Year Six of Scarecrow Academy brings a discussion series titled "Election Year: Politics on Film," an in-depth look at movies that examine the world of politics in the cinema. In nine weeks of free online conversations, we explore the various approaches that great filmmakers take to the political process. From comedy to tragedy, from satire to fable, with directors ranging from Frank Capra to Spike Lee, we'll see how the movies have focused on the carnival that is the political process.
Discussions are led by National Society of Film Critics member Robert Horton, author of the Seasoned Ticket column at the Scarecrow blog and Scarecrow's "Historian-Programmer in Residence." The Zoom sessions are free and open to all; there's no homework, but we ask that you register online in advance. We'll be meeting on Saturdays at 2 p.m., beginning March 2, 2024.
March 9
A FACE IN THE CROWD (1957, Elia Kazan)
An early (and eerily accurate) fable about how mass media can poison politics, this tale of a crafty nobody (Andy Griffith) who becomes a populist star remains tart. The brilliant ensemble includes Patricia Neal and Walter Matthau.
March 16
THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE (1962, John Frankenheimer)
By turns hilarious and gripping, this lethal satire mixes McCarthyism, brainwashing, and an assassination plot as it skewers the Military-Political complex. Frank Sinatra and Laurence Harvey have never been better.
March 23
ADVISE & CONSENT (1962, Otto Preminger)
Scandals, horse-trading, backstabbing: The inner workings of the Kennedy-era political system are scrutinized with the even-handed wryness of the director of Anatomy of a Murder; Henry Fonda and Charles Laughton lead a huge all-star cast.
March 30
ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN (1976, Alan J. Pakula)
Adapted from the Woodward-Bernstein bestseller (Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman play the Washington Post journalists), this account of the reporting that brought down Richard Nixon is a model of clean, urgent moviemaking.
April 6
BEING THERE (1979, Hal Ashby)
Peter Sellers is in otherworldly form as the simple-minded gardener whose rise to political influence results from the very inanity of his discourse—clearly the film not only diagnoses its own era but predicts the future, too.
April 13
CITY OF HOPE (1991, John Sayles)
Sayles is one of America's most politically committed filmmakers, and in this multi-layered study of life in the big city, he traces a metropolitan system (the city is never named) with an exacting—and also regularly funny—feel for a big canvas.
Rent it from us (IN STORE ONLY) or check out streaming options.
April 20
MALCOLM X (1992, Spike Lee)
Spike Lee goes into epic mode for his biopic of the civil-rights activist, which tracks Malcolm's evolution from small-time hood to savvy political leader—and it doesn't hurt that Denzel Washington gives a bravura performance in the title role.
April 27
LINCOLN (2012, Steven Spielberg)
A turning point in the Lincoln presidency—with special focus on the wheeling and dealing needed to pass the 13th amendment, abolishing slavery—comes to vivid life, thanks to Spielberg's fluid direction and the uncanny central performance by Daniel Day-Lewis.
