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Peter Bart: ‘The Apprentice’ & ‘Reagan’ Spark New Political Debate In Hollywood
With new biopics on Donald Trump or Ronald Reagan, Hollywood ponders whether there's still an audience for political movies. Peter Bart offers his take.
Warren Beatty enjoyed stirring outrage with Bulworth(1998), but Robert Redford, cast as a dedicated young liberal in The Candidate(1972), failed to find an audience. Working under layers of makeup, Dennis Quaid depicts the late president as a folksy if fervent anti-communist crusader who faces down campus protesters before taking on the Kremlin. Still, Reagan the movie distorts its protagonist’s policies, starting with his reign as president of the Screen Actors Guild, continuing into his confusion about both the Black List and the threat of AIDS.
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