The Front Runner

[Jim3k]

The Front Runner is a moderately accurate, yet terribly incomplete, movie about Colorado Senator Gary Hart’s 1988 presidential run and its implosion.

The best things about this movie are the performances by Hugh Jackman and Vera Farmiga. It’s probably Jackman’s best work, far better than the cartoony stuff he is famous for. Farmiga is, well…Farmiga. (Kinda like saying Jessica Lange is Jessica Lange—is there anyone better?)

The film is a deliberate mishmash as it leads into the story. I really found myself wondering what the heck the director, Jason Reitman, was trying to do. It may have been a good thought to try to demonstrate the kaleidoscopic nature of a fledgling political campaign, but the mishmash just delayed getting into the story. Indeed, the Hart implosion is perhaps not the story—but instead is a lead-in to a serious analysis of the press’s role in changing a candidate’s political narrative from policy to tabloidism. Is chasing a shiny object the right thing to do?

What is the cost to the nation to drum an outstanding candidate from the field by focusing on his personal peccadillos? Well, the answer is clear. Which one sells newspapers? Here, of course, you have two wrongs leading to a bigger wrong. Hart’s marriage at the time was cracking due to his spending too much time away from his truly marvelous wife. So…he strayed. (As of 2018, their marriage has reached the 60 year mark.) It’s really not much of a defense, but this was the 80s—just before infidelity became a standard political issue. Kennedy’s wanderings in the 60s had been ignored, as had many others’. But the Miami Herald’s behavior was truly intrusive and unprofessional. Based on an anonymous and unsubstantiated report, it sent a team of three to stake out Hart’s DC townhouse. Hart’s fightback is remarkable and he put the Herald on the defensive. That part of the movie is kinda fun.

Indeed, that entire issue is worthwhile given today’s clime. Bill Clinton's later lament about the politics of personal destruction is certainly apropos.

If you see the movie, I would recommend reading Gary Hart’s Wikipedia entry afterwards. Hart is truly an amazing figure, even without his political aspirations. You have to wonder how much better off the country would be today if he hadn’t muffed his chance. Wiki will also point out the movie’s shortcomings by its over-condensing this man’s true story. One of the missing parts, which I’m sure Reitman couldn’t figure how to handle, is the famous “Monkey Business” photo showing Donna Rice on Hart’s lap wearing a Monkey Business T-shirt. Reitman didn’t use it at all. Did it undermine his suggestion of Hart’s guilelessness? In fairness, he may have been able to cut it since it has recently been disclosed that GOP dirty trickster Lee Atwater may have faked the pic.

Anyway, this film is worthwhile to the political junkies here.

[OldPhiKap]

I remember going to hear Hart speak at Page Auditorium in 1987. His opening quip to the enthusiastic welcoming applause was — “Thank you, and I accept your nomination.”

What could have been.