The Human Condition
Added 5/6/2009
I saw this last night, having seen it about 10 years ago. It still packs a punch and Richard Gere is perfect for this role. Overall this is a film about the human condition and how power corrupts, and it will always be relevant.
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Lumet's most underrated film.
Added 2/8/2009
Power (Sidney Lumet, 1986)
Sidney Lumet will be forever remembered for his string of pictures in the seventies beginning with Serpico (1973) and running through, depending on your point of view, Prince of the City (1981) or The Verdict (1982). After that, conventional wisdom says, Lumet fell off a cliff until the mid-2000s. Me, I think he kept going for a bit afterwards. In fact, save Dog Day Afternoon, I've always thought that Power was Lumet's finest work.
It's the story of Pete St. John (Richard Gere), a Washignton, D.C. spin doctor. Not something you can really hang a movie on, you say? Boring? Oh, no. Not in the capable hands of Sidney Lumet. He grabs an all-star cast of St. John's clients, an all-star cast of their adversaries, installs Gene Hackman as St. John's previous mentor and current rival, and simply sits back and lets an election year unfold in Ohio (with a few detours to other states and a quick trip south of the border for spice). Add in star turns from then-rising stars Denzel Washington and D. B. Sweeney, and how can you go wrong?
Power manages to be a cautionary tale about political spin that never really feels like a cautionary tale; the script and the director are far more interested in these characters, all of whom are at least a touch crazy in the head, than they are stopping every two minutes to hand us message pap. As a result, this is one of the most effective movies of its type, when it comes to getting its message across. Sound like a paradox? It's not. Message filmmakers take note, this is what you want to be doing. Lumet's light touch and the actors' uniformly good performances make this one a gripping thriller, even while you're wondering when something's actually going to happen. It never does. This is not a movie where things blow up and cars chase each other. And yet somehow it's more absorbing than most action movies. You probably missed this one back in the day, and the DVD release a number of years ago got almost no publicity. Seek it out, especially if you're a Lumet fan. **** ½
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Power still relevant 22 years later
Added 4/23/2008
I was educated, enlightened and entertained by this film two decades ago, and I still am. The lines in it are witty and they capture a political life perfectly. There are a lot of great moments - the pollster/computer guy Ralph explaining his work to candidate Fritz Weaver, Gere chastising a governor's assistant for petty bureaucratic moves which could jeopardize the campaign, Hackman drunkenly chastising Gere about taking on perverted candidates, Christie ferreting out E.G. Marshall's reasons for senate retirement.... Yes, there are a lot of plots and it can get chaotic. But that is so true of political campaign life. I love the pieces where they create television ads for the candidates. Brilliant, brilliant film. Why aren't there more films from writer David Himmelstein?!
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Not 'Power' ful enough
Added 11/12/2007
As a lifelong fan of Mr. Washington I bought the movie to round out my collection. Didn't like the movie--the concept if PR people (Richard Gere, Gene Hackman) going to such extreme measures--aagh! Denzel's role was very minor. Disappointing movie; glad I didn't pay any money to see it.
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My disc was defective too, and the movie wasn't worth it...
Added 2/15/2007
I actually bought this DVD over a year ago but just decided to watch it. I'm a huge fan of Sidney Lumet, and I like Richard Gere, Gene Hackman, and the other stars in the film. About 30 mins. into the movie the picture started distorting, and after that it would skip large chunks of the movie. There was nothing visibly wrong with the DVD itself. But, I saw enough. Even before I reached the defective part, it was like watching a foreign film without subtitles. I had almost no clue what was going on, and didn't really care after a while. I can usually watch almost anything, most movies have some redeeming quality - for example, maybe an exotic, interesting locale. This is largely set in New Mexico. No offense to New Mexicans, but skip this. I threw it away.
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