MY FAVORITE POLITICAL FILMS, since it's so close to Election Day when our Long National Nightmare will be over (and by that I mean the campaigning season, though others may infer another possible definition, I'm sure). So let's talk politics.

Actually, let's not, since we've all been inundated recently with fliers, robo-calls, TV ads, and so on, and as a Registered Independent, my phone has about rung off the hook with political suitors. Instead, let me make my recommendations for political films, just in case you'd rather seek out politics for entertainment instead of--well, instead of what we're getting this election cycle, which is TOTAL PAINFUL SENSORY OVERLOAD.

My favorite political film is THE CANDIDATE, starring Redford (first name not needed). It's in that spare early 70's style--you know the type: shaky camera, washed-out looking film print, goofy score--but it's a compelling film that slyly comments on modern politics. Importantly, while Redford's character is a liberal, it's not a biased film by any means--it really comments on the process, rather than the politics.

Sure, it's in the pre-Internet, pre-FOX news, pre-Drudge Report, pre-O'Reilly, pre-I'm Now Insane Keith Olberman era, but its lessons still apply: people vote style more than substance, even when the person involved has substance (the problem, of course, is that some do not. In fact, I believe there's a VP candidate dealing with this thorny question this very minute). If you've never seen it, then watch it and be entertained more than you thought possible. Oh--and it's got a great, pithy ending, too.

The other great political film is--you guessed it--ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN. Still not topped as a serious newspaper film, it's a blast. Again, Redford is there, only this time he's sidekicked by Dustin Hoffman, playing the rather grandstanding Bernstein to Redford's Woodward. Hal Holbrook is there, playing DEEP THROAT (who we now know was--oh, I'm not going to make it that easy for you!), and so is Jason Robards, too. All of that is a good thing, for this cast jells into the most realistic and compelling film on the newspaper biz ever made.

Not that the list ends with those two! All of the following are worth a look (and forgive me if I forget something else worthwhile! The Colts are playing the Pats right now....):

ALL THE KING'S MEN (thinly-disguised Huey Long tale)

DAVE (funny, but still with a message)

WAG THE DOG (funny, but dark)

BULWORTH (a particular fave of mine, even if my politics aren't as far left as Warren Beatty's. But then again, no one's politics are as far left as Warren Beatty's!)

All the others I might name I disqualified as overly one-sided in perspective--you know who you are! There's a fine balance between having a message and preaching a message, and too many political films cross into preaching territory. Which is too bad for Michael Douglass, since he's actually pretty good in THE AMERICAN PRESIDENT, one of those films that, I'm afraid, beats one party a little too hard over the head for my taste.