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2. Election (1999)

It turns out that the late 1990s were the heyday for election-themed movies, with the third appearance on this list being in the number two spot, for the movie that put Alexander Payne (Nebraska, The Descendants) on the map.

And what is even better is that this movie was not even about a political campaign, but instead about a simple race for class president in high school. But the movie, in the dark comedy style of Payne, ends up being bone-chilling because it possesses a troubled realism that all the other wacky movies to make this list do not. Tracy Flick (Reese Witherspoon) will do anything to win. This includes running the reputation of a teacher, Matthew Broderick’s character, whose bitter revenge against her is doubly disturbing.

The convoluted revenge plots may be a bit exaggerated, but the human pettiness with which they are filled feel far too real, and the devastating consequences far too unforgivable. The movie’s greatest feature is that it reminds us that the personality required to run an election, to want to win so badly, is so deeply and fundamentally flawed as to by definition require the person be disqualified from running in the first place.

1. The Manchurian Candidate (1962)

But it is to a movie from a time gone by (but which nonetheless inspired a solid remake in 2004) that I must turn to for the top spot on today’s list.

At the height of Communist scares, The Manchurian Candidate, starring a solid Frank Sinatra and Angela Lansbury in undoubtedly the best role of her career, scared the living bejesus out of many Americans with its intricate but oddly believable conspiracy theory. It told the story of an army hero who had been captured and brainwashed in Communist China to become a killer agent, and how one of his army mates, himself also under a spell, wakes up to the reality as the plant is on his way to assassinate the presidential nominee in the midst of the election.

I know, I cheated again. The movie is not about the election itself per se, but it is, in my defense, of a candidate infiltrating the election. (Major spoilers ahead.) You see, the mole in the United States that is helping the Manchurian Candidate is none other than his mother, whose husband has been manipulated into the role of Vice-Presidential nominee. The evil Lansbury’s plan is that when her son kills the Presidential nominee, her husband will become President and cower under her oppressive thumb. Little does she know, of course, that Sinatra’s character is on a race against time to stop her. Perhaps I should not have spoken ill of House of Cards at the start.

The icy, evil performance by Lansbury suffices to make this movie one of the top five on this list. But it is its ability to mix noir elements with suspense, and simple drama with tragedy, while reminding us to gain control of our impassioned emotions in the midst of a political race that can be gripped by fear, that makes it the top choice today.

For all its over-the-top nature (and, as we discovered during this exercise, the over-the-top nature of all movies on this list!), this movie about the nastiness and evil of elections perhaps tells us something real. Perhaps there are no secret Communist takeover plots. But at the very least, these movies all together say, there sure is danger if the people allow themselves to be taken for a ride and not pay close attention to the candidates they support and ultimately, to the powerful influences that may be behind them.

Which of these movies gets your vote? Here, again, is Twitter.

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