American Politics and Government (Fictional and Non-Fictional)
by stephenmjoyce | created - 22 Mar 2018 | updated - 17 Apr 2021 | PublicFilms that involve some current or historical aspect of American politics or American government, including but not limited to social movements, protests, news media, media, politicians, elections, campaigns, budgeting, budgets, presidents, the presidency, the Supreme Court, the judicial system, Congress, representatives, candidates, electioneering, campaigning, the military, the Senate, Senators, Civil Rights, American Indians, Voting, American presidents, the Founding, the Constitution, constitutional amendments, lawmaking, lobbying, public relations, political scandal, political rhetoric, demagogues, demagoguery, and political theory.
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1. Wag the Dog (1997)
R | 97 min | Comedy, Drama
Shortly before an election, a spin-doctor and a Hollywood producer join efforts to fabricate a war in order to cover up a Presidential sex scandal.
Director: Barry Levinson | Stars: Dustin Hoffman, Robert De Niro, Anne Heche, Woody Harrelson
Votes: 88,462 | Gross: $43.02M
2. A Face in the Crowd (1957)
Approved | 126 min | Drama, Music
A female radio reporter turns a folk-singing drifter into a powerful media star.
Director: Elia Kazan | Stars: Andy Griffith, Patricia Neal, Anthony Franciosa, Walter Matthau
Votes: 17,092
3. All the King's Men (1949)
Approved | 110 min | Drama, Film-Noir
The rise and fall of a corrupt politician, who makes his friends richer and retains power by dint of a populist appeal.
Director: Robert Rossen | Stars: Broderick Crawford, John Ireland, Joanne Dru, John Derek
Votes: 16,580
4. The Candidate (1972)
PG | 110 min | Comedy, Drama
Bill McKay is a candidate for the U.S. Senate from California. He has no hope of winning, so he is willing to tweak the establishment.
Director: Michael Ritchie | Stars: Robert Redford, Peter Boyle, Melvyn Douglas, Don Porter
Votes: 11,920 | Gross: $0.12M
5. The American President (1995)
PG-13 | 114 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A widowed U.S. President running for reelection and an environmental lobbyist fall in love. It's all above-board, but "politics is perception," and sparks fly anyway.
Director: Rob Reiner | Stars: Michael Douglas, Annette Bening, Martin Sheen, Michael J. Fox
Votes: 60,626 | Gross: $65.00M
6. Bridge of Spies (2015)
PG-13 | 142 min | Drama, History, Thriller
During the Cold War, an American lawyer is recruited to defend an arrested Soviet spy in court, and then help the CIA facilitate an exchange of the spy for the Soviet captured American U2 spy plane pilot, Francis Gary Powers.
Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Tom Hanks, Mark Rylance, Alan Alda, Amy Ryan
Votes: 327,685 | Gross: $72.31M
7. The Contender (2000)
R | 126 min | Drama, Thriller
Senator Laine Hanson is a contender for U.S. Vice President, but information and disinformation about her past surfaces that threatens to derail her confirmation.
Director: Rod Lurie | Stars: Joan Allen, Gary Oldman, Jeff Bridges, Christian Slater
Votes: 25,009 | Gross: $17.87M
8. Death of a President (2006)
R | 97 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
Years after the assassination of President George W. Bush in Chicago, an investigative documentary examines that as-yet-unsolved crime.
Director: Gabriel Range | Stars: Hend Ayoub, Becky Ann Baker, George W. Bush, Brian Boland
Votes: 7,032 | Gross: $0.52M
9. Deterrence (1999)
R | 104 min | Drama, Thriller
The President of the United States must deal with an international military crisis while confined to a Colorado diner during a freak snowstorm
Director: Rod Lurie | Stars: Kevin Pollak, Timothy Hutton, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Clotilde Courau
Votes: 2,839 | Gross: $0.14M
10. Game Change (2012 TV Movie)
TV-MA | 118 min | Biography, Drama, History
Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska becomes Senator John McCain's running mate in the 2008 Presidential election.
Director: Jay Roach | Stars: Ed Harris, Julianne Moore, Woody Harrelson, Peter MacNicol
Votes: 23,204
11. The Good Shepherd (2006)
R | 167 min | Drama, History, Thriller
The tumultuous early history of the Central Intelligence Agency is viewed through the prism of one man's life.
Director: Robert De Niro | Stars: Matt Damon, Angelina Jolie, Robert De Niro, Alec Baldwin
Votes: 108,563 | Gross: $59.95M
12. The West Wing (1999–2006)
TV-14 | 42 min | Drama
Inside the lives of staffers in the West Wing of the White House.
Stars: Martin Sheen, Rob Lowe, Allison Janney, John Spencer
Votes: 85,533
13. House of Cards (2013–2018)
TV-MA | 50 min | Drama
A Congressman works with his equally conniving wife to exact revenge on the people who betrayed him.
Stars: Kevin Spacey, Michel Gill, Robin Wright, Kate Mara
Votes: 530,808
14. The Court (2002)
60 min | Drama
Stars: Tim Bagley, Robin Thomas, Brenda Strong, Harry Northup
Votes: 56
15. First Monday (2002)
60 min | Drama
Each Supreme Court term begins on the first Monday in October. Currently, the Court's evenly divided between conservatives and liberals. Moderate Justice Joseph Novelli has just joined them. The show follows their cases and lives.
Stars: Joe Mantegna, James Garner, Charles Durning, Camille Saviola
Votes: 216
16. LBJ (2016)
R | 98 min | Biography, Drama, History
Lyndon B. Johnson aligns himself with John F. Kennedy, rises to the Presidency, and deals with the civil rights struggles of the 1960s.
Director: Rob Reiner | Stars: Woody Harrelson, Michael Stahl-David, Richard Jenkins, Jennifer Jason Leigh
Votes: 7,686 | Gross: $2.47M
17. Cradle Will Rock (1999)
R | 132 min | Drama
A true story of politics and art in the 1930s U.S., focusing on a leftist musical drama and attempts to stop its production.
Director: Tim Robbins | Stars: Hank Azaria, Rubén Blades, Joan Cusack, John Cusack
Votes: 9,533 | Gross: $2.90M
18. Cesar Chavez (2014)
PG-13 | 102 min | Biography, Drama
A biography of the civil-rights activist and labor organizer Cesar Chavez.
Director: Diego Luna | Stars: Michael Peña, America Ferrera, Rosario Dawson, John Malkovich
Votes: 3,618 | Gross: $5.55M
19. Bobby (I) (2006)
R | 117 min | Biography, Drama, History
The destinies of 22 people of different races, sexes, beliefs and social classes are intertwined on the night that politician Robert F. Kennedy is assassinated.
Director: Emilio Estevez | Stars: Anthony Hopkins, Demi Moore, Sharon Stone, Harry Belafonte
Votes: 42,810 | Gross: $11.24M
20. Chappaquiddick (2017)
PG-13 | 106 min | Biography, Drama, History
Depicting Ted Kennedy's involvement in the fatal 1969 car accident that claims the life of a young campaign strategist, Mary Jo Kopechne.
Director: John Curran | Stars: Jason Clarke, Kate Mara, Ed Helms, Bruce Dern
Votes: 14,600 | Gross: $17.40M
21. Brink of Disaster! (1972)
29 min | Short
During a student protest on a college campus, a young student is in the library when he is visited by the ghost of his ancestor, who tells the boy that he fought in the revolution of 1776 ... See full summary »
Director: John Florea | Stars: Ed Nelson, Gary Crabbe
Votes: 17
22. Lincoln (2012)
PG-13 | 150 min | Biography, Drama, History
As the Civil War rages on, U.S President Abraham Lincoln struggles with continuing carnage on the battlefield as he fights with many inside his own cabinet on his decision to emancipate the slaves.
Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field, David Strathairn, Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Votes: 272,591 | Gross: $182.21M
23. The Last Hurrah (1958)
Approved | 121 min | Drama
Frank Skeffington is an old Irish-American political boss, running for re-election as mayor of a U.S. town for the last time.
Director: John Ford | Stars: Spencer Tracy, Jeffrey Hunter, Dianne Foster, Pat O'Brien
Votes: 4,155
24. The Last Hurrah (1977 TV Movie)
Not Rated | 105 min | Drama
The longtime head of a powerful political machine is determined to win a fourth election and stay in power, despite challenges to his regime by young, dissatisfied opponents, and his ... See full summary »
Director: Vincent Sherman | Stars: Carroll O'Connor, Leslie Ackerman, John Anderson, Dana Andrews
Votes: 48
25. Milk (I) (2008)
R | 128 min | Biography, Drama, History
The story of American gay activist Harvey Milk, who fought for gay rights and was elected as California's first openly gay official.
Director: Gus Van Sant | Stars: Sean Penn, Josh Brolin, Emile Hirsch, Diego Luna
Votes: 179,832 | Gross: $31.84M
26. A More Perfect Union: America Becomes a Nation (1989)
111 min | Drama, History
It showed the process it took to write the Constitution of the United States.
Director: Peter N. Johnson | Stars: Craig Wasson, Michael McGuire, Morgan White, Bruce Newbold
Votes: 227
27. A Lion Is in the Streets (1953)
Approved | 88 min | Drama, Romance, Thriller
A charismatic peddler from the bayous finds his true calling in politics. Is he a demagogue in the making?
Director: Raoul Walsh | Stars: James Cagney, Barbara Hale, Anne Francis, Warner Anderson
Votes: 1,028
28. Lions for Lambs (2007)
R | 92 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
Injuries sustained by two Army rangers behind enemy lines in Afghanistan set off a sequence of events involving a congressman, a journalist and a professor.
Director: Robert Redford | Stars: Tom Cruise, Meryl Streep, Robert Redford, Michael Peña
Votes: 52,694 | Gross: $15.00M
29. The Lost City (2005)
R | 144 min | Drama, Romance
A wealthy Havana club owner and his family are torn apart by the violent sociopolitical upheaval brought about by the transition from the dictatorial regime of Batista to the Marxist revolution led by Fidel Castro in 1950s Cuba.
Director: Andy Garcia | Stars: Andy Garcia, Inés Sastre, Bill Murray, Alfredo Armenteros
Votes: 9,920 | Gross: $2.48M
30. The Lawless (1950)
Not Rated | 83 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A newspaper editor in a small agricultural town finds himself going against the people in the town when he gets involved in the plight of the area's fruit pickers, who are mostly Mexican.
Director: Joseph Losey | Stars: Macdonald Carey, Gail Russell, Johnny Sands, Lee Patrick
Votes: 738
31. Man with a Plan (1996)
89 min | Comedy
Fred Tuttle, faced with his father's impending hip operation and his failing farm, needs to make a six-digit salary with a fourth-grade education. So he runs for U.S. Representative from ... See full summary »
Director: John O'Brien | Stars: Fred Tuttle, Bill Blachly, Bryan Pfeiffer, Bruce Lyndes
Votes: 148
32. Matewan (1987)
PG-13 | 135 min | Drama, History
A labor union organizer comes to an embattled mining community brutally and violently dominated and harassed by the mining company.
Director: John Sayles | Stars: Chris Cooper, James Earl Jones, Mary McDonnell, Will Oldham
Votes: 8,909 | Gross: $1.68M
33. The Man (1972)
G | 93 min | Drama
An African-American senator becomes the designated survivor of a tragic accident that kills the President of the United States. Now the first black President, he attempts to end the bigotry and divide standing in his way.
Director: Joseph Sargent | Stars: James Earl Jones, Martin Balsam, Burgess Meredith, Lew Ayres
Votes: 411
34. Medium Cool (1969)
R | 111 min | Drama
A TV news reporter finds himself becoming personally involved in the violence that erupts around the 1968 Democratic National Convention.
Director: Haskell Wexler | Stars: Robert Forster, Verna Bloom, Peter Bonerz, Marianna Hill
Votes: 4,711 | Gross: $1.48M
35. Parkland (2013)
PG-13 | 93 min | Drama, History, Mystery
A recounting of the chaotic events that occurred at Dallas' Parkland Memorial Hospital on the day President John F. Kennedy was assassinated.
Director: Peter Landesman | Stars: Zac Efron, Tom Welling, Billy Bob Thornton, Paul Giamatti
Votes: 17,468 | Gross: $0.65M
36. Our Brand Is Crisis (2015)
R | 107 min | Comedy, Drama
A battle-hardened American political consultant is sent to help re-elect a controversial president in Bolivia, where she must compete with a long-term rival working for another candidate.
Director: David Gordon Green | Stars: Sandra Bullock, Billy Bob Thornton, Anthony Mackie, Joaquim de Almeida
Votes: 23,262 | Gross: $7.00M
37. Our Brand Is Crisis (2005)
Unrated | 85 min | Documentary
A documentary on American political campaign marketing tactics and their consequences.
Director: Rachel Boynton | Stars: Mauricio Balcazar, James Carville, Tad Devine, Stanley Greenberg
Votes: 640 | Gross: $0.17M
38. Mr. Ace (1946)
Approved | 84 min | Action, Drama, Romance
A rich society woman uses a gangster to win a congressional election.
Director: Edwin L. Marin | Stars: George Raft, Sylvia Sidney, Stanley Ridges, Sid Silvers
Votes: 229
39. Miss Sloane (2016)
R | 132 min | Drama
In the high-stakes world of political power-brokers, Elizabeth Sloane is the most sought after and formidable lobbyist in D.C. But when taking on the most powerful opponent of her career, she finds winning may come at too high a price.
Director: John Madden | Stars: Jessica Chastain, Mark Strong, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Michael Stuhlbarg
Votes: 82,492 | Gross: $3.50M
40. The Milagro Beanfield War (1988)
R | 117 min | Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
The accidental breakdown of an irrigation valve launches a hot confrontation between the mainly Latino farmers in a tiny New Mexico town and the real estate developers and politicians determined to acquire their land for a golf resort.
Director: Robert Redford | Stars: Rubén Blades, Richard Bradford, Sonia Braga, Julie Carmen
Votes: 6,846 | Gross: $13.83M
41. Selma (2014)
PG-13 | 128 min | Biography, Drama, History
A chronicle of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s campaign to secure equal voting rights via an epic march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, in 1965.
Director: Ava DuVernay | Stars: David Oyelowo, Carmen Ejogo, Oprah Winfrey, Tom Wilkinson
Votes: 95,460 | Gross: $52.08M
42. The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
Passed | 129 min | Drama
An Oklahoma family, driven off their farm by the poverty and hopelessness of the Dust Bowl, joins the westward migration to California, suffering the misfortunes of the homeless in the Great Depression.
Director: John Ford | Stars: Henry Fonda, Jane Darwell, John Carradine, Charley Grapewin
Votes: 99,926 | Gross: $0.06M
43. The Front Runner (2018)
R | 113 min | Biography, Drama, History
In 1987, U.S. Senator Gary Hart's presidential campaign is derailed when he's caught in a scandalous love affair.
Director: Jason Reitman | Stars: Hugh Jackman, Vera Farmiga, J.K. Simmons, Mark O'Brien
Votes: 14,166 | Gross: $2.00M
44. The Butler (I) (2013)
PG-13 | 132 min | Biography, Drama
As Cecil Gaines serves eight presidents during his tenure as a butler at the White House, the civil rights movement, Vietnam, and other major events affect this man's life, family, and American society.
Director: Lee Daniels | Stars: Forest Whitaker, Oprah Winfrey, John Cusack, Jane Fonda
Votes: 119,726 | Gross: $116.63M
45. The War Room (1993)
PG | 96 min | Documentary, History
A documentary of the Bill Clinton 1992 presidential campaign and the organization who ran it.
Directors: Chris Hegedus, D.A. Pennebaker | Stars: James Carville, George Stephanopoulos, Heather Beckel, Paul Begala
Votes: 4,431 | Gross: $0.90M
46. The Big Brass Ring (1999)
R | 104 min | Drama
Blake Pellarin is on the campaign trail to become Governor of the state of Missouri. During his stop in St. Louis, a chance encounter brings his past roaring back to haunt him. Will the ... See full summary »
Director: George Hickenlooper | Stars: William Hurt, Nigel Hawthorne, Miranda Richardson, Irène Jacob
Votes: 837
47. The Best Man (1964)
Approved | 102 min | Drama
The two front runners for their party's presidential nomination, one principled and the other ruthless, vie for the former president's endorsement.
Director: Franklin J. Schaffner | Stars: Henry Fonda, Cliff Robertson, Edie Adams, Margaret Leighton
Votes: 3,726
48. Ada (1961)
Not Rated | 109 min | Drama, Romance
Political drama about a honest but naive gubernatorial candidate who is manipulated by his corrupt campaign manager and is forced to temporarily cede power to his wife, a woman of integrity despite her shameful past.
Director: Daniel Mann | Stars: Susan Hayward, Dean Martin, Wilfrid Hyde-White, Ralph Meeker
Votes: 1,094
49. Fail Safe (1964)
Approved | 112 min | Drama, Thriller
A technical malfunction sends American planes to Moscow to deliver a nuclear attack. Can all-out war be averted?
Director: Sidney Lumet | Stars: Henry Fonda, Walter Matthau, Fritz Weaver, Dan O'Herlihy
Votes: 24,402
50. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
PG | 95 min | Comedy, War
An unhinged American general orders a bombing attack on the Soviet Union, triggering a path to nuclear holocaust that a war room full of politicians and generals frantically tries to stop.
Director: Stanley Kubrick | Stars: Peter Sellers, George C. Scott, Sterling Hayden, Keenan Wynn
Votes: 518,139 | Gross: $0.28M
51. The Manchurian Candidate (2004)
R | 129 min | Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi
In the midst of the Gulf War, soldiers are kidnapped and brainwashed for sinister purposes.
Director: Jonathan Demme | Stars: Denzel Washington, Liev Schreiber, Meryl Streep, Kimberly Elise
Votes: 116,599 | Gross: $65.96M
52. The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
PG-13 | 126 min | Drama, Thriller
An American POW in the Korean War is brainwashed as an unwitting assassin for an international Communist conspiracy.
Director: John Frankenheimer | Stars: Frank Sinatra, Laurence Harvey, Janet Leigh, Angela Lansbury
Votes: 79,795
53. Charlie Wilson's War (2007)
R | 102 min | Biography, Comedy, Drama
A drama based on a Texas congressman Charlie Wilson's covert dealings in Afghanistan, where his efforts to assist rebels in their war with the Soviets have some unforeseen and long-reaching effects.
Director: Mike Nichols | Stars: Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams
Votes: 124,870 | Gross: $66.66M
54. Seven Days in May (1964)
Approved | 118 min | Drama, Thriller
United States military leaders plot to overthrow the President because he supports a nuclear disarmament treaty and they fear a Soviet sneak attack.
Director: John Frankenheimer | Stars: Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas, Fredric March, Ava Gardner
Votes: 17,329 | Gross: $7.96M
55. All the King's Men (1949)
Approved | 110 min | Drama, Film-Noir
The rise and fall of a corrupt politician, who makes his friends richer and retains power by dint of a populist appeal.
Director: Robert Rossen | Stars: Broderick Crawford, John Ireland, Joanne Dru, John Derek
Votes: 16,580
56. All the King's Men (2006)
PG-13 | 128 min | Drama, Thriller
Based on the Robert Penn Warren novel. The life of populist Southerner Willie Stark, a political creature loosely based on Governor Huey Long of Louisiana.
Director: Steven Zaillian | Stars: Sean Penn, Jude Law, Kate Winslet, Anthony Hopkins
Votes: 25,589 | Gross: $7.22M
57. The Great McGinty (1940)
Passed | 82 min | Comedy
Dan McGinty has great success in his chosen field of crooked politics, but he endangers it all in one crazy moment of honesty.
Director: Preston Sturges | Stars: Brian Donlevy, Muriel Angelus, Akim Tamiroff, Allyn Joslyn
Votes: 4,410
58. The American President (1995)
PG-13 | 114 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A widowed U.S. President running for reelection and an environmental lobbyist fall in love. It's all above-board, but "politics is perception," and sparks fly anyway.
Director: Rob Reiner | Stars: Michael Douglas, Annette Bening, Martin Sheen, Michael J. Fox
Votes: 60,626 | Gross: $65.00M
59. Bulworth (1998)
R | 108 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A suicidally disillusioned liberal politician puts a contract out on himself and takes the opportunity to be bluntly honest with his voters by affecting the rhythms and speech of hip-hop music and culture.
Director: Warren Beatty | Stars: Warren Beatty, Halle Berry, Kimberly Deauna Adams, Vinny Argiro
Votes: 27,295 | Gross: $26.53M
60. Secret Honor (1984)
Not Rated | 90 min | Biography, Comedy, Drama
A fictionalized former President Richard M. Nixon offers a solitary, stream-of-consciousness reflection on his life and political career - and the "true" reasons for the Watergate scandal and his resignation.
Director: Robert Altman | Star: Philip Baker Hall
Votes: 3,386
61. Nixon (1995)
R | 192 min | Biography, Drama, History
A biographical story of former U.S. President Richard Nixon, from his days as a young boy, to his eventual Presidency, which ended in shame.
Director: Oliver Stone | Stars: Anthony Hopkins, Joan Allen, Powers Boothe, Ed Harris
Votes: 32,721 | Gross: $13.56M
62. Frost/Nixon (2008)
R | 122 min | Biography, Drama, History
A dramatic retelling of the post-Watergate television interviews between British talk-show host David Frost and former president Richard Nixon.
Director: Ron Howard | Stars: Frank Langella, Michael Sheen, Kevin Bacon, Sam Rockwell
Votes: 112,460 | Gross: $18.59M
63. The Second Civil War (1997 TV Movie)
R | 97 min | Comedy, Drama
A simple immigration issue spins wildly out of control for those involved, ranging from the President of the United States, to a news producer.
Director: Joe Dante | Stars: Beau Bridges, Joanna Cassidy, Phil Hartman, James Earl Jones
Votes: 2,266
64. Gabriel Over the White House (1933)
Passed | 86 min | Drama, Fantasy, Romance
A political hack becomes President during the height of the Depression and undergoes a metamorphosis into an incorruptible statesman after a near-fatal accident.
Director: Gregory La Cava | Stars: Walter Huston, Karen Morley, Franchot Tone, Arthur Byron
Votes: 1,398
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