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Comment RSSObama’s Top 5 Favorite Movies
20.01.09 # 23:09 # Top Ten # 12 Comments
He landed his house on the Wicked Witch Of The East (Hillary Clinton), and defeated the evil Penguin (John McCain), but wait, this isn’t a movie, this is real life, and the hero is Barack Obama.
You can tell a lot about the measure of a man by the movies he likes. So what does the new President rate as his favorites? He has actually mentioned his top 5 a couple of times and here they are. What do they say about him?
Casablanca (1942)
“Who doesn’t like Casablanca?” says Barack.
Teenagers is the answer, but he’s not pandering to them, and we like that.
Although you certainly can’t tell what someone’s policies will be from watching a movie, Humphrey Bogart does run a place called “Rick’s Café Américain” which attracts a mixed clientele of refugees and thieves, and runs guns to Ethiopia.
One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)
Jack Nicholson gets himself transferred to a psychiatric ward in Milos Forman’s dramatic masterpiece. What he finds is a cruel institution that delights in torture and mental anguish, so he sets about changing the way things are done.
Hello? Guantanamo?
Godfather I & II (1972, 1974)
Barack hasn’t put these top 5 in order but we do know that these are his top 3…
“My favorite movie scene?” he told Katie Couric, “The opening of the first Godfather where the caretaker comes in and Marlon Brando is sitting there and he’s saying “You disrespected me. You know and now you want a favor.” It sets the tone for the whole movie. There’s this combination of old world gentility and ritual with this savagery underneath.”
It sure is an interesting style of leadership.
“What about part 3?” asks Couric.
“Three? Not so much.”
Lawrence Of Arabia (1962)
So all of Barack’s choices are Oscar winners. Classy through and through.
Lawrence Of Arabia tells the story of a western man who surprises everyone by leaving his Christian roots behind and leading an Arab army against… Look I’m sure none of this means anything.
For the record, Obama’s favorite actors are Jimmy Stewart, Spencer Tracy, Humphrey Bogart, Meryl Streep, Susan Sarandon and Angela Bassett. He is yet to speak out publically on what he thinks of Darth Maul, whether Superman Returns was boring, or which side of the fence he’s on regarding Michael Bay’s Transformers.
“I can rattle off a bunch of movies,” says Obama, “I’m a movie guy.” So are we Mr. President, so are we.
Also See: Top 10 Real Politicians In Movies |
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pretty solid choices i’d say…
All great films, but no lighter movies, only serious ones?
We should see more of the fun side of Obama, beside the serious image.
Bah: all tame, framily friendly movies. Bland and politically safe responses.
If I saw something like Big Lebowski listed, I’d totally lose my shit.
Wow dude, that is way cool. I like it! he has good taste!
well, Eric yeah, they are predictable choices, but the thing is that they really are great films, amongst the best ever.. if obama had chosen, say, the big lebowski, ladri di biciclette, old boy, the wages of fear, and los olvidados, those 5 he chose would still be as great as these five.
Big lame surprise. Politically safe old movies that half the country has never seen or cares about. Won’t piss any voters off with this list.
Now, if he had said, “I love all those movies. But I really crack up at the diner scene from Tommy Boy where he destroys the roll,” I would have believed it.
Yea these movies did go on the safe side, he didn’t want to alienate himself. But still some of those are classic.
No Road Warrior? Who the hell does this guy think he is.
“We should see more of the fun side of Obama”
Maybe there isn’t one! :-O
Weeeeelllllll, actually Casablanca is a neat (and wholly intentional) allegory for the American move from insular self-interest to globally-conscious selflessness, so for a President with Obama’s strongly global aims to cite such a movie is a telling choice indeed. Yeah, there’s rich stuff after them first ten minutes!
Number 6 is Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, but he can’t say on the record of someone will go JFK on his ass.
Great article Sheridan. Very good idea and very funny.
Since when is The Godfather Series family friendly?
Obama’s picks are great movies and we should remember he’s about 50 years old.