convicts]

Dr Strangelove is a masterpiece.