Six Unflattering Portraits of Presidents - philadelphia weekly online

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January 6, 2009

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Six Unflattering Portraits of Presidents

The Killers (1964):

For all the passion he ignites on both sides of the aisle, you’d think there’d be more cinematic representations of Ronald Reagan. Instead we’re left with his ignominious film career. The real meat is in Don Siegel’s cheerfully violent The Killers. In his last film appearance, the 40th president of the United States plays the baddie, who at one point lays a nasty bitch-slap on Angie Dickinson. Next stop, California. Then the world!

Millhouse (1971): Before Fahrenheit 9/11 there was Millhouse. A year before Richard Nixon was elected to a second term, Marxist bohemian documentarian Emile de Antonio (In the Year of the Pig) took dead aim on the sitting prez, unleashing a greatest hits package that ought to have made the landslide go the other way.

JFK (1991):

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Lyndon Johnson was portrayed as a publicity-seeking buffoon in The Right Stuff, but Oliver Stone would never let Tom Wolfe upstage him. And so in JFK Stone suggested, with characteristically little evidence, that LBJ was so power-mad he played a part in the mass JFK conspiracy, handing over his boss’ life and the right to start Vietnam.

Absolute Power (1997):

In the Line of Fire, Dave, The American President, Air Force One and Independence Day—no commander in chief saw as many president movies land under his watch than Bill Clinton. And while Primary Colors laid a critical eye on his ’92 campaign, at least it didn’t go so far as Clint Eastwood’s preposterous thriller, which features a horny but spineless president who lets his staff brush over the murder of his mistress. Take that, Slick Willie.

Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004) :

Perhaps you’ve heard of this. Too bad it didn’t work.

W. (2008):

One son born into luxury—and let’s not forget that James Brolin once played Reagan too—plays another. Pay attention, undecided voters.

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