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Written by: Jeremy Larner
Directed by: Michael Ritchie
Starring: Robert Redford, Peter Boyle, Melvyn Douglas
Rated: PG
Watch the trailer
Plot
Idealistic Senate candidate Bill McKay is caught between courting public opinion to get elected or retaining his integrity and losing.
Verdict
The summary of the story is that if a politician panders well enough he can sway an election. This is a message that likely started to feel more realistic a decade ago and now feels too tame. There's no way for McKay to win the election, he's just there to fill space. That gives him freedom to take a stance on issues and speak his mind, but then consultants want to boost his numbers and his stances become convoluted non-answers. This explains exactly why messages are muted and why politicians pander. Sadly it works. Politicians spend all their capital running, never developing a message or policies. What happens when they get elected?
It depends.
Review
A political consultant seeks an opponent for an incumbent senator. No one will run as it's a sure loss, so the consultant seeks someone just to fill the void. Bill McKay (Robert Redford) checks all the boxes. His father was a governor, he's a lawyer, and he looks good on camera.
McKay accepts on the condition that he can say what he wants and run the campaign as he likes since it doesn't matter. McKay stumbles into the political machine, thinking it's a fun exercise. What he doesn't realize is that he's soon asked to conform to what people expect from a candidate. What he thought was a farce turns into consultants advising him and telling him to shift his message. He's losing by so much that it's embarrassing.
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| Robert Redford plays Bill McKay |
Consultants want to change his image to fit the political mold. McKay becomes frustrated as this race becomes an actual race. He wants to talk about issues but his team is only interested in appearance and media quotes. The message is muted to appeal to more voters. The media criticizes McKay's shift in tone, and he takes it personally. He was promised full control of the campaign, and it's quickly spiraled into something else. His clear cut views have transformed into complicated answers that dodge the question. It's typical political speak; a lot of words that provide no substance. It's the exact candidate McKay didn't want to be.
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| Robert Redford plays Bill McKay |
McKay's idealistic ambitions soon crumble. This campaign becomes a more time consuming endeavor with every step. McKay not only closes the gap, but he makes the race competitive. It's such a great ending. McKay spent all of his time running, never considering policies because it was a forgone conclusion he would lose. McKay defies the odds to win an impossible race, and then asks the question, "What do we do now?" They never planned for that outcome.
It's easy to see how politicians can so quickly start to pander. Even in a meaningless race McKay feels that pressure. Just imagine if this was a race that mattered. At the time of release, I'd guess this was an amusing satire. Now it just seems tame. The missing element now is that money can all but buy an election. Plenty of unqualified candidates manage to get elected with enough ads telling voters what they want to hear.
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