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The Candidate

Catalog Number
1011
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The Candidate (1972)

Additional Information

Additional Information
Too Handsome. Too Young. Too Liberal. Doesn't have a chance. He's PERFECT!

Nothing matters more than winning. Not even what you believe in.


"What do we do now?" Director Michael Ritchie and executive producer/star Robert Redford satirically explore the machinations and manipulations of media-age political campaigns in this cynical political drama. Rumpled left-wing California lawyer Bill McKay (Redford), the son of a former governor (Melvyn Douglas), is enlisted by campaign maestro Marvin Lucas (Peter Boyle) to challenge Republican incumbent Crocker Jarmon (Don Porter) for his Senate seat. McKay agrees, but only if he can say exactly what he thinks. That approach is all well and good when McKay does not seem to have a chance, but things change when his honesty unexpectedly captivates the electorate. As McKay inches up in the polls, Lucas and company start to do what it takes to win, leaving McKay to ponder the consequences of his political seduction. Working without studio interference from a script by Jeremy Larner, a speechwriter for 1968 Presidential candidate Eugene McCarthy, Ritchie enhanced the behind-the-scenes realism of Larner's insights with a realistic, cinéma vérité approach. He orchestrated a campaign parade for "candidate" Redford that drew such a considerable unstaged audience that local politicians wanted to draft Redford for a real election. Redford's resemblance to the telegenic Kennedys, and his character's resonance with the future career of California governor Jerry Brown, only emphasized how close to the bone THE CANDIDATE was (and is). Released the fateful year of Richard Nixon's reelection, the film garnered accolades, if not substantial box office; Larner won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay and thanked the "politicians of our time" for inspiration. Creating a documentary fiction about the semi-truths manufactured to market a candidate, THE CANDIDATE shrewdly exposed the effects of the media on the increasingly cynical political process, posing unanswerable questions that have become all the more pressing with every soundbite-ruled election.


Marvin Lucas (Peter Boyle), a political election specialist, must find a Democratic candidate to oppose California U.S. Senator Crocker Jarmon, a popular Republican. With no big-name Democrat eager to enter the unwinnable race, Lucas seeks out Bill McKay (Robert Redford), the idealistic, charismatic son of former governor John J. McKay (Melvyn Douglas).

Lucas gives McKay a proposition: since Jarmon cannot lose and the race is already decided, McKay is free to campaign saying exactly what he wants. McKay accepts to have the chance to spread his values, and hits the trail. With no serious Democratic opposition, McKay cruises to the nomination on his name alone. Lucas then has distressing news: according to the latest election projections, McKay will be defeated by an overwhelming margin. Lucas says the party expected McKay to lose but not to be humiliated, so he broadens his message to appeal to more voters.

McKay campaigns across the state, his message growing more generic each day. This approach lifts him in the opinion polls, but he has a new problem: Because McKay's father has stayed out of the race, the media speculates his silence is an endorsement of Jarmon. McKay begrudgingly meets his father and tells him the problem, and the elder McKay tells the media he is simply honoring his son's wishes to stay out of the race.

McKay continues to gain in the polls until he is only nine points down. Jarmon then proposes a debate. McKay agrees to give tailored answers, but just as the debate is ending, McKay has a pang of conscience and blurts out that the debate addressed no real issues, such as poverty and race relations. Lucas is furious, as this will hurt the campaign. The media try to confront McKay backstage, but arrive as his father congratulates him on the debate; instead of reporting on McKay's outburst, the story becomes the reemergence of the former governor to help his son. The positive story, coupled with McKay's father's help on the trail, further closes the polling gap.

On election day, McKay wins. In the famous final scene, he escapes the victory party and pulls Lucas into a room while throngs of journalists clamor outside. McKay asks Lucas, "Marvin ... What do we do now?" The media throng arrives to drag them out, and McKay never receives an answer.

The film was critically acclaimed, with most praise going towards the script and lead performance. New York Times reviewer Vincent Canby applauded Redford's performance and commented that "The Candidate is serious, but its tone is coldly comic, as if it had been put together by people who had given up hope."[1] Christopher Null, from filmcritic.com, gave the film 4.5/5, and said that "this satire on an American institution continues to gain relevance instead of lose it."[2] The film holds a 'fresh' score of 95% on review aggregate Rotten Tomatoes, based on eighteen critical reviews. [3]

Release Date: June 29, 1972


Distrib: Warner Brothers

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