by Douglas Messerli
Rod Lurie (writer and director) The Contender / 2000
I first saw Rod Lurie’s
political film, The Contender, when
it originally appeared in 2000, a period in which I was not yet writing film
reviews. Seeing it again the other day on the TV Sundance channel I was faced
once again with both its pleasures and failures. When the film first appeared
in late October 2000, a great many reviewers saw the movie as a contender for
the Academy Awards, and two of its stars, Jeff Bridges and Joan Allen were
nominated for acting awards. But it retrospect, it seems clear that the movie
was not destined for greatness.
His valiant attempt to save the woman has
made him a kind of hero in the eyes of many, and he is a shoo-in, so some
claim, to be President Evans’ (Jeff Bridges) Vice Presidential appointment to
replace his former Vice President, who has apparently died in office. When called to the White House, we can see Hathaway
almost drooling with anticipation for his appointment; yet, somewhat
inexplicably, Evans deflates the governor, explaining that he plans to extend
his legacy in his second appointment by choosing a woman for nominee,
Republican-turned-Democrat Senator, Laine Billings Hanson (Joan Allen) of Ohio.
So far, so good, the film having
interestingly mined two major political events for its subject matter:
Kennedy’s accident at Chappaquiddick and Presidential Candidate Walter Mondale’s
choice of Geraldine Ferraro as his running mate.
With a kind of cold passivity that is not
only slightly unbelievable but helps to make Allen’s character almost
unbearably passive, Hanson, under the scrutiny of the House Judiciary
Committee, determines to take the high road, refusing to discuss her private
sexual life in any form, insisting that she is open to all matters political, which
the sleazy Runyon and associates cleverly refrain from asking while insinuating
through cynical denial that, not only is Hanson a whore, but that she has taken
money for those sexual acts, opening her up to a charge of prostitution.
The issue is an important one,
particularly since Lurie’s script ties Runyon to Joe McCarthy-like tactics—even
if that is a far reach, since McCarthy destroyed numerous careers and lives,
while Runyon is only attempting to squelch one contender, much in the same
manner—conservatives will claim—that the same body attempted to end Clarence
Thomas’s judicial career. Yet it is hard to believe that, given the visual and
testimonial evidence against Hanson which Runyon and his group have already leaked
to the press, that any president, no manner how highly-principled—a quality
which this fictional President seems not to have—would so calmly continue to
support his nominee. Lurie’s script insists that were Hanson a male candidate,
her long-ago indiscretions would be utterly ignored; but we know, given the
dead-ended careers of several congressional and gubernatorial candidates (Edwards
and Wieners* immediately come to mind, although, admittedly, their behavior occurred
during their campaigns instead years previous to it. Even the not-so-saintly
fictional Hanson votes to impeach Clinton, we discover mid-film, because of his
“responsibility” for his sexual behavior) that sex is still a potent factor
within the American consciousness. Lurie might have done better to explore that
very fact: why is it that Americans are still so puritanical when it comes to
their public figures’ sexual behaviors?
Not only is this a cop-out, I would argue,
but it renders Evans’ moment of rising to greatness by refusing Hanson’s
resignation quite meaningless, particularly since he has also discovered,
through his own back-street investigations that Runyon’s favorite, Hathaway has
paid his woman companion to join him in the drowning so that he might be able
to save her—an action that has turned him from a potential hero into an obvious
criminal.
Runyon is politically outed in front of
the entire legislative body, and, presumably, goodness and wisdom has been
revealed to all. Not even Capra’s Mr.
Smith Goes to Washington provided such a lame example of political majesty.
What if, a little voice in my head keeps
asking, the Vice Presidential candidate had really participated in and enjoyed
the orgy in which she has wrongly purported in having been involved? What if
she had actually committed adultery? Would that have meant that she was any
less of a significant candidate, politically speaking, for the job? We all know, of course, that such actions
would have led to the contender’s immediate dismissal and, likely, the end of
her career. Certainly, the uplifting message of Lurie’s fable would have become
impossible. Just as Runyon perpetually twists truth throughout this tale, so
too has the writer and director, who has made it easy for us to buy into this
contender’s right to be a winner. Even Gore Vidal’s President in the author’s
his creaky stage drama, The Best Man,
was forced to make a compromise. While Lurie’s complacent Evans becomes an
immediate hero, by saving the woman who, politically-speaking, nearly drowned.
That nagging voice, however, will not go away: is Evans really any different
from Hathaway? Well, yes, the writer has made it far easier for him to save the
gal and win the public adulation which all politicians obviously seek out. And
so too has Lurie pretended to create a feminist hero only so that he, like a
macho-hero, can save her from drowning.
Los Angeles, September 21, 2014
Reprinted from World Cinema Review (September 2014).
*New York Democratic Representative Anthony Weiner resigned was forced to resign from Congress after texting a suggestive photo of himself to a woman following him on Twitter. Another controversy erupted when he texted to another woman during his New York mayoral race.
Former senator from North Carolina and
Vice Presidential running mate for John Kerry, John Edwards was found to be
having an extramarital affair during his 2008 Senatorial campaign.
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