The American President (1995)

Comedy-drama about a widowed U.S. President and a lobbyist who fall in love. It's all above-board, but "politics is perception", and sparks fly anyway.

Director:

Rob Reiner

Writer:

Aaron Sorkin

Stars:

Michael Douglas, Annette Bening, Martin Sheen

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 1 win & 9 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Michael Douglas	...	Andrew Shepherd
Annette Bening	...	Sydney Ellen Wade
Martin Sheen	...	A.J. MacInerney
Michael J. Fox	...	Lewis Rothschild
Anna Deavere Smith	...	Robin McCall
Samantha Mathis	...	Janie Basdin
Shawna Waldron	...	Lucy Shepherd
David Paymer	...	Leon Kodak
Anne Haney	...	Mrs. Chapil
Richard Dreyfuss	...	Senator Rumson
Nina Siemaszko	...	Beth Wade
Wendie Malick	...	Susan Sloan
Beau Billingslea	...	Agent Cooper
Gail Strickland	...	Esther MacInerney
Joshua Malina	...	David

Storyline

Andrew Shepherd is approaching the end of his first term as President of the United States. He's a widower with a young daughter and has proved to be popular with the public. His election seems assured. That is until he meets Sydney Ellen Wade, a paid political activist working for an environmental lobby group. He's immediately smitten with her and after several amusing attempts, they finally manage to go on a date (which happens to be a State dinner for the visiting President of France). His relationship with Wade opens the door for his prime political opponent, Senator Bob Rumson, to launch an attack on the President's character, something he could not do in the previous election as Shepherd's wife had only recently died.

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Plot Keywords:

reference to franklin d. roosevelt | reference to martin van buren | lobbyist | senator | widower | 

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Taglines:

Why can't the most powerful man in the world have the one thing he wants most?

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for some strong language

Details

Official Sites:

Warner Bros. WB Shop / Warner Archive

Country:

USA

Language:

English French Spanish

Release Date:

17 November 1995 (USA)

Also Known As:

Mi querido presidente

Filming Locations:

Big Bear Lake, Big Bear Valley, San Bernardino National Forest, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$62,000,000 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$65,000,000

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal Pictures,Castle Rock Entertainment,Wildwood Enterprises

Technical Specs

Runtime:

114 min

Sound Mix:

DTS SDDS DTS-Stereo Dolby SR Dolby

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.39 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Before the movie starting shooting, Michael J. Fox was still keeping his Parkinson's disease a secret. He felt he would lose the role if Rob Reiner found out. During a basic and routine fitness screening, Fox was terrified that clinicians would detect the periodic shaking in his left hand and eventually connect it to Parkinson's. Fortunately for Fox, he took his medication in time to quell the shaking and the test amounted to nothing more than checking heart rate and blood pressure.

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Goofs

Near the end of the movie, when President Shepherd is speaking with A.J. and putting on his coat, at one point in the scene (while the camera is focused on A.J.) he is holding his scarf in his hand. The very next camera shot, the scarf is neatly arranged around his neck and tucked into the front of his coat.

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Quotes

President Andrew Shepherd: The White House is the single greatest home court advantage in the modern world.

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Connections

Referenced in Scene Smoking: Cigarettes, Cinema & the Myth of Cool (2001)

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Soundtracks

I Have Dreamed
By Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II
Arranged by Larry Blank and Marc Shaiman

User Reviews

Get Out The Barf Bags!

This is so Liberal it's sickening. I mean, I've come to expect a little left-wing propaganda in most films from Hollywood, but to this degree?!

Two hours of Liberal preaching are capped off in the U.S. President's final speech of the movie, in which he proclaims how "proud" he is to be a card-carrying member of the ACLU!!! Ha ha. I guess we all supposed to be cheering at that point. Personally, I reached for the nearest barf bag.

This movie is simply director Rob Reiner's propaganda piece for his agenda. Being a "card-carrying" member of the ultra-Left People For the American Way, Reiner shows us a charming, loving portrait of a President that somehow reminds us of Bill Clinton, if he were a bachelor.

Can you imagine if someone was this heavy-handed on the Right and tried to make a similar movie?? Never happen. For one thing, the critics would tear it apart, which they didn't dare do with this piece of slick celluloid brainwashing.