# Best or Accurate Political Movies ever?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-or-accurate-political-movies-ever/832516>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [April 14, 2019, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-or-accurate-political-movies-ever/832516 "2019-04-14T00:01:15Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\
**Post date:** [April 25, 2019, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-or-accurate-political-movies-ever/832516/41 "2019-04-25T23:28:19Z")

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What about [The Contender](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0208874/?ref_=nv_sr_1?ref_=nv_sr_1)?

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**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\
**Post date:** [April 26, 2019, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-or-accurate-political-movies-ever/832516/42 "2019-04-26T03:25:43Z")

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Many of my favorites have already been listed: _Network, Citizen Kane, Bob Roberts, Wag the Dog, The Candidate, The Manchurian Candidate, The Parallax View, All the Way, Primary Colors, Nashville._

But there’s a little-remembered gem I figured correctly no one would have mentioned: _The Best Man_, starring Henry Fonda as a contender jockeying for his party’s presidential nomination at a deadlocked convention. It’s more than a half century old, but it does not come across that way, thanks to the razor-sharp screenplay by the legendary novelist and playwright Gore Vidal, adapting his own play.

> [@erysichthon](#):
>
> _Primary Colors_ (1998) and _Ides of March_ (2011) are two of my favorites, although they’re about political campaigns rather than governing.

Ah, _Ides of March._ That ending is so interesting (and confounding). I got into some deep discussions about what it portended on the dearly departed IMDb boards.

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**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\
**Post date:** [April 26, 2019, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-or-accurate-political-movies-ever/832516/43 "2019-04-26T03:45:40Z")

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> [@snoe](#):
>
> Ah, I see Rick Kitchen pointed that out already: Curious, Rick – didja like the book? I loved the faux-scholarly format of the scenes involving historical figures, although the fictional characters (and their plot lines) were a bit meh. Still better than the movie.

I did, actually. Mainly because I was laughing about them actually calling Daddy Bush out.

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