Tuesday Trivia: Political Movies

Well, y’know, New Hampshire Primaries. We have a theme going.

1. A prop campaign button from this film is on display at the Smithsonian’s Museum of American History in Washington. It is on display with several authentic campaign buttons.
Solved by Tom Hilton (comment #1).

2. “Nice thing about you, Joe, is that you can sound like a liberal, but at heart you’re an American.”
Solved by Melville (comment #10) and Barbs (comment #11).

3. “There are two kinds of people in this world: Those that enter a room and turn the television set on, and those that enter a room and turn the television set off.”
Solved by Hazel (comment #7).

4. Because the Boy Scouts of America objected to the politics of this film, the fictitious “Boy Rangers” were used.
Solved by Tom Hilton (comment #1).

5. This film about the rise and fall of a South American political figure features a scene in which a group of soldiers shower with their underwear on.
Solved by Melville (comment #6).

6. “You’re right, I did lose a million dollars last year. I expect to lose a million dollars this year. I expect to lose a million dollars next year.”
Solved by Tom Hilton (comment #1).

7. John Wayne was offered the lead in this film, but refused it in a heated letter to his agent, saying it “smears the machinery of government for no purpose of humor or enlightenment.”
Solved by Melville (comment #8).

14 comments

  1. Tom Hilton says:

    #4 is Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, I think. #6 is Citizen Kane.

    Is #1 The Candidate?

  2. Tom Hilton says:

    #5 is Bananas, I think.

  3. deblipp says:

    Everything except #5.

  4. Tom Hilton says:

    #3 sounds familiar; is it The American President?

  5. deblipp says:

    Nope.

  6. Melville says:

    Mostly guesswork:

    #2 – The Seduction of Joe Tynan?
    #3 – Broadcast News?
    #5 – Evita?

  7. Hazel says:

    #3 is The Manchurian Candidate

  8. Melville says:

    And as long as I’m guessing, could #7 be All The King’s Men? I’ve never read that Wayne was offered the role, but it’s the only big political film I can think of that the producers might have plausibly thought of him for the central role.

  9. deblipp says:

    Some of your guesses were right and some weren’t, Mel; Hazel got it right.

  10. Melville says:

    Okay, one more guess, then. Is #2 The Best Man? I don’t remember that line, but I think the character played by Cliff Robertson was named Joe.

  11. Barbs says:

    # 2 The Best Man

  12. deblipp says:

    Okay, I’m going out on a limb and crediting you both, because Mel guessed, and 7 minutes later, Barbs knew for sure.

  13. Melville says:

    Thanks, I always feel funny claiming credit for a guess, though it was an educated one. I remember enough about The Best Man to know that the Robertson character (a 1960 fictional amalgam of Nixon and JFK) was just the type to have that said about him.

  14. deblipp says:

    I would never think your guesses were uneducated, Mel.