The American President (1995)

WHY CAN’T THE MOST POWERFUL MAN IN THE WORLD HAVE THE ONE THING HE WANTS MOST?

In 1992, there was a film called A Few Good Men. Written by Aaron Sorkin, first as a play and then a screenplay, and directed by Rob Reiner, the film was a huge hit. It was thrilling, intelligent, dramatic and carried a satisfying weight of political discourse and idealistic consideration. It also garnered four Oscar nominations, one of which was for Jack Nicholson thundering performance. A few years later, after Reiner had a career stumble thanks to an almighty disaster with North, he hooked up again with Sorkin for his next politically centred script. This time, it was a romantic comedy about the US President’s attempts to win over a girl he likes… sort of a When President Harry Met Sally.

Andrew Shepherd (Michael Douglas) is a widower raising a young daughter. He’s also President of the United States. Whilst working out a new environmental bill, he meets Sydney Ellen Wade (Annette Bening), a paid political activist working for an environmental lobby group. He instantly takes a liking to her and the pair start dating. However, with not long to go before the next election, this new relationship leads his prime political opponent, Senator Bob Rumson (Richard Dreyfuss), to launch an attack on the President’s character.

When The American President came out in 1995, it was pretty much free of anything to which it could be readily compared, outside of classic Capra movies or director Reiner’s back catalogue. However, by today’s standards of comparison, there is one thing that casts an almighty shadow over The American President. It’s another one of Aaron Sorkin’s creations… The West Wing. I’m a huge fan of The West Wing, which still remains one of the most intelligent, dramatic and funny television shows ever. That both properties are Sorkin products set in the White House isn’t where the similarities end. The American President is full of points that crop up in The West Wing, clear indicators of a future project being tested. For example, at one point, President Shepherd makes the point that he studied under a Nobel prize-winning economist. In The West Wing, President Bartlet is a Nobel prize-winning economist. That’s just one example of many. And the cast is strewn with actors who would go on to hold major roles in The West Wing. Martin Sheen, Anna Deavere Smith, Nina Siemaszko, Beau Billingslea, Joshua Malina, Ralph Meyering Jr., Thom Barry… there’s likely others, all of whom serve as regular reminders of a product that surpasses this one. Now, it certainly isn’t fair to this film to compare it to a product that wouldn’t exist until four years after it was released. Nevertheless, there’s no escaping that those familiar with the TV show will find this film slightly lacking. It’s a shame, because it’s a very good film.

Sorkin’s script is solid, and contains all of his trademark smart dialogue, political savvy, and the equal balance of idealism and realism that is something of a trademark of a Sorkin product. Now, all of that makes it seem like this is a far more political picture than it really is. Fittingly enough, it’s the tentative relationship between Shepherd and Wade that provide the simple heart for the piece. It’s simple enough stuff, but it’s carried with a nice degree of wit and charm. The political stuff is really there to add conflict and a depth to proceedings. There are some nicely refreshing touches throughout the film, too. In any other film of this ilk, with a single father taking his first steps into the dating world, the child would often be a concern, the cliché running that they would be a ball of frustrated emotion, crying about how their dad is trying to forget their mother, leading to a scene where the father has to calm them down and tell them that they would never forget their mother and blah blah blah. In this film, Shepherd’s daughter isn’t that way at all. She’s actually very well adjusted, happy to see her dad looking to find someone again. It’s these kinds of evasions of stock situations that set this film apart from others in a very agreeable manner.

Reiner’s direction aims his eye well, managing to draw out the classical characteristics of the script, so there’s a definite Capra-esque quality to the whole. He does well to see that the political aspects don’t bog down the romantic storyline, as well as making sure the romantic side of things doesn’t cheapen the political considerations that drive the conflict of the film. There may be the odd bit that seems a little hokey in this respect (John Seale’s cinematography has the light deliberately catching the eyes of Bening in moments of intimacy), but these can be overlooked when taking in the overall feeling. Marc Shaiman’s music is also wonderfully evocative of the classic sense of romantic notions, both of the heart and the body politic.

The cast do very well, with several standouts. Michael J. Fox’s Lewis Rothschild is full of fiery idealism, striving to make changes for the good, and pissed off if unsuccessful; Martin Sheen’s steady and calming A.J. MacInerney is a solid presence; Richard Dreyfuss’ Senator Rumson is a suitably shifty and smug individual; and Michael Douglas ably carries a sense of dignity and charm as President Shepherd. However, it’s Bening that gives the best performance. She nimbly shifts from astute political operator to girl who both woos and is wooed and back to the political side again. It’s great stuff. She also, alongside Sheen, has the best ear for Sorkin’s sharp and fast dialogue. It’s always a mark of Sorkin’s character’s intelligence that they can not only speak with great verbal dexterity, but also do so convincingly at great speed and Bening gets this. Also, Bening and Douglas do make a very appealing couple.

Despite now having to live in the shadow of The West Wing, The American President is a fine film, both warm and intelligent. Performances are strong throughout, the dialogue is great and it has a sturdy backbone in romance and politics, which go together here very well. It’s a solid show all round.

American Graffiti (1973)

WHERE WERE YOU IN '62?

Once again in this journey through my movie collection we have come across a director digging into his own youth for his filmic work. Greg Mottola went back to the 80s for Adventureland, Cameron Crowe went to the 70s for Almost Famous, and now George Lucas is heading back to his youth in the early 1960s for his tale of growing up, making out and trying to figure out just what it is a young person wants to do with their life. It’s a time of rock n’ roll music, drive thrus, cruising the streets with your friends in American classic cars. His film was American Graffiti.

Curt (Richard Dreyfuss) and Steve (Ron Howard) have gotten into college and are due to leave in the morning, so they decide to spend their last night of summer riding through the streets and remembering old times. However, Curt is having second thoughts about leaving, while Steve tries to patch things up with his girlfriend before leaving.

American Graffiti may actually be probably the most important film in George Lucas’ career... now here’s why. When Easy Rider was released in 1969 and became the instant hit and seminal classic that it is, it showed a different way of making films. Studios saw that they could make films for cheap and potentially reap great rewards. Universal Studios decided to follow through on this and, hoping to recreate the same conditions that Easy Rider was apparently made under, opted to give five young filmmakers a chance to make a movie under the rules that each film be budgeted as $1,000,000 or less, directors would be given final cut and that the studio would not interfere in the filmmaking process. This was an incredible opportunity. Lucas himself had made one feature film in 1971, his sf cult classic THX 1138, but it was a bitter experience. The studio behind it, Warner Bros., hated it and demanded their seed money back from Lucas’ partner Francis Ford Coppola, who had produced the film under his company American Zoetrope. The money was repaid, but doing so nearly closed down Zoetrope, forcing Coppola to take on another project for the money, The Godfather. Meanwhile, Warner Bros. wanted to make changes to THX 1138, cutting five minutes from the film before releasing it. The film was quite unsuccessful, with Warner Bros. blaming the downbeat nature of the film, and Lucas blaming the studio for tampering with the project. This experience effectively taught Lucas two things: 1) Always have complete control of the film; and 2) Downbeat films aren’t terribly successful.

As such, when Universal began rounding up projects, Lucas made his pitch. He, along with Gloria Katz and William Huyck, wrote a script that was a nostalgic look back to the early 60s and a celebration of everything about the period. There would be classic cars, young people doing young things, humour, memories and a huge amount of rock n’ roll music. Essentially, Lucas wanted to make an upbeat financially successful movie. Now, by 1972, they had already produced four films – Peter Fonda’s The Hired Hand, Dennis Hopper’s The Last Movie, Milos Forman’s Taking Off and Douglas Trumbull’s Silent Running. Universal were somewhat hesitant about giving the last shot to Lucas, who only had one feature under his belt, which was not a success. Concerns were only assuaged when Coppola, fresh off of the monster hit that was The Godfather, came on a producer. Once more, Lucas was given a shot at the big time.

The production itself was littered with problems. A crewmember being arrested for drug possession the day before shooting started; camera troubles put the schedule off on the first day; their filming licence was revoked because of complaints from local businesses; a fire halted filming; members of the cast and crew were injured or fell ill; and cars would break down. It was troubled to say the least. Even upon screening the finished product, Universal exec Ned Tanen, a notoriously aggressive individual, took a real dislike to the film. A compromise had to be reached whereby the studio could suggest changes to the film, much to the annoyance of Lucas. Nevertheless, it was released in 1973 to widespread acclaim and was even nominated for Best Picture. The reason it did so well, as Lucas well knows, is that the film made people happy. Where THX 1138 was a downbeat financial disaster, American Graffiti was an upbeat success. People loved seeing it and reliving an aspect of their youth, or seeing the youth of the previous generation. It had the music people love, fresh-faced young people, and generally resonated with people in a way that they will always enjoy. People love to look back on their younger years and remember their friends, their old haunts, the good times.

I say that American Graffiti may be the most important film in Lucas’ career because it taught him the value of a film with high positive emotion behind it. People want to feel good and there are fewer better ways than a real feel-good movie. To evoke a world that people can get lost in, with characters they can identify and connect to, with it all ending in a huge surge of happiness and positivity. Plus, the importance of having complete control over the project… really, this was all the information that Lucas needed to avoid Warner Bros. and Universal and take his next project to 20^th Century Fox. Make no mistake, without American Graffiti, there would be no Star Wars.

This is all well and good, but… what’s the film actually like? Is it really any good? The truth is… yeah, kind of. Lucas clearly put a great deal of love into the film. His characters do have that ring of familiarity to them, like you knew some of them when you were at school. The music is so much a part of the film that it evokes the period effortlessly, and there are some really great songs in there. Some of the performances are also great, like Dreyfuss, Charles Martin Smith and Mackenzie Phillips. I particularly liked Phillips since she is easily the funniest thing there. Her attempted drive-by zinger of, “Your car is uglier than I am… that didn’t come out right.” is golden.

On the other side of things, it does feel quite long. It is meant to take place over a single, very long night, but the various storylines and subplots weigh the film down somewhat, which makes it drag. Also, Ron Howard and Cindy Williams aren’t terribly convincing. I do believe that they would be having relationship troubles, but mainly because I don’t buy them as a couple to begin with.

Ultimately, whilst I do get the classic status of American Graffiti and certainly like some aspects of it, I can’t really say that it’s a particular favourite of mine. Its nostalgia and warmth are clear to see, but it’s a nostalgia and warmth for a very particular time and place that is just too far removed from me to connect. I can understand small strands of it here and there as a more general experience of youth and looking to the future, but the diners, the cruising, the whole youth culture of that period just seems too foreign to me. However, that’s really more my problem than the film’s. As it is, it’s a film clearly made with love and evokes that period wonderfully. I just can’t say it carries itself over to me that much.