5 election night movies to pass time
As the anticipation anxiety takes over, Bloomberg has suggested a list of movies on the subject of Election Day to watch and kill time until the results are up
With the US Presidential Election 2020 taking place after a tumultuous campaign trail by both political parties, many in the US and around the world wait in anticipation that who will be the next president of the world's most powerful state.
As the anticipation anxiety takes over, Bloomberg has suggested a list of movies on the subject of Election Day to watch and kill time until the results are up.
Hail the Conquering Hero (1944)
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Directed by Preston Sturges, Hail the Conquering Hero is hailed as one of the best comic political directors in US history. Perhaps not quite as great as "Sullivan's Travels," but more focused on an election.
Sturges depicts a much different, and much healthier, politics than Frank Capra did; more cynical, perhaps, but also more democratic.
Bulworth (1998)
Warren Beatty's 1998 take on electoral politics, race and much else is far more Capra-influenced than one's usual forte, but it's a movie with a lot of good in with the not-so-good.
The central joke — that Beatty is perpetually wide awake, remains perennially humorous.
The Candidate (1972)
Starring Robert Redford, the Candidate makes for an eccentric one.
Redford is terrific, and most of the film is excellent fun. It also has one of the best depictions of Election Day ever — from 1972, it's exactly what the process felt like during the peak of the "neutral" media and the three-network era.
It also captures the consulting business when political parties were weak and electioneering was up for grabs, rather than being firmly placed within the party network.
Gangs of New York (2002)
Martin Scorsese's 2002 movie has a great 19th-century Election Day, Tammany-style — along with an unfortunately timely reminder that there's a whole lot more to democracy than a successful election.
A good one for thinking about the relationship between politics and violence.
Citizen Kane (1941)
Often deemed as the greatest movie ever made, and closely fighting with The Godfather for the first place, Orson Welles' 1941 drama is an intriguing masterpiece and visual treat with occasional comic relief
Many TV shows have great Election Day episodes, including "The Wire" and "Deadwood," both of which have interesting and complex views of politics and democracy.
Then there's always the Monty Python election-returns sketch featuring the Sensible and Silly parties.
