Sunday, September 05, 2010

The Candidate (1972)

It's now considered almost a classic: the movie, which portrays an idealist, played by Robert Redford, run a long-shot campaign for a U.S. Senate seat from California against a three-term incumbent Republican Senator. It's not exactly David versus Goliath, as Bill McKay, the character played by Redford, is a former Governor's son and wins, on the strength of his name alone, the Democratic primary. He initially enters the contest, feeling that he has no chance of winning, so he can just use the campaign as an opportunity to promote his platform; he forgoes any help from his father and, at some point, even refuses to employ a political operator of his father's. But, following his primary victory, it seems that he will be crushed, so he starts becoming more of a politician, mincing his words - and when it appears as if he might indeed have a chance at winning the Senate seat, his message becomes even more generalized, eventually being limited to a slogan - something like "Bill McKay for a better way".

Other than that, the political messages of both nominees give the impression that almost nothing has changed in the vocabulary or the priorities of liberals and conservatives (save for the Bill Clinton parenthesis), although at the time the film was shot, Roe v. Wade had not yet been decided, so abortion was still an election issue. McKay calling for more welfare, more government intervention, stricter environmental regulations, no more nuclear power plants; his Republican opponent praising the value of hard work and prayer. One can also enjoy how the incumbent always plays up his role, how aloof he is at first and finally agrees to a debate (when the numbers are catching up with him), and how the challenger loses his soul in the process (it is even implied that he has a mistress during the campaign), finally accepting his father's endorsement and assistance from his father's political machine. And, of course, the closing scene, where Bill McKay, by now the Senator-elect, asks his campaign manager: "What do we do now?".

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