The American President

 "My name is Andrew Shepherd and I am the President."

As we have been in the middle of a contentious election season this feels like an appropriate time to take a look back at one of my favorite political movies.  The American President, released in November of 1995, at the same time as several other films that have had a lasting impact, notably, Toy Story, GoldenEye and Casino were all released within a week or so of this film.  I remember going to the movies a lot during that Thanksgiving week although I must admit I caught Toy Story a year or so later on video (I have only seen 2 and 4 in the theatres).

The American President is made up of an eclectic mix of talent.  The script is by noted playwright, screenwriter, show runner and now director, Aaron Sorkin.  The film is directed with an old school romantic flair by Rob Reiner and the cast is led by Michael Douglas as the titular character, Annette Bening, Martin Sheen, Michael J. Fox, Richard Dreyfus, John Mahoney, and Wendie Malick.  

Sorkin built on this to create the show "The West Wing" in which Sheen got his turn to play a different president (though he already had played JFK as well as another fictional president in the Stephen King thriller Dead Zone).  Many of Sorkin's projects examine behind the scenes of different institutions through a fictional lens. A Few Good Men looks at the Marine culture.  The Newsroom, Studio 6 on the Sunset Strip, Being the Ricardos, and Sports Night all examine the production of TV shows.  West Wing focuses more on the White House Staff whereas The American President places its titular character front and center.  The American President came out toward the end of Clinton's first term and was referred to as an idealized version of his presidency.  

I always savor watching Sorkin scripted projects because I know the subject matter will be expertly researched and I always learn something while being entertained.  Sorkin's dialogue does not always sound natural (the characters are often overly self aware) but it is scintillating and I always enjoy hearing intelligent characters interact (note the debate on leadership between Louis and Shepherd in this film).  Sorkin projects usually show people who are at the top of their fields so it makes sense they would be the wisest.  Sorkin projects are known for "walk and talk" (in which two or more characters are giving expositional dialogue often early in the story while walking).  The American President opens with a scene of Shepherd walking through the White House to the Oval Office while getting a daily update with all his aides which sets up the story and many of the players.  We see how active the life is at the White House and how many balls are constantly in the air.  Sorkin reused this template in the opening of many West Wing episodes.

Originally Robert Redford developed the project with the intent to star and it is easy to imagine Redford's buttery delivery of Sorkin's verbose dialogue.  Redford purportedly was uncomfortable with Shepherd's hard turn to the left in the third act.  Douglas had no such concerns and being several years younger than Redford (he was about 50 when he played the part) looks a little more age appropriate to Bening who is still about a decade younger.  The role is a good outlet for Douglas' public speaking skills and he at the height of his fame which allows him to naturally play off the impact Shepherd has when people see him unexpectedly.  Shepherd (whose name has a biblical implication) is a change of pace for Douglas.  Douglas was coming off a decade of darker films where his characters were often infuriated.  Here he looks refreshed played a character who although widowed has a much more optimistic view of life.  

  Reiner's first few films (Stand by Me, The Princess Bride, When Harry Met Sally, Misery, and a Few Good Men-his first collaboration with Sorkin) were all successful and yet dealt in different genres) but he was coming off a big failure in the film North.  This project, by a hot screenwriter he had worked with before and star was a nice reset for Reiner and he continues to direct to this day, often with films that are at least a little comedic.  Nowadays it is common to show the president onscreen in movies and television shows but in those days mainstream films more commonly referred to the president as an oblique authority figure. Reiner's direction makes the White House and all its trappings seem grand.  The cinematography by John Seele gives everything a light golden glow and the sets feel authentic enough that if someone told me the film was actually shot at the White House I could be fooled into believing it.  

Spoilers below:

The plot examines the romance between Shepherd, a widowed president three years into his first term,  and Sydney Wade (Bening), an environmental lobbyist.  Shepherd has a 63% approval rating which was more common than you might think as presidents often have ratings early after a landslide victory.  After three years even a popular president would have been through enough legislative and public battles that it more commonly would sit around the low 50s.  When the two start to date Shepherd's approval rating starts to fall as his likely re-election opponent, Bob Rumson (Dreyfus) claims Shepherd is being influenced by Sydney, who is also trying to get support for a bill to reduce fossil fuels.   This jeopardizes a crime bill Shepherd is trying to get through Congress and Shepherd is forced to choose between throwing his weight behind one or the other.  

The American President also has many lighter moments such as which Shepherd is unable to order flowers for Sydney due to his Executive status, or some of the interaction between Sorkin's well written White House staff characters.  Michael J. Fox is delightful as the comically intense Lewis, the Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy, who if the President had been a Republican could have been an extension of his Alex P. Keaton character from the 80s sitcom Family Ties.  Louis, interestingly, turns out to be Shepherd's moral compass, and I think the Josh character played by Bradley Whitford in The West Wing is the closest parallel to him.  Martin Sheen is also comically smooth as AJ, Shepherd's Chief of Staff.  Douglas and Sheen worked together briefly in Wall Street several years earlier but here they beautifully explore a deep friendship that now has a different power dynamic.  Sorkin reused this template in The West Wing, again making his Chief of Staff a longtime friend of the president, and the one person who can speak to him directly.  AJ finds humor in just about any situation, often trying to calm down Lewis, or take the edge off something politically dangerous like Sydney staying the night at the White House.  

Annette Bening normally plays complex characters who are driven, such as in The Grifters,  American Beauty, and more recently Nyad, is charming as Sidney, who is laser focused on her agenda and early on is confused that the president is interested in her.  As they get closer Bening gives Sydney a warm smile whenever Shepherd is present but always retains her dignity and is never bothered when the president's duties suddenly interrupt their time together.  However when Shepherd lets her environmental bill die to save his crime bill Bening shows a lot of conflicting emotions that she is in the middle of processing when Shepherd goes to speak with her.  Bening's closing line at the end of that scene is fits the theme of the film perfectly.

The film misses a step is in its use of Dreyfus.  Bob Rumson at the time of the film's release came across as a less ethical version of Bob Dole though I think Sorkin may have actually be aiming for Don Rumsfeld, since Dreyfus is made up to look a little like him and the name is similar.  Now he seems like a more polished version of Trump and one of the talking points used against Trump (he is not interested in your problems, but wants to exploit them to make you angry enough to vote for him) is applied to Rumson.  However Rumson's screen time is limited for his impact on the story.  Dreyfus is such an electric performer that it is unfortunate there is never a true face off between the two adversaries though this is more realistic as well.  The antagonist in the film is not Rumson but the president's refusal to address his battles in public, which Lewis interprets as a lack of leadership.  

I appreciate the scene in which Shepherd orders a retaliatory missile attack on Libya and afterwards expresses regret that his actions will cause the death of innocent civilians.  Sorkin's script personalizes the impact it will have on an unnamed janitor.  Shepherd did not hesitate to order the attack but also has to carry the burden and relays this so his people always see the big picture.  

The big moment is when Shepherd, after being nudged by AJ to confront his own compromises, steps into the White House Briefing room and gives a speech.  Up to this point Shepherd has been passive, trying to be resolute in the face of harsh criticism and only fighting battles that he expects to win.  Douglas looks right at the camera speaking to Rumson and also to all of his doubters.  Shepherd defends Sydney but the focus of the speech is recognizing his need to fight for his agenda.  As the speech goes on the camera closes in slowly so that Shepherd is in full close-up by the time he delivers the closing line, quoted at the beginning of this post, which sends a shot of adrenaline through the audience.

As effective as the scene is the idea that a president would be able to pass a bill in which handguns and assault rifles are pulled from the street is fantasy, as well as the idea that he could pass a bill with 20% fossil fuel reductions.  Both bills would probably need substantial modifications to pass even for a popular president.  

The follow-up scene in the Oval Office is well scripted and staged as all the characters begin to react to what has just happened and has a nice moment when Sydney surprisingly shows up and neither she nor Shepherd know exactly what to say.  Sheen underplays his beat recognizing he needs to leave the room and exits with a hilarious line at Louis' expense.  The scene does include two false notes.  One, while it is romantic that Shepherd wants to visit Sydney and win her back without the trappings of the President, the Secret Service would never permit him to leave the White House unprotected.  Secondly, I doubt Sydney would have been able to walk into the Oval Office unannounced. The preceding scene is so powerful that I believe it when Shepherd says he did not send the environmental bill back to the floor to win Sydney back.  Sydney left him because he did not fight for his cause, not because her bill had not gone through.   

Sorkin wisely ends the story with Shepherd going into the State of the Union (which Louis had to rewrite after Shepherd's speech) and presenting his agenda.  We do not need to learn the results of the election or hear the impact of the speech.  The president has stopped trying to protect his job and is fighting for his agenda with the same gusto he used to win Sydney's heart.  The West Wing staff is engaged and ready to work to get these bills passed.  Life in the White House goes on.

I think this Reiner's most successful film and although some of his other projects are often more remembered The American President is an excellent way to spend a couple of hours.  ****