Power (1986)

Director:

Sidney Lumet

Writer:

David Himmelstein (written by)

Release Date:

31 January 1986 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

More seductive than sex... More addictive than any drug... More precious than gold. And one man can get it for you. For a price.

Plot:

Pete St. John is a powerful and successful political consultant, with clients spread around the country...

Plot Keywords:

Corruption | Political | Power | Senator

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Richard Gere	...	Pete St. John
Julie Christie	...	Ellen Freeman
Gene Hackman	...	Wilfred Buckley
Kate Capshaw	...	Sydnet Betterman
Denzel Washington	...	Arnold Billing
E.G. Marshall	...	Senator Sam Hastings, Ohio
Beatrice Straight	...	Claire Hastings
Fritz Weaver	...	Wallace Furman, New Mexico Gubernatorial Candidate
Michael Learned	...	Governor Andrea Stannard, Washington
J.T. Walsh	...	Jerome Cade, Ohio Senatorial Candidate
E. Katherine Kerr	...	Irene Furman
Polly Rowles	...	Lucille DeWitt
Matt Salinger	...	Phillip Aarons, Independent Ohio Senatorial Candidate
Tom Mardirosian	...	Sheikh
Omar Torres	...	Roberto Cepeda, Presidential Candidate

Runtime:

111 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Iceland:L | Singapore:NC-16 | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Finland:K-12 | Sweden:11 | UK:15 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Armonk, New York, USA

Company:

Lorimar Productions

Trivia:

When this film premiered at the 1986 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, reels 3 and 4 were sequentially reversed by Sundance staffer and IATSE projectionist David Nelson. Most critics and viewers said that they didn't notice the mistake in what they called an otherwise disappointing film. One of the film's makers demanded that the incomplete premiere be stopped and it wasn't rescheduled, the only such film in festival history to do so.

Movie Connections:

Features "The New Price Is Right" (1972)

Soundtrack:

THE STARS & STRIPES FOREVER

Good movie, about political image-makers, but ... so what??

Perhaps this film would have hit me harder in 1986, but now, with so many movies and so much news reporting about the inner workings of politics and image-makers, I watched it on DVD (loaned by Ron and Evelyn) and came away thinking, "so what?" There really isn't anything new or Earth-shaking. Gere is good as the hot-shot political consultant who gets high dollars to get candidates elected to offices at various levels all over the USA and even Central and South America. He tells them, "do what I tell you and after you get into office, you can do whatever you want." I got the feeling that the movie is very authentic but has no great impact when it was over. The critic Ebert has a very fair and complete review. It's median IMDb vote of '6' is about right.