In the pantheon of great American films, The American President might place. You know, if Network was sick that day and took all its friends just out of spite (it's something would do, we all know that). But it's a pretty good way to spend a Sunday afternoon: a smart, semi-political romantic comedy that at least pretends it's aiming itself at adults. The idea is simple: Andrew Shepard (played by Michael Douglas) is the President, and a widower of three years, who meets and begins to date a lobbyist (Annette Bening, aka the legs that made Warren Beatty stop running). In turn, they have to deal with the vicious media onslaught who are only too happy to speculate on the effect this development has on the family values of the nation en masse.
Screenwriter Aaron Sorkin was still a strugging playwright and script doctor when he penned The American President, working under contract to Castle Rock Entertainment. It was his last script for the studio and, in a move that surprises no one familar with Sorkian dialogue, was butchered down to a reasonable running time from an initial 385 page draft. It was a coup for the then-unproven Sorkin, a critical and commercial success that likely made it easier for networks to swallow his subsequent networks pitches.
So it's a success that stands on its own legs. But having watched the film very recently, I can't help but see the entire movie as training ground for his magnum opus, television series The West Wing. For those not familiar with the series, first of all, what's wrong with you?
And second: the first four seasons are a masterwork of political opera, with very few missteps; the last three, while shaking from withdrawal pangs from Sorkin's departure, is still generally very strong when placed near its competition (such as the 2006 winner of the Nielsen ratings, Desperate Housewives). It too follows the presidency of one man: Josiah (Jed) Bartlet. But the two Sorkin projects share more than a screenwriter and a couple of set pieces; I'm pretty sure if movies had family, they'd at least be cousins.
Screenwriter Aaron Sorkin was still a strugging playwright and script doctor when he penned The American President, working under contract to Castle Rock Entertainment. It was his last script for the studio and, in a move that surprises no one familar with Sorkian dialogue, was butchered down to a reasonable running time from an initial 385 page draft. It was a coup for the then-unproven Sorkin, a critical and commercial success that likely made it easier for networks to swallow his subsequent networks pitches.
So it's a success that stands on its own legs. But having watched the film very recently, I can't help but see the entire movie as training ground for his magnum opus, television series The West Wing. For those not familiar with the series, first of all, what's wrong with you?
And second: the first four seasons are a masterwork of political opera, with very few missteps; the last three, while shaking from withdrawal pangs from Sorkin's departure, is still generally very strong when placed near its competition (such as the 2006 winner of the Nielsen ratings, Desperate Housewives). It too follows the presidency of one man: Josiah (Jed) Bartlet. But the two Sorkin projects share more than a screenwriter and a couple of set pieces; I'm pretty sure if movies had family, they'd at least be cousins.
