← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · MadScienceType
Thread ID: 6449 | Posts: 6 | Started: 2003-05-02
2003-05-02 16:36 | User Profile
While Tim Robbins may be only slightly less annoying than Michael Moore, his underappreciated 1992 film Bob Roberts has taken on a strange significance for me lately.
For those of you who haven't seen it, do so, first of all. The film is a "mockumentary" that follows a fictional campaign for Pennsylvania Senator by a Bob Roberts (Tim Robbins). The cast is first-rate and the actors all do an excellent job.
Regardless of his faults, Robbins has captured the slimy essence of the modern GOP quite well. Unfortunately, he doesn't bring the same scrutiny to bear on the Dems. The film is very PC, suffice it to say, but some of the more hilarious parts that were way over the top when the film first came out now seem creepily prescient. Some of the Bob Roberts groupies, caricatures then, are now an accurate portrayal of the average "LETS ROLE!" Freeper Bush-bot. The fact that the film is set against the backdrop of the first Gulf War makes an even stronger impact given that the intentionally-transparent propaganda of the film seems an almost verbatim transcript of any given Fox News report.
Has anyone else here seen the film?
2003-05-02 16:50 | User Profile
Originally posted by MadScienceType@May 2 2003, 11:36 Has anyone else here seen the film?
I saw it years ago. I remember enjoying it, especially the little songs Bob Roberts would sing on the campaign trail, but I can't recall any specifics.
I'll have to give it another look.
2003-05-02 17:56 | User Profile
The film just played on cable recently, so I had a chance to catch it. As I said, it's pretty PC through and through.
especially the little songs Bob Roberts would sing on the campaign trail
My favorite being "Let's Give Money Away!"
2003-05-02 21:31 | User Profile
Bob Roberts has an interesting performance by Gore Vidal as a well-meaning but inept liberal politician. Probably what Vidal would have been in real life if his political fantasies had come true.
There was also a claim that Warren Beatty lifted the basic idea and turned it into a true stinker called Bullworth. Instead of a right wing folk singer, Beatty made him become a liberal rapper. It sank without a trace.
Americans are turned off by political movies generally so not many get made.
2003-05-03 16:36 | User Profile
I saw it years ago. It took the GOP to task which is good, but Robbins fails for not holding the Dems to the same standards.
I think that old Tim and his wife (?) Susan Sarandon are finding out now who really owns Hollywood and the Democratic Party. I mean, who are these people Tim is whining about who are out to destroy his career for opposing the illegal War in Iraq? He must understand it now.
Or take Madonna - please! She did that whole anti-war video thing and then finds her movie blacklisted and her career in limbo. I wonder if she gets it now. Hell, she must. Nobody's that stupid, are they? Not that I want the blaspheming bitch back among the fold, but her fate does contain a cautionary tale for the rest of us.
BTW, Tim Robbins made another good PeeCee movie starring Susan Sarandon and Sean Penn that was higly critical of the death penalty. I can't remember the name of it right now, but it was a very good film which in my opinion made a very powerful case FOR the death penalty in extreme cases. I think Tim Robbins shot himself in the foot on that one, but it was still a good film and worth a look.
Walter
2003-05-03 22:52 | User Profile
BTW, Tim Robbins made another good PeeCee movie starring Susan Sarandon and Sean Penn that was higly critical of the death penalty. I can't remember the name of it right now,
It was Dead Man Walking (1995). Susan Sarandon won the 1995 Oscar for Best Actress; Sean Penn and Tim Robbins were nominated for Best Actor and Best Director.
I think that old Tim and his wife (?) Susan Sarandon are finding out now who really owns Hollywood and the Democratic Party. I mean, who are these people Tim is whining about who are out to destroy his career for opposing the illegal War in Iraq? He must understand it now.
If they want to work again, theyââ¬â¢ll find a way to blame it on Pat Buchanan, the evil ghosts of Sen. Joseph McCarthy and HUAC--the vast right-wing conspiracy.
Wondering if Tim is of the Chosen?