Roll'em! Our Favorite Political Movies

What makes someone run for office? It's a dream writ large and sometimes, it's a nightmare.

Many of those dreams, and the political ideals that fuel them, play out in the movies: one way that we, as a society, talk frankly about controversial issues, bedrock concepts, hopes and longings - without the inconvenient limits imposed by reality.

Movies can even be - dare we say it - a spark for public engagement, when they motivate people to think differently about another person's point of view, discuss the issues, and do something about it.

With that in mind, PublicAgenda.org is reaching out to our audience and asking you to list your favorite political movies. Please name one, or as many as five, and feel free to rank them: we're in the research business, after all, and never get tired of numbers and the insights they can provide. If you like, you can write a few words about your picks, but movie titles alone are just fine.

We have a sneaking feeling that as you think about your favorite political movies, you'll also find yourselves thinking about the political issues which matter most – to you. At which point, we suggest you consult our Citizen's Survival Kit - because as we head into a new era in Washington, it's up to all of us to push for the policies, laws and changes we want.

We hope you, your colleagues and friends all will contribute to Our Favorite Political Movies list, and we're looking forward to seeing your nominees. And to help you get started, here are some favorite picks from Public Agenda staffers.

Best picks from Joan Austin:

Absolute Power (1997)

As it's often been said, Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely, to the point that even a thief with few ideals is still able to be shocked. Clint Eastwood plays the thief and Gene Hackman is the not very admirable occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

Best picks from Nora Benavidez:

Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)

Director and writer Stanley Kubrick tries his hand at black comedy in this Cold War classic. Bonus: Peter Sellers plays three roles!

Best picks from Lara Birnback:

Born Yesterday (1950)

The story of a junkyard tycoon who goes to Washington planning to put a few lawmakers in his pocket, decides his ex-showgirl girlfriend needs some D.C. polish, and turns to a newspaperman to get the job done. Not completely about politics and elections, but this one certainly has some great Washington scenes and some classic "It's A Wonderful Life" style schmaltz about the greatness of our democracy and American values, as only a movie made in 1950 can do without any hint of irony. Directed by George Cukor, with Judy Holliday - an amazing comedienne - and William Holden. (Avoid the remake with Melanie Griffith at all costs.)

Best picks from Scott Bittle:

The Great McGinty (1940)

Probably the only movie that combines 1930s-style screwball comedy and political satire. Directed by Preston Sturgis, best-known for movies like Sullivan's Travels and The Lady Eve, this tells the story of a man's rise from homelessness to the governor's mansion in a corrupt political machine, until "one crazy moment of honesty" ruins everything. Hilarious and sharp, with perhaps the best justification ever for allowing the dead to vote. "We knew they was going to vote for us. Why should we be deprived 'cause they was unlucky enough to die?"

The Candidate (1972)

The clothes, the hair, and even the rhetoric may be a little dated, but the temptations of political life remain the same, and the story of how idealistic Senate candidate Bill McKay (Robert Redford) is corrupted by the system is as fresh as it ever was. Not all politicians are like the characters in this movie, and we hope very few candidates will find themselves repeating McKay's bleak closing line. But we can guarantee that people not unlike McKay and his opponent Crocker Jarman are waiting somewhere right now to shake your hand and ask for your vote.

Jimmy Stewart filibusters for a cause, in "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington."

Best picks from Maria Martha Chavez:

The Good Shepherd (2006)

Matt Damon leads an all star cast in the imagined role of one of the founders of the CIA, who is personally changed by the work that he does. The world meantime is also changing, as the Cold War settles in. Directed by Robert De Niro, who also found a role for himself. It's fiction, but aims to capture real pieces of the story of the intelligence agency and the era that brought it into existence.

Charlie Wilson's War (2007)

Directed by Mike Nichols, written by Aaron Sorkin based on George Crile's book of the same name, and produced by Tom Hanks, who stars with Julia Roberts and Philip Seymour Hoffman. The true story of a good ole boy Texas congressman who winds up doing something very serious: teaming up with a CIA agent to help Afghan mujahideen in their guerilla war against Soviet occupation forces. With unexpected results, of course.

The Last King of Scotland (2006)

Idi Amin, one of the most notorious dictators of the 20th century, finally hits the big screen, with Forest Whitaker in the role of the Ugandan president. The time is the early 1970s, after the coup that brought Amin to power, and the view as events unfold is through the eyes of an idealistic Scottish physician (James McAvoy), who goes to Uganda to help the rural poor but winds up in a far more frightening position as one of Amin's closest advisors.

Hotel Rwanda (2004)

In 1994, Rwanda, known to many Westerners only as a mystical habitat for the mountain gorillas Dian Fossey worked to save, became instead a living hell as ethnic rivalries fed by the aftermath of colonialism erupted into one of the bloodiest genocidal rampages of recent memory. It was also an opportunity for personal heroism. This film tells one of those true stories: a hotel manager who rose to the occasion when history called his name. Starring Don Cheadle; Nick Nolte is also on board.

Best picks from Jenny Choi:

Power (1986)

An extraordinarily relevant primer by director Sidney Lumet on what goes on behind the scenes of a political campaign and the power brokers who dictate each move. Richard Gere stars as Pete St. John, a savvy but opportunistic and unscrupulous media consultant who has a way of packaging any candidate to turn the polls in their favor - - regardless of political ideology. Also on hand: Gene Hackman (can we count the number of power-hungry roles he's been in?), Kate Capshaw, Julie Christie and Denzel Washington.

Best picks from John Doble:

Paths of Glory (1957)

An early Stanley Kubrick movie starring Kirk Douglas is one of the most powerful anti-war movies I've ever seen.

Fail-Safe (1964)

Henry Fonda stars as the president in a fine movie about the madness of MAD.

The Quiet American (2002)

Based on Graham Greene's amazingly prescient anti-Vietnam War novel written in 1955. Starring Michael Caine.

The Tailor of Panama (2001)

Pierce Brosnan, in a bitter satire about the Cold War.

Out-of-category Honorable Mentions: For Netflix freaks, the BBC did a 24-part version of War and Peace starring Anthony Hopkins, which is outstanding. Also the BBC's "I Claudius" with Derek Jacobi and HBO's Rome were terrific, especially the former.

Best picks from Samantha DuPont:

Forrest Gump (1994)

While it's not exclusively political, I have a special fondness for Forrest Gump. The best history-lesson-wrapped-up-in-a-love-story movie I've seen.

Best picks from Will Friedman:

Children of Men (2006)

Brazil (1985)

Two films which both show the degradation of politics by fear and bureaucratic thinking, and lament the loss of humanity in our collective life. The first is haunting and powerful, with one or two scenes in particular that floor me whenever I see it. The second is shot through with sublimely ridiculous moments, and has a few unnerving ones as well.

Postscript: Big fan of Election (1999), too.

Best picks from Paul Gasbarra:

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)

From the team that brought you "It's A Wonderful Life" comes the story of your average Joe (or Jefferson Smith as is the case) Boy Ranger leader who gets plucked out of nowhere to go to Washington. Smith is smeared by the press and deemed unqualified and tempted by the wily ways of his Senior Senator and the corrupt political boss Jim Taylor.

Best picks from Gail Gottlieb:

Traffic (2000)

Michael Douglas plays a conservative judge who is appointed as drug czar but is unable to recognize and address his own daughter's drug addiction. With brief appearances by a number of real-life political heavyweights including Senators Orrin Hatch and Harry Reid, who each give the new drug czar their advice.

Best picks from Francie Grace:

Good Night and Good Luck (2005) In a trip back to the era of early television, Edward R. Murrow, and Sen. Joe McCarthy, George Clooney raises some issues which were thorny then and, despite much debate, have yet to be resolved.

Gandhi (1982)

Political genius at work, as India's independence leader wields his weapons of mass persuasion, with tactics that inspired Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and many others around the world.

Das Leben der Anderen (2006)

The quiet desperation often written about and too often experienced by too many people in their daily lives is brought into sharp focus in "The Lives of Others," the story of a stoic low level secret police employee and the people he was assigned to watch, in East Germany just before the collapse of the Berlin Wall. Political science as reality, not theory.

Best picks from Chris Haller:

Wag the Dog (1997)

I'm a big fan of Robert DeNiro and Dustin Hoffman in this one. Editor's note: Washington spin rises to new heights, or lows, depending of course on your point of view.

Best picks from Shaheen Hasan:

Syriana (2005)

A searing drama about America's war on terror, the film follows an assortment of loosely connected characters whose lives get tangled in the geopolitics of the Persian Gulf. There's a CIA agent who gets kidnapped and tortured by Middle Eastern terrorists; an oil tycoon pulling strings in Washington, D.C.; an ambitious petroleum analyst in Geneva; and a dozen or so others, including sympathetically portrayed teen suicide bombers and an Arab prince with radical ideas about democracy.

Thank You For Smoking (2005)

A biting political satire on the Big Tobacco industry. A tobacco chief spokesman spins on behalf of the embattled tobacco industry while trying to remain a role model for his 12-year-old son.

Charlie Wilson's War 2007

Election 1999

Matthew Broderick and Reese Witherspoon talk strategy in "Election," a send-up of school politics which may contain some wider lessons.

Best picks from Jean Johnson:

Seven Days in May (1964)

It's not actually about an election. Instead, it's about an attempted political coup by a member of the Joint Chiefs who's more popular and charismatic than the President and who plays the fear and patriotism card to great effect. He's a brilliant, attractive man who probably would have been elected if he had decided to run for office, but he decides to try to go around them. Also, the film does a nice job of capturing the DC cocktail party circuit. With Kirk Douglas and Burt Lancaster.

Best picks from Alison Kadlec:

Election (1999)

A great movie about a high-school student government election that is more instructive than it might seem at first glance. Who can forget what Tracy Flick has taught us all about the perils of ambition?

Best picks from McKenna Morrigan:

Dave (1993)

"In a country where anybody can become President, anybody just did." Dave Kovic is an ordinary guy who is also a Presidential impersonator. When the real president goes into a coma under very unseemly circumstances, Dave is asked to covertly take his place. A hilarious take on scandals, cover-ups, and corruption in Washington, the film has an ultimately touching message about integrity and honesty in politics. With Kevin Klein and Sigourney Weaver.

Best picks from Meagan Murray:

Bobby (2006)

OK, most of the plot is out of focus and some of the characters are ridiculous, but it's the last five minutes or so of the film overlaid with Senator Kennedy's actual speech, "Mindless Menace of Violence," in 1968 that is really moving -- and can be related in so many ways to this election.

Postscript: Pan's Labyrinth (2006) is good too!

Best picks from Michael Hamill Remaley:

The Manchurian Candidate (1962)

Meryl Streep shines in the 2004 version, but nobody beats Angela Lansbury as the mother in the original.

Also: Election (1999) and Wag the Dog

Best picks from Jonathan Rochkind:

Bulworth (1998)

Disillusioned liberal politician from California (Warren Beatty, not surprisingly) decides to finally tell the public what he really thinks and begins associating outside of his race and class (Thanks to some introductions by a young Halle Barry). Hilarity and (social commentary) ensues.

Magic Town (1947)

The best (and only) movie I know that deals solely with survey interviewing. Starring Jimmy Stewart as the man with the questions.

Best picks from Amanda Sperber:

Water (2005)

Set in 1938 Colonial India, against Mahatma Gandhi's rise to power, an 8-year-old Chuyia is widowed and sent to a home where Hindu widows must live in penitence. Chuyia's feisty presence deeply affects the lives of the other residents, including a young widow, who falls for a Gandhian idealist.

Iron Jawed Angels (2004)

Defiant young activists take the women's suffrage movement by storm, putting their lives at risk to help American women win the right to vote.

Best picks from Sanura Weathers:

Do the Right Thing (1989)

To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)

Hotel Rwanda (2004)

Best picks from David White:

Dick (1999)

Michelle Williams and Kristen Dunst star as two ditzy teens who are responsible for uncovering the Watergate scandal.

Plus an out-of-category Honorable Mention for House of Cards, the 1990 BBC trilogy about a manipulative politician who schemes his way to Prime Minister. Based on a novel written by a real-life Conservative Party chief of staff, and ranked by the British Film Institute as one of the best television shows of all time.

Best picks from Ruth Wooden:

Wag the Dog (1997)

Dave (1993)

Best picks from Gwen Wright:

Cry Freedom (1987)

When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts (2006)

Two of my most watched are "Cry Freedom," a focus on South Africa's apartheid era and Steve Biko, one of the South African leaders during the movement who raised consciousness to end apartheid. The other one is Spike Lee's "When the Levees Broke," which I think shows the political impact on the response to an emergency and recovery effort to one of America's greatest tragedies. Might not find them on any other list, but both are pretty powerful.

Best picks from Andrew Yarrow:

Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)

The Manchurian Candidate (1962)

The Great Dictator (1940)

The Quiet American (2002)

Casablanca (1942)

All right now, we've showed you our favorites – now it's your turn: log on to the Your Favorite Political Movies discussion box and share some of yours. We can't wait to see them!