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Michael Ritchie's 1972 drama about a political idealist (Robert Redford) recruited to make a run for the Senate is still engrossing and still a terribly accurate reflection of the contemporary campaign process. In one of his trademark roles as a man haunted by some shadow of inauthenticity (see Downhill Racer, The Natural, The Great Gatsby, Sneakers, and such), Redford is superb as a first-time candidate watching his values and control over his message disappear in the age of TV-friendly prefabrication. Peter Boyle is ideal as his clearheaded campaign manager, Allen Garfield is effectively creepy as a media strategist, and Melvyn Douglas makes a memorable appearance as a retired politico whose endorsement is gold. Highly recommended. The DVD release includes production notes, theatrical trailer, Dolby sound, and optional Spanish, French, and English subtitles. --Tom Keogh

Review
A dryly funny and pungent satire of the gamesmanship of contemporary politics, The Candidate suggests that the desire for power, no matter how well-intentioned, is the first step down the primrose path to purgatory. While Robert Redford (in a fine, understated performance), director Michael Ritchie, and screenwriter (and former Eugene McCarthy speechwriter) Jeremy Larner almost always suggest that McKay's intentions are pure, they make clear that, the more McKay turns himself into a smooth-talking, blow-dried congressional candidate, the more he betrays his original intentions; the transformation is so gradual that McKay doesn't always seem aware of it, though the audience is, and, when McKay quizzically asks "What do we do now?" in the film's famous conclusion, it's the ultimate sign of how far he's strayed from his original intentions. Ritchie's sharp but subtle style and cinematographer Victor J. Kemper's clean, pin-sharp framings give The Candidate a smart and incisive feel that's never too obvious, and its satire is all the more effective as a result. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

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19 Reviews 5 star:  (9) 4 star:  (7) 3 star:  (1) 2 star:  (1) 1 star:  (1)           Average Customer Review (19 customer reviews)		Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most helpful customer reviews   EXCELLENT POLITICAL FLICK, Jun 7 2004 By  Steven R. Travers (CALIFORNIA) - See all my reviews Robert Redford was behind the entertaining political movie "The Candidate" (1972), which goes a long way towards explaining how the game works. This film is really not a liberal one, which is what makes it worthwhile even after 30 years. It is supposed to be based on Edmund "Jerry" Brown, former California Governor Pat Brown's son. Jerry Brown at the time was a youthful Secretary of State who would go one to two terms as Governor. He was a new kind of pol, attractive, a bit of swinger who dated rock star Linda Rohnstadt, and representative of the Golden State image of the 1970s. They called him "Governor Moonbeam". Redford plays the son of the former Governor of California, played by Melvyn Douglas. The old man is old school all the way, having schmoozed his way up the slippery slope through implied corrupt deals with labor unions and other Democrat special interests. Redford is a young man who played football at Stanford and is now a social issues lawyer of the pro bono variety, helping Mexicans in Central California. Peter Boyle knew him at Stanford and is now a Democrat political consultant who recruits Redford to run for Senator against Crocker Jarman, an entrenched conservative Orange County Republican. Jarman could be Reagan, but he is as much a composite of the traditional Republican: Strong on defense, down on affirmative action and welfare, a real "up by the bootstraps" guy who emerged from the Depression and World War II to make up our "greatest generation." The film does an about-face on perceptions that, in many cases, turn out to be true. Redford is the rich kid with connections. Jarman beat the Depression like the rest of the U.S., without a social worker. "How did we do it?" he mocks. Redford's film wife is played by Karen Carlson, pure eye candy (but what happened to her career I cannot say?). She has ambitions of her own, and pushes him to do it because he has the "power," an undefined sexual charisma of the JFK variety. Redford plays a caricature of himself, handsome but considered an empty suit. His deal is he can say any outrageous thing because he cannot win anyway, and in so doing shows he has the brains. When he creeps up in the polls, the idealism gives way to standard politicking, complete with deals with his old man's crooked labor buddies. He wins, demonstrating the power of looks and TV advertising. In the end he expresses that he is not prepared for the task. STEVEN TRAVERS AUTHOR OF "BARRY BONDS: BASEBALL'S SUPERMAN" STWRITES@AOL.COM Was this review helpful to you? (Report this)   0 of 1 people found the following review helpful: From California Senator to King of Aspen., Aug 14 2002 By A Customer Political fantasy in which Robert Redford discovers that mounting a successful campaign for an "important" office -- in this case, a U.S. Senate seat representing California -- requires the candidate to be shallow, media-friendly, etc. The gist of the thing is that he loses his naivety, the poor baby. Give me a break. I suppose the movie succeeds as fantasy, and there are some moments and characters that elicit chuckles during the campaign trail. There's the occasional telling detail that suggests the screenwriters -- who had actually worked for real-life politicians -- have been there and done that. But it must again be stressed that *The Candidate* is mostly fantasy. Indeed, Redford's character is fantasy: he never existed, doesn't exist now, and will not exist in the future. And the screenwriters -- the liars -- KNOW this. Politics is a dirty business that attracts dirty people, like a horse-apple attracts flies. The desire to be a big-time American politician comes with having a sheer, unrelenting hatred of all that is good and decent. The producers and writers of *The Candidate* understood this (even if their liberal, golden-boy Hollywood star did not), and yet they chose to waste our time with a beddy-bye story of a potential hero who ends up corrupted. The TRUTH is that anybody who wants to be a Senator is by definition corrupted already; anybody with any sense knows this. Was this review helpful to you? (Report this)   "The Better Way??!", Mar 10 2002 By  "franksoprano" (Tamarac, Fl USA) - See all my reviews This review is from: Candidate, the (VHS Tape) "The Candidate" is liberal Hollywood's wet dream of the "realities" of a political campaign. Robert Redford (looking purposely Kennedyesque) is Bill McKay, a young crusading liberal attorney who's persuaded by political operative Marvin Lucas (Peter Boyle in a terrific performance) to run for the U.S. Senate against conservative Republican icon, Crocker Jarmon (even the name shows what a stacked deck the picture is), played by 50's TV sitcom star, Don Porter. Handsome and hip McKay is depicted as pro busing, pro welfare and pro choice...while stodgy old Jarmon is shown mouthing tired old conservative attitudes about Americans working hard and picking themselves up by their own bootstraps. The cast is uniformly excellent, especailly the great Allen Garfield as Mc Kay's media consultant whose shtick is breaking bags of lollipops with a hammer and sucking on the smashed pieces. Redford gives a slyly appealing movie star performance and is especially superb in one scene in which, completely burned out from campaigning, begins to satirize the platitudes his speechwriters have given him ("when the greatest country in the world can't feed the foodless!"). One wonders what kind of movie "The Candidate" would have been if Mc Kay's opponent was as equally young and hip and spoke with the same fervor as McKay without the tired old right wing cliches. Michael Ritchie directs in docudrama style from a script by Jeremly Larner who suposedly based the material on the Tunney-Murphy campaign in California. Was this review helpful to you? (Report this) › See all 19 customer reviews...		Most recent customer reviews Political Realism Presented Entertainingly "The Candidate" was released in the appropriate year of 1972, when Richard Nixon was reelected, using the media to present himself as a solid, trusted leader who was... Read more Published on Jan 6 2002 by William Hare Engrossing if flawed The late Michael Ritchie was a criminally underrated director and 1972's The Candidate remains probably his best known film. Read more Published on Oct 10 2001 by Jeffrey Ellis The best movie ever made about American politics No better movie has ever been made about the American political process. Sure, it is a little dated now, although surprisingly little considering its age of nearly 30 years... Read more Published on Jul 26 2001 by Eric S. "What do we do now?" I believe it was the Italian political theorist Niccolò Machiavelli who said, "The end justifies the means. Read more Published on April 6 2001 So you want to run for office? Although dated, this film presents a splendid depiction of the behind the scenes world of American politics. Read more Published on Mar 30 2001 by casinoman@altavista.com The W. in the Candidate One point of focus only: the irony that such a film has a moment where a black woman flashes a "W" sign at the candidate. Read more Published on Feb 2 2001 by R. Monty Nelson A Realistic Movie! This was a very good film. Robert Redford plays a young man attempting to get elected to the U.S. Senate. In this movie Redford is the son of a former political figure. Read more Published on Dec 28 2000 by Melvin Hunt Nothing new in the world of politics Filmed close to 30 years ago, "The Candidate" is a mirror to the politics of 2000. Nothing has changed, with the exception of more money being spent nowadays. Read more Published on May 14 2000 by Erin Esposito The Candidate Robert Redford, in one of his unjustly overlooked films from 1972, stars as a lawyer and the son of the former governor of the state of California in an election year where the... Read more Published on Feb 16 2000 by Malcolm Lawrence First-rate This is a good documentary-style movie on how power corrupts (even before the power is actually grasped). It shows politicians for the ego-ridden snake-oil salesmen they are. Read more Published on Feb 6 2000 < Search Customer Reviews