Boogie Man: The Lee Atwater Story (2008)

Director:

Stefan Forbes

Writer:

Stefan Forbes (written by)

Release Date:

26 September 2008 (USA)

Genre:

Documentary | Biography

Tagline:

"He taught the Democrats to sing the blues." -George H.W. Bush

Plot:

The Murrow, Polk, and IDA Award-winning documentary Boogie Man is about Lee Atwater, a blues-playing...

Plot Keywords:

Republican | Politics | Interview | George W. Bush | Republican Party

Awards:

2 nominations

Cast

Eric Alterman	...	Himself
Lee Atwater	...	Himself (archive footage)
George Bush	...	Himself (archive footage)
George W. Bush	...	Himself (archive footage)
Connie Chung	...	Herself (archive footage)
Joe Conason	...	Himself
Tom DeLay	...	Himself
Sam Donaldson	...	Himself
Michael Dukakis	...	Himself
Tucker Eskew	...	Himself
Howard Fineman	...	Himself
Bryant Gumbel	...	Himself (archive footage)
Willie Horton	...	Himself (archive footage)
Chuck Jackson	...	Himself
Mary Matalin	...	Herself
Terry McAuliffe	...	Himself
Jim McCabe	...	Himself
Robert D. Novak	...	Himself
Rich Peterson	...	Himself
Ronald Reagan	...	Himself (archive footage)
Ishmael Reed	...	Himself
Ed Rollins	...	Himself
Karl Rove	...	Himself (archive footage)
Joe Sligh	...	Himself
Roger Stone	...	Himself
Tom Turnipseed	...	Himself

Directed by
Stefan Forbes

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Stefan Forbes		written by

Produced by
Stefan Forbes	....	producer
Noland Walker	....	producer
Tia Wou	....	associate producer

Original Music by
Stefan Forbes
Tim Robert

Cinematography by
Stefan Forbes

Film Editing by
Stefan Forbes

Sound Department
Scott Cannizzaro	....	sound editor
Scott Cannizzaro	....	sound re-recording mixer
Bryan Dembinski	....	sound recordist

Camera and Electrical Department
Stephen McCarthy	....	additional cinematographer
Brett Wiley	....	additional cinematographer

Editorial Department
Emir Lewis	....	additional editor

Production Companies

• InterPositive Media

Distributors

• BBC Storyville (2008) (UK) (TV)
• British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) (2008) (UK) (TV)
• Gravitas Ventures (2010) (USA) (video) (VOD)
• Roco Films (2008) (Non-USA) (all media)

Other Companies

• Murphy PR  publicity

Also Known As:

Runtime:

86 min | UK:90 min

Country:

UK | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Certification:

Australia:M

Company:

InterPositive Media

Trivia:

Director/Producer Stefan Forbes won the 2008 International Documentary Association's Jacqueline Donnet Award for Emerging Filmmaker, an award which was won the year before by his friend Ted Braun (Darfur Now.)

Movie Connections:

References Dracula (1931)

Soundtrack:

Thorazine Shuffle

Brings up some good points, but a very clear example of yellow journalism

First off, this wasn't an entirely bad movie. I found it to be an interesting look into Lee Atwater and his life. It also shows his strong impact upon the Republican Party. Additionally, we get to see how Atwater's tactics may have helped play a role in Bush, Sr.'s defeat of Dukakis back in 1988.

However, this movie is yellow journalism at its finest. The director falsely portrays Atwater as a one-dimensional, evil genius (who became evil because of a tragic incident involving the death of his little brother) who was the godfather of dirty mudslinging politics as we know it, and who had nothing redeeming about him. Dirty politics have always been around, and with some comprehensive reading, it becomes obvious that Atwater was not the one who started dirty politics. Also, the film makes it seem like everyone around him was a hapless, stupid puppet who quickly became a servant (or a victim) of the godfather Atwater and his evil empire. Additionally, the only characters who appear human in this video are, of course, Atwater's Democratic and Republican political rivals, while everyone else was just puppeted by Atwater. And surely, Atwater didn't just join the GOP just because he had no competition. He would certainly have to have agreed with at least some of what the GOP was saying, rather than just trying to do nothing except win all the time and be the one who controls the political "horse race".

All in all, while this movie is interesting, it reaches very silly conclusions about Atwater as a person and his role in contemporary politics.