What is the ultimate left wing movie?

[Quixote1818]

I was thinking of something like Gandhi? Perhaps Harold and Maude (my favorate)?

[cry baby]

1. Coming Home with Jane Fonda and Jon Voight

Best Picture Oscar for that year and Jon Voight also won best actor. Basic premise: Vietnam vet that is disabled protests the war and falls in love with Jane Fonda. Has pretty titilating sex scene and great music.

[regnaD kciN]

46. Wrong...

Best Picture Oscar for that year

Nope. The Deer Hunter beat it out for Best Picture.

[cry baby]

70. oops, my memory is not what it used to be.

thanks for the correction.:hi:

[davidinalameda]

2. Reds?

just a thought

[Spider Jerusalem]

3. "Woodstock", the documentary/concert film?

[Az]

4. Silent Running

[alittlelark]

5. 'Mr. Smith Goes to Washington'

Does it for me.

[RoyGBiv]

37. I need to buy that ...

I like to rent it occasionally when my political will is at a low ebb. Recently I was wanting to watch it with my daughter so I could provide some entertainment value to go with the questions I'd answered for her regarding the current filibuster issue. I went to the video store and discovered they'd pulled it from their inventory.

I'd claim conspiracy if it weren't for the fact they pulled almost all their classic movies to make room for ten zillion copies of the latest Hollywood dreck.

[CanuckAmok]

6. I cannot state this emphatically enough: "The Cradle Will Rock"

Tim Robbins' masterpiece, revolving around Marc Blitstein play "The Cradle Will Rock" and the destruction of FDR's WPA. A fantastic mix of historical events and brilliant fiction.

The most incredible ensemble (Liberal) cast, too:

Hank Azaria, Ruben Blades, Joan Cusack, John Cusack, Emily Watson, Jack Black, Bill Murray, John Tuturro, Vanessa Redgrave, Susan Sarandon, Carey Elwes, Dennis Quaid....

It's my number one pick for mainstram Lefty cinema!

[The Great Escape]

7. "Pleasantville"

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120789/

[Quixote1818]

10. Yes! I love that movie. It's probably my second favorate! I need to

buy it!

[LSdemocrat]

8. The Graduate comes to mind

[imenja]

23. how is that film leftist?

[LSdemocrat]

30. College kid completely rejects social convention, daughter defies parents

[imenja]

34. I suppose from today's persepctive, in a country that has no real left

When we live in a country that imagines liberal to be the left of the political spectrum, and Americans define politics in terms of sex, I see your point.

[entanglement]

48. Funny how far to the right the 'center' is, isn't it? n/t

[imenja]

49. and how far right the so-called left is

That's what most astounds me, that even on DU most people define politics in terms of cultural issues. Few if any challenge capitalist exploitation. They think liberal is as left as it gets. It is incredibly depressing actually. It demonstrates just how successful the GOP has been in setting the political agenda and transforming the consciousness of even those who oppose them.

[entanglement]

53. Well said. The conservative - liberal dichotomy has more or

less occupied the entire political space, pushing the rest of us to the fringes, as it were. I'm quite far left on a raft of issues (committed anti-imperialist, anti-racist, pro global-solidarity) but when I raise questions challenging the existing global politico-economic setup and the (im)balance of power, I only get blank stares from liberals. Of course, they aren't leftists, I shouldn't expect that, but it just shows how utterly isolated people like me are. I'm sorry you're feeling depressed; I've been dealing with alternating bouts of rage and depression and I'm not feeling too good either.

[imenja]

56. perhaps a DU group is in order

for those of us who wish to discuss and challenge the assumptions of liberalism?

[PATRICK]

9. The Grapes of Wrath

I'm thinking there has to be something better but this seems better than most of the above. Henry Fonda's inflammatory last speech would almost be unimaginable today for mainstream Hollywood. The masses used to be seething for justice. NOW we are led to believe they have moved on to stoning liberals for Jesus.

In fact for a string of liberal ideas, follow Henry Fonda's career. "Twelve Angry men" "The Wrong man" etc.

[alittlelark]

13. I'd say that your choice is better than mine.

"Mr Smith..' above.

[zanne]

79. Agree!

And if you like the movie, read the book!

[lenidog]

11. Bob Roberts

It is my election day tradition to pop that in along with "Bulworth" and the "Candidate."

[Montauk6]

35. "... and they complain and complain and complain..."

Favorite scenes:

- Then-unknown Jack Black as the dittohead groupie

- Rickman's character blowing off a reporter, saying he has to go pray

- A wheelchair-bound Roberts tapping his foot to the beat, not realizing he's on camera

- Gore Vidal's rant.

[deutsey]

58. Shampoo

Sex, politics, Warren Beatty's narcissistic self (which actually contributes to the character he's playing), all rolled up in a satirical analogy about how America fell apart on Election Day 1968.

It isn't Dr. Strangelove in terms of its satirical edge, but I think Shampoo does a good job of capturing leftist fatalism and the disintegration of the left in '68.

EDIT: Sorry, this was not in response to anything the Bob Roberts post.

[youspeakmylanguage]

77. "Don't smoke crack. It's a ghetto drug."

Too funny.

[The_Casual_Observer]

12. F 9/11 or Roger & Me, I think

Or perhaps "O lucky Man"


Harold and Maude? What??

[Quixote1818]

16. Have you ever seen Harold and Maude?

http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/5862/harold.htm
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067185/

[The_Casual_Observer]

18. Many times.

Perhaps I'm missing something.

[Quixote1818]

21. It's philosophy is existentialism much like Pleasantville

Existentialism is a very liberal philosophy about finding your own meaning in life and breaking away from old fashioned ideas about what is truth and "normal". Extremely liberal ideas.

[The_Casual_Observer]

31. Oh man, that is stretch for me

Here I always though it was a mildly amusing comedy about a mismatched relationship, but what the hell, my outlook is fairly pedestrian.

[norml]

14. All Quiet on the Western Front

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

15. The Wizard of Oz

[Quixote1818]

17. Funny, someone mentioned it as a Right Wing film. Which is it?

nt

[mark414]

20. it's a populist film

inspired by the brief popularity of the populist movement around the turn of the century

[imenja]

24. It's actually a critique of Populism

William Jennings Bryan is the Wizard of Oz, all smoke and mirrors, hiding behind a curtain because he had nothing to offer. I believe the book had Dorothy's slippers made of silver rather than ruby. It was supposed to be a comment on the free coinage of silver argument.
There has been a lot written about the book and the film. It is critical of the Populist Movement, not supportive of it.

[mark414]

ahh my bad

we talked about it briefly in a history class i had a couple of years ago...i got it backwards x(

[Quixote1818]

29. Here is a link!

http://www.abusaleh.com/index.php?id=171

[Quixote1818]

26. Wasn't it filled with symbolism? Wasn't the Wizard symbolic of

one of our presidents? The Tin man was symbolic of the industrial worker, the scarecrow symbolic of the farmer? Everyone looked to the president for answers and yet he really had no more answers than they had for themselves? Fill me in?

[mark414]

27. ah well i guess i got it backwards

here is a pretty in depth essay i found on google

i have no idea what it says, but you could probably find some interesting stuff on google

[imenja]

33. Info from Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wonderful_Wizard_of_Oz

[Chomskyite]

19. No contest

To Kill a Mockingbird

[imenja]

25. a geat one.

[imenja]

22. Matewan, Norma Rae, Missing, Z, State of Seige, The Official Story . . .

Memories of Underdevelopment, The Insider (sort of), Pixote. Feature length documentaries: Hearts and Minds, Fahrenheit 911, Control Room, maybe Fog of War. That's all I can think of at this late hour. I'm sure I've overlooked many good ones.

[xmas74]

28. I would agree w/ Norma Rae

Definitely leftist ideas in there (I really need to watch it again. It's been years).

[Montauk6]

32. Here's my list (in no particular order)

M*A*S*H
The Front
The China Syndrome
Some Kind of Hero
Joe
White Line Fever
Billy Jack
The Candidate
Sweet Sweetback's Badasssss Song
The Best Years of Our Lives
The Stepford Wives (original version)
First Blood (ironic how John Rambo became a hero for the GOP, innit?)
The Godfather Part II
12 Angry Men
Spartacus
Watermelon Man
In The Heat of the Night
Blue Collar

[ForrestGump]

36. Might want to add various iterations of "Zorro" and "Robin Hood" to the

list.

Titled dudes fighting for the poor and disenfranchised, betraying their class.

[Hardrada]

38. Battleship Potemkin

Sergei Eisenstein

[onager]

43. Or "Alexander Nevsky..."

With its stiff, anachronistic monologues about Evil Merchants and Good-Hearted Peasants. Gak! Fortunately, not even all that can screw up the Battle On The Ice. Or Prokofiev's amazing musical score.

And on the subject of REAL left-wing movies...;-)

The same holds true for Alexander Dovzhenko's "Earth" (1930). At one point in the story, all the devout townspeople suddenly become atheists. I'M an atheist, and I fall off the couch laughing at that howler. And given the basic plot, about mechanized farm collectivization, the story veers dangerously close to that Soviet cliche, "A Love Story Between A Boy And His Tractor."

But again, the ludicrous story can't screw up Dovzhenko's amazing images. He was a visual artist, not really a filmmaker, and it shows in the care and detail he lavished on the movie. Practically every frame, or at least every scene, is composed like a painting. Beautiful.

[entanglement]

47. classy, classy movie n/t

:thumbsup: :thumbsup:

[RoyGBiv]

39. Silkwood ...

I don't know that it's the ultimate, but it deserves a mention. It has just about everything, especially since it is based on a true story depicting a blue collar woman fighting "Big Energy" corps, having her life destroyed, etc.

[GirlinContempt]

40. Pretty in Pink

:silly:

Oooor maybe El Che

[housewolf]

41. "An American President"

Michael Douglas, Annette Benning, Michael J. Fox, Martin Sheen, Richard Dreyfus as the challenging Repub senator

I'd vote for Andrew Shepherd ANY day for president - he's the kind of pres we need!

[benny05]

52. Also "Dave"

With Kevin Kline, Sigourney Weaver, and Charles Goodin."You know, I would have taken a bullet for you." and "Everyone works on Monday."

[baldguy]

60. Has there ever been a movie where a RW President is the hero?

[guitar man]

42. Dr. Strangelove

:) :) :)

[burrowowl]

44. The Nazarin

by Brunuel.

[Hand]

67. ANYTHING by Bunuel!

He was the greatest! :toast: :loveya: :applause:

[zann725]

45. "The Candidate"

n/t

[Dogmudgeon]

50. Hudsucker Proxy

We can't forget that one!

--p!

[dxstone]

51. Catch-22!!! CHECK IT OUT! IT'S FARGIN' GREAT!

BRILLIANT adaptation penned by Buck Henry, who also wrote the screenplay for "Candy", another extremely underrated and ignored MASTERPIECE of modern cinema... interestingly, both of these films are almost universally reviled by most critics, who are all obviously raving, if you ask me; these are both really smart and sharp and VERY subversive comedies...
Actually, ALL the truly subversive films, the great left-wing films, are dark comedies...

King of Hearts (greatest anti-war film EVER!, imho)
Dr. Strangelove
Life of Brian
Harold & Maude
Catch-22
Candy
The Ruling Class
A Clockwork Orange
Eraserhead
Brazil
The Fisher King
The Trial (Orson Welles)

Four that are not comedies but are also, again, extremely subversive in that they effectively undermine our basic concepts of 'reality' itself:
THX 1138
2001: A Space Odyssey
Blade Runner
The Matrix

Of course, the ultimate recurring subversive character in cinema, and therefore the coolest frood in the known universe, would have to be Bugs Bunny.
imho.
DXS
http://presidentevilonline.com

[Abelman]

55. Catch 22 is awesome

and it stars the vastly underrated Alan Arkin.

The movie is very faithful to the book, as I recall.

[nonconformist]

54. Dead Man Walking

I wouldn't say it's the ultimate, but I haven't seen it mentioned yet.

[roscoeroscoe]

57. mr smith goes to wash

enemy of the state deserves a mention~~love the way will smith manipulates jon voight into the finale...

bullworth is pretty cool in it's way.

f 9-11 is a finalist. i love the sympathetic tone.

[NoPasaran]

59. Modern Times

[Brewman_Jax]

61. Born on the Fourth of July

even if it stars Tom Cruise.

[Ganja Ninja]

62. Death Race 2000

:patriot:

[DS1]

74. I rooted for Joe Viturbo

:-)

[Ganja Ninja]

82. I find it interesting how the government in the movie ...

always blames the French for everything.:popcorn: :patriot:

[baldguy]

63. Jesus Christ Superstar

A long-haired hippie going around with his buddies, talking about peace, love & justice and "the man" kills him for it.

[Catchawave]

64. Head of State

with Chris Rock and Bernie Mac, from imbd:

Tagline: The only thing white is the house.

Plot Outline: When a presidential candidate dies unexpectedly in the middle of the campaign, the Democratic party unexpectedly picks a Washington, D.C. alderman, Mays Gilliam (Rock) as his replacement . (more) (view trailer)

[ScreamingMeemie]

65. Philadelphia...

More people should be rewatching it in my opinion. :hi:

[Burma Jones]

66. Duck Soup

A wonderful skewering of power........

[Arkana]

68. Fahrenheit 9/11

:evilgrin:

[northzax]

71. see, I was thinkin' Farenhype 9/11

cause if this is the best the 'nuts can do...

no one's mentioned Network News or Wall Street yet, either.

[Aiptasia]

69. Wag the dog..

[Misunderestimator]

72. Maybe not the ultimate, but "It's a Wonderful Life" deserves a mention.

[SKKY]

73. 1984...

It should serve as a warning of what could happen if this crap continues.

[AngryAmish]

75. Battleship Potemkin

[Bouncy Ball]

76. NORMA RAE!!!!

The guy gives a STIRRING speech about his grandfather, who was a lifelong union member. That movie gives me chills.

[NYCGirl]

78. "Our Daily Bread" (1934) directed by King Vidor

from allmovie.com:

Unable to secure Hollywood-studio backing for his Depression-era agrarian drama Our Daily Bread, director King Vidor financed the picture himself, with the eleventh-hour assistance of Charles Chaplin. Intended as a sequel to Vidor's silent classic The Crowd (1928) the film casts Tom Keene and Karen Morley as John and Mary, the roles originated in the earlier film by James Murray and Eleanor Boardman. Unable to make ends meet in the Big City, John and Mary assume control of an abandoned farm, even though they know nothing about tilling the soil. Generous to a fault, the couple opens their property to other disenfranchised Depression victims, and before long they've formed a utopian communal cooperative, with everyone pitching together for the common good. Beyond such traditional obstacles as inadequate funding, failed crops and drought, John is deflected from his purpose by sluttish blonde vamp Sally (Barbara Pepper), but he pulls himself together in time to supervise construction of a huge irrigation ditch -- a project which consumes the film's final two reels, and which turns out to be one of the finest and most thrilling sequences that Vidor (or anyone) ever put on film. The acting by Tom Keene and Barbara Pepper is atrocious, but John Qualen saves the show as a dedicated Swedish farmer, especially when he loudly rejects the notion that communal farming is a "Red" idea (this didn't stop the anti-New Deal press from labelling the film as "Pinko" back in 1934 -- and never mind that the communist press considered the film "capitalist propaganda"!) The optimistic finale, distinguished by its Eisentein-like "rhythmic" editing, fortunately lingers in the memory far longer than the film's dramatic and structural defects. Our Daily Bread is also enhanced by Alfred Newman's stirring musical score, later borrowed by Darryl F. Zanuck for his production of Les Miserables (1935). -- Hal Erickson

[miss_kitty]

80. Cradle Will Rock

that's about as left as I can think of

[edbermac]

81. Debbie Does Dallas...

Sex, sex, sex right in the heart of the Bible Belt. The fundies are just soooo uptight about that subject.

[welshTerrier2]

83. All the Presidents Men; Three Days of the Condor (n/t)