DVD Review: The Contender, starring Joan Allen, Jeff Bridges, Gary Oldman, Sam Elliott
Written and Directed by Rod Lurie.
| Earlier this summer, the frenzied panty sniffers of the press were agog with speculation about the state of the Clinton marriage. The NYTimes ombudsman, even while noting the outraged response-which he termed "partisan"- claimed that there was nothing wrong with the coverage. That the state of the Clinton marriage was newsworthy. You could see the beltway press salivating in anticipation of the prospect of a 2008 Clinton candidacy to bring back the halcyon days of open season on Hillary and Bill.
If you wonder the ways in which such a frenzy take shape, an overlooked political thriller with an stupendously talented cast is available to supply a literary approximation. |
Joan Allen, who never seems to put a foot wrong in any of the roles I've seen her in, plays Senator Laine Hanson. Designated by a Clintonesque President (Jeff Bridges) to fulfill a vacancy in the Vice Presidency, she faces almost every misogynistic hurdle powerful women have in modern politics. The exceptions being the two primarily hurtled at Hillary by the newshounds of the lingerie beat (frigidity and lesbianism).
Writer/Director Rod Lurie, who in the bonus materials confesses to an addiction for the neglected subgenre once yielding such masterpieces as the original version of The Manchurian Candidate, has fashioned a work that is sexy, politically optimistic, feminist and gripping. He wrote the script specifically for Allen, but it is not a star vehicle so much as a constellation of the very best actors at the height of their powers.
From Allen and Bridges, to Oldman as an Arlen Specterish opponent to Laine's confirmation, to an elegantly suited Sam Elliott as the Presidential consigliero who seems ready to flatter or shiv anyone in the service of his President, to Christian Slater as the ambitious young politician who flirts with the darker side of power, to William Petersen... (You see why I'm enjoying a little acting geekout?)
This 2000 release is in one sense a politically naïve product of its time. Before Bush v. Gore, before 9/11, before the Swiftboaters and the Lieberdems and the destruction of an undercover CIA operation in service of a political vendetta. Before Iraq.
A cynic might call this film an outdated indulgence for those reasons.
I prefer to think of as a reminder of how things can be, if we fight hard and stick to our principles-even when they are inconvenient.