The Candidate (1972)

I am currently taking a class called "Politics and Film" which meets to watch and discuss a different political film each week. This week's selection (which we watched yesterday) was The Candidate, directed by Michael Ritchie and starring Robert Redford as Bill McKay, a liberal lawyer who is persuaded to run for the U.S. Senate against the Republican incumbent in a race he has almost no chance of winning. McKay is an honest man with ideals who speaks his mind, and this gains him a modest amount of support among voters. When his popularity increases and it becomes evident that he might actually have a shot in the election, his campaign manager (Peter Boyle) and staff begin to transform the campaign into an image-conscious, voter-pleasing endeavor. McKay's idealism is soon changed into salesmanship, a campaign built on speeches and television appearances. Soon McKay himself changes into a smooth-talking phony.

I don't think it's much of a stretch to say The Candidate is satirical genius. The point of the film, that politicians are elected based upon marketing and image and half-truths, is unquestionably clear, and it's done in a hilarious and pessimistic way. Ritchie and screenwriter Jeremy Larner take aim at media-manufactured candidates and at the constituents who are fooled by them. Every device used in the film is satirical.

Example: the first thing I noticed was the film's score. Patriotic-sounding flute music plays over the opening credits. It sounds like something from the Revolutionary War. You know the kind of movie music I'm talking about. My first thoughts were that of disappointment, since this is such a cliche, but as the film went on and I began to see its true spirit (that of mockery and satire) I realized that the filmmakers were making fun of the cliche. This sort of thing happens throughout The Candidate.

There are two scenes in the film that, for me, perfectly exemplify its cynical theme. The first is a debate between the two candidates. McKay's campaign team have advised him on how to answer the questions and have explicitly told him not to say what he might be thinking about any particular issue. He ends the scene by disobeying them and starting a brief argument with his opponent. But the way the scene is filmed is more interesting to me than what happens in it. Almost all the shots are of the television monitors; the action is nearly always seen through them, the eyes of the media. I think that says a lot about the campaign, and it happens at a crucial point in the film, when the audience is beginning to get the idea that McKay could be selling out. The second scene that struck me comes later in the film, during a huge campaign speech by McKay. He begins reciting a number of campaign cliches and it becomes clear that he has completely strayed from his original intentions. Inspirational movie music swells underneath his speech as he nears the end, and it's apparent the filmmakers are having some fun at the expense of both candidates and the film industry.

Hilarious and terrifying. You should see The Candidate as soon as possible.