A scene from the controversial film, Death of a President. (Maple Pictures)
Hillary Clinton has a problem with the controversial new film Death of a President, a faux-documentary that mixes real footage and fiction to imagine the assassination of George W. Bush. Said Clinton: “I think it’s despicable. I think it’s absolutely outrageous. That anyone would even attempt to profit on such a horrible scenario makes me sick.”
She could have said the same thing about Primary Colors, the 1998 film about a Bill Clinton-esque campaign that starred John Travolta as a fast food-scarfing panty man.
Whether a film about the American president includes horrifying footage of an assassination or a chubby commander-in-chief dancing in a hoodie, we can’t seem to get enough of POTUS at the movies. Imbued with special powers and leading the free world, the American president is the ultimate superhero. Screenwriters love him (yes, him; the outrageous premise of a female president is still only suitable for cancelled television programs), real or fictional, because he is both totally known and totally unknown, the most public figure with the most protected private life, a combination open to endless narrative possibilities. The fantasy that anyone can become president is a cornerstone of the American dream, and what’s more cinematic than a mere mortal becoming a superhero?
Below, you’ll find 10 movie presidents. Which would you vote for?
Kevin Kline in Dave. (Sony Home Entertainment)
Cuddly President: Dave (1993)
Plot: Dave (Kevin Kline) is a nice-guy temp-agency manager who happens to resemble the president. When the real, philandering president falls into a coma, Dave is enlisted to step up and stand in.
Presidential haircut: The Unthreatening Soccer Dad
Presidential respect rating: 5. Corrupt advisers plague government, but not in Dave’s (White) house!
Presidential quote: “You don’t really know how much you can do until you stand up and decide to try.”
See also: Dennis Quaid in American Dreamz, Chris Rock in Head of State
Watershed President: Nixon (1995)
Plot: Three-hour biopic shows the life of Richard Nixon (Anthony Hopkins) as a Shakespearean tragedy. The commander in chief has a serious JFK inferiority complex and a narcissistic profile, just like director Oliver Stone.
Presidential haircut: The Greasy Sneak
Presidential respect rating: 0. One word: Watergate. Not a great moment for democracy.
Presidential quote: “All those kids... Why do they hate me so much?”
See also: John F. Kennedy in JFK, Henry Fonda in Young Mr. Lincoln
Horny President: The American President (1995)
Plot: President and widower Andrew Shepherd (Michael Douglas) falls for an environmental lobbyist (Annette Bening). Thanks to an evil senator (Richard Dreyfuss), the relationship may sabotage The Good President’s ratings, and his re-election.
Presidential haircut: The Blow-Dried Baby Boomer
Presidential respect rating: 8. Screenwriter Aaron Sorkin honed his West Wing black-and-white world view here, hence good liberal values triumph over evil Republican media manipulations.
Presidential quote: “When we’re out of the office, and alone, you can call me Andy.”
See also: John Travolta in Primary Colors, Gene Hackman in Absolute Power
Chris Rock in Head of State. (Dreamworks)
Outsider President: Head of State (2003)
Plot: When the party frontrunner dies, Alderman Mays Gilliam (Chris Rock) is enlisted as the world’s most unlikely presidential candidate (because he’s from the ‘hood, yo).
Presidential haircut: The Integrated Low ‘Fro
Presidential respect rating: 6. Turns out a black man can get elected in America, especially if he writes and directs his own movie about it.
Presidential quote: “I live in a neighborhood so bad, you can get shot while ya gettin’ shot!”
See also: Robin Williams in Man of the Year
Action President: Air Force One (1997)
Plot: After blowing hard about zero tolerance for terrorists during a speech in Moscow, the president (Harrison Ford) and his family are hijacked on Air Force One. The terrorists (led by eee-vil Gary Oldman) think he has escaped, but not so fast, Russkie: The Prez is on board and ready to kick some (outdated) Cold War butt.
Presidential respect rating: 8. Who says there are no hawks in Hollywood?
Presidential haircut: The Mussy Patriot
Presidential quote: “Get off my plane!”
See also: Bill Pullman in Independence Day
Negotiating President: Fail Safe (1964)
Plot: An accident unleashes nuclear bombs on Moscow and the U.S. government, led by stoic Henry Fonda as president, must work with the hated Russians to try to stop it.
Presidential hair: The Noble Combover
Presidential respect rating: 2. Makes Hiroshima look like a positive outcome.
Presidential quote: “We’re going to have something on our hands that nobody bargained for, something only a lunatic wants!”
See also: Bruce Greenwood in 13 Days
Plot: In October 2007, George W. Bush is assassinated, prompting the end of civil liberties in the U.S., and a forensics investigation. Looks like an anti-war documentary, feels like an episode of CSI.
Presidential respect rating: 4. The darkest conclusion of the U.S.-Iraq quagmire imaginable, yet oddly sympathetic to the president as a man.
Presidential hair: The Daddy-o
Presidential quote: “Is there a problem?”
See also: John F. Kennedy in JFK, Walter Huston in D.W. Griffith’s Abraham Lincoln
Mandy Moore and Mark Harmon in Chasing Liberty. (Warner Home Video)
Daddy President: Chasing Liberty (2004)
Plot: Mandy Moore plays a teenaged First Daughter who breaks away from the Secret Service on a European vacation and falls in love, but still seeks the wisdom of kindly, supportive Daddy Prez (Mark Harmon).
Presidential hair: The Salt n’ Pepper Acorn
Presidential respect rating: 7. Apolitical from the top to the Skechers-wearing tippytoes of its under-16 demographic audience.
Presidential quote: “We were just discussing the G8 Summit in Prague, how to best persuade the EU leaders to adopt our plan to give humanitarian aid and medical technology to developing nations, but you had a bad date, so we should probably focus on that.”
See also: Michael Keaton in First Daughter
Naughty President: Absolute Power (1997)
Plot: Clint Eastwood plays a career thief who accidentally witnesses the president (Gene Hackman) in a very compromising situation with a woman who’s no First Lady.
Presidential hair: The Cocksure Curl ‘Do
Presidential respect rating: 5. Hounddog presidents aren’t such a big deal anymore, but the whole gunshot-cover-up thing may be a re-election issue.
Presidential quote: “I... I don’t know.” [in answer to question: “Did you have sex with her?”]
See also: Anthony Hopkins in Nixon, John Travolta in Primary Colors, Jack Lemmon and James Garner in My Fellow Americans
Infallible President: Sunrise at Campobello (1960)
Plot: Franklin Roosevelt (Ralph Bellamy) must overcome a polio diagnosis in 1921 to become president. Wife Eleanor (Greer Garson) plays nurse and soulmate in sentimental triumph-of-the-human-spirit weepie.
Presidential hair: The Ethical Trimmer
Presidential respect rating: 10 — The gold standard for presidential superpowers.
Presidential quote: “I have no intention of retiring to Hyde Park and rusticating.”
See also: Jon Voight in Pearl Harbor
Katrina Onstad writes about the arts for CBC.ca.
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