If only Hollywood would make more movies like The Contender. What a treat it was to watch this movie. It was top notch acting all the way through. The cast includes Jeff Bridges, Sam Elliott, Joan Allen and Gary Oldman. Bridges portrays the President who must select a new vice president because the sitting one has died. He selects a woman, Laine Hanson, (Allen) a senator who has a questionable past. When Shelly Runyon (Oldman) the congressman who heads the committee that must confirm her appointment, doesn't agree with her credentials he enlists the help of a young congressman played by Christian Slater. (NOTE: I use WebTV and cannot paragraph so I use dots.) ............................................................................................................................From this point on things really heat up for the Vice Presidential nominee. A video tape, supposedly showing her engaged in a sexual escapade during college leads one to think the President will ask her to remove her name from consideration. The President sticks by her and resolves to beat Runyon at his own game. ...........................................................................................................................That is the key word...Game. The games some politicians will play to their own end is unfathomable to me. I could never be in politics. It's not just a scratch each other's back situation...some will go to any means to discredit another. Oldman is a slithery politician and is at his best when he interacts with Allen. One scene in particular, where they are to have lunch with each other, shows his distaste for her. She arrives two minutes late only to find him already digging into his bloody red filet mignon. He seems to revel in his food and the fact that he has started lunch without her. At this point Allen is ready for blood herself. The conversation between the two shows the type of acting a movie goer craves. ..........................................................................................................................The Contender gives us an insight into what it is probably like at the highest government level. The acting is outstanding and the story-line, although it drags a little in the beginning, weaves a clever tale that makes for good conversation with friends. As a woman, how would I have responded if confronted with the same situations as Allen? How many people have such high principles and do you agree with them? My group had a grand time discussing the film. ..........................................................................................................................Bridges makes a most convincing President. He'd get my vote in a minute. Elliott, as the President's chief of staff knows every trick in the book and gets to deliver some of the best one-liners in the film. What fun to see him in this role. Allen will probably be up for an Academy Award, and deservedly so. Her portrayal of the nominee undergoing severe pressure from all sides is magnificent. Her character delivers both strength and dignity, as a classy and smart congresswoman. She is totally believable in her role. Oldman is also totally believable in his role and offers us a look into life beyond politics...a glimpse at the wife behind the scenes and the sacrifices they have to make. The Contender is a political thriller at its best. I just have one question. Who thought up Gary Oldman's hairdo?
In THE CONTENDER the sudden death of the vice president of the United States forces U.S. president Jackson Evans Jeff Bridges to pick a replacement. H...More at Family Video
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