Monday, March 14, 2016

State of The Union

Election season is upon us and news of the candidates, political debates, and primary elections across the nation are all over the news.

I can't say I'm a huge fan of politics, but I do enjoy political movies! Here's one I just learned about and plan to see soon, Frank Capra's State of the Union. I'm a movie buff, but this one seems to have eluded me. 

Here's the synopsis from Wikipedia:
Republican newspaper magnate Kay Thorndyke (Angela Lansbury) intends to make her lover, aircraft tycoon Grant Matthews (Spencer Tracy), President of the United States with her as the power behind the throne. Thorndyke plans to use her newspaper chain's influence to deadlock the 1948 Republican National Convention, so it will choose Matthews as a compromise dark horse candidate instead of Dewey, Taft, or another.
Matthews is skeptical of the idea of running for president, but Thorndyke, Republican strategist Jim Conover (Adolphe Menjou), and campaign manager Spike McManus (Van Johnson) persuade him to run. Matthews reunites with estranged wife Mary (Katharine Hepburn) for the campaign. Despite knowing about Thorndyke and her husband's affair, Mary agrees to support him in public because of his idealism and honesty, and because she is unaware of Thorndyke's role in the campaign.


The politically naive Matthews makes a controversial speech in Wichita denouncing big labor. Before he makes another controversial speech in Detroit denouncing big business, Thorndyke secretly persuades him to moderate his tone to help his chances for the nomination. With her and Conover's help, Matthews makes deals with various special interests for their support.
Before a nationwide fireside chat from the Matthews' home, Mary learns of Thorndyke's continuing relationship with her husband and sees the deals that he has made.  Matthews realizes that he has betrayed his and Mary's ideals. On live radio, he denounces both his backers and himself as frauds, withdraws as a candidate while promising to seek bipartisan reform, and asks for his wife's forgiveness. When his backers attempt to turn off the speech, he angrily calls out, "Don't cut me off, I paid for this broadcast!" 

Is this a movie you're familiar with? If so, any thoughts you'd like to share?

Thanks for visiting and have a great week!

5 comments:

William Kendall said...

It's been years since I've seen it, but it is a fun film!

Donna Allen said...

It seems I've missed that one too which is surprising since I also love political films. All the President's Men is great. But my favorite is A Face in the Crowd that I believe was Andy Griffith's first film --and it's a drama. I'm sure AMC & TMC will be showing most classic political films this year.

shelly said...

I haven't seen this one. Looks good.

Norma said...

I've seen this one, but it's been a long time.

Maria McKenzie said...

@William: It does look fun;).

@Donna: I've seen All the President's Men and enjoyed it, but I've never seen A Face in the Crowd. It'll be a change to see Andy Griffith doing drama:).

@Shelly: I heard about it on a radio show. It was news to me!

@Norma: I guess it's not one of the more popular political movies.