My Fellow Americans

My Fellow Americans
Directed by	Peter Segal
Produced by	Jon Peters
Written by	Story: E. Jack Kaplan Richard Chapman Screenplay: E. Jack Kaplan Richard Chapman Peter Tolan
Starring	Jack Lemmon James Garner Dan Aykroyd John Heard Wilford Brimley Sela Ward And Lauren Bacall
Music by	William Ross
Cinematography	Julio Macat
Editing by	William Kerr
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release date(s)	December 20, 1996
Running time	101 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$22,000,000
Box office	$22,313,201[1]

My Fellow Americans is a 1996 American comedy film starring Jack Lemmon, Dan Aykroyd and James Garner as feuding ex-presidents. Lauren Bacall, Esther Rolle, John Heard, Wilford Brimley, Bradley Whitford and Jeff Yagher also appear in supporting performances. The film is named for the traditional opening of Presidential addresses to the American people.

Originally Lemmon's perennial collaborator, Walter Matthau, was slated to co-star. However, health problems kept Matthau from appearing in the film and Garner was instead chosen to star opposite Lemmon in their only project together.

Plot

Republican Senator Russell Kramer (Jack Lemmon) wins the Presidential election, narrowly defeating Democratic Governor Matt Douglas (James Garner). Four years later, Douglas wins a landslide victory over the incumbent Kramer. Another four years later, Kramer's former Vice President William Haney (Dan Aykroyd) defeats incumbent Douglas. Ted Matthews (John Heard), the Vice President under Haney, is widely seen as an idiot and becomes a continuing embarrassment for the Haney administration. A further three years later, Kramer spends his time writing books and speaking at various inconsequential functions. Meanwhile, Douglas is finishing his own book and going through a divorce. Kramer and Douglas are sent to a funeral aboard Air Force One by Haney, and spend the trip arguing with each other.

The Democratic party learn about "Olympia", a series of bribes from defense contractor Charlie Reynolds (James Rebhorn) paid to Haney when he was Vice President. The Democratic National Committee chairman Joe Hollis (Wilford Brimley) encourages Douglas to investigate further while Haney and his Chief of Staff Carl Witnaur (Bradley Whitford) plot to frame Kramer. Hollis tells Douglas that the Democrats will support him for a Presidential run in return for his help. Douglas takes the offer hoping to beat Haney and get back into the Oval Office. When the rumors of Olympia begin to suggest that Kramer was involved, Kramer begins his own investigation.

NSA agent Colonel Paul Tanner (Everett McGill) has Reynolds assassinated when he attempts to tell Douglas the truth about Olympia. Kramer arrives at the scene and spots Reynolds' body. Before they can flee, Douglas and Kramer are forced to board a helicopter by White House officials, claiming to be taking them to Camp David at the request of Haney. During the flight Douglas realizes that the helicopter is heading in the wrong direction. Suspicious, the former presidents force the pilots to land the helicopter. They leave just before the helicopter explodes.

Kramer and Douglas are left stranded, with the realization that the explosion was meant to kill them. They decide to go to Kramer's Presidential Library in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio to obtain a record Kramer kept of all meals served during his time in the White House, which will prove Haney was present at a key meeting with Reynolds. During a series of misadventures, the two ex-Presidents meet a variety of ordinary Americans and see the effects their terms in office have had. After several close encounters with NSA agents, they arrive at the library and discover the evidence has been tampered with to implicate Kramer. A library guard gives Kramer a message from Reynolds' secretary stating that Witnaur had recently met with Reynolds. Douglas and Kramer kidnap Witnaur and force him to reveal the plot to frame Kramer, though Witnaur claims to have no knowledge of the attempts on their lives, blaming Tanner and Haney. Douglas and Kramer go to the White House to confront Haney.

The pair manage to sneak into the White House with the help of the White House chef Rita and make it to the Oval Office only to discover that Haney is giving a press conference outside about their supposed deaths. Tanner traps Douglas and Kramer in a guest room but they utilize a secret tunnel to escape while the NSA give chase. Tanner catches up with them and is about to shoot them when he himself is killed by Secret Service Sniper Lieutenant Ralph Fleming, who has recognized the former presidents and disobeys orders to shoot them.

Douglas and Kramer interrupt Haney's speech and take him to the Oval office to talk. There they play Haney a tape of Witnaur's confession, but Haney denies knowledge of Reynolds' murder or the helicopter explosion. Haney agrees to resign and proceeds to give a resignation speech, claiming to have heart problems. Douglas and Kramer muse that the idiotic Matthews will now be elevated from Vice President to President and realize that the only way it could have happened was under these circumstances. The pair confront Matthews who admits that he, not Haney, had engineered the entire plot so that he could become President, knowing Haney would take the fall. Matthews explains that his stupidity was just an act, but Douglas records his confession. Matthews is sent to jail.

Nine months later, Douglas and Kramer are running as independents in the Presidential election, arguing which of them will be the nominee. Douglas distracts Kramer by throwing a dollar on the floor, and takes to the podium to announce himself as the Presidential candidate, much to the chagrin of Kramer.

Cast

• Jack Lemmon......President Russell P. Kramer
• James Garner......President Matt Douglas
• Dan Aykroyd......President William "Bill" Haney
• John Heard......Vice President Ted Matthews
• Wilford Brimley......Joe Hollis
• Lauren Bacall......Margaret Kramer
• Sela Ward......Kay Griffin
• Everett McGill......Col. Paul Tanner
• Bradley Whitford......Carl Witnaur
• James Rebhorn......Charlie Reynolds
• Esther Rolle......Rita, the White House Chef
• Jack Kehler......Wayne
• Edwin Newman.....Himself
• Jack Garner.....President Haney's Caddy

Filming

Most of the principal filming for the movie was done in the mountains of western North Carolina including scenes: along the Rocky Broad River where it flows into Lake Lure in Rutherford County, Dillsboro, along the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad; Waynesville, where a giant clown sign crashes through their windshield as they try to flee and where they find the baby in the stolen car is in Marshall,North Carolina; and in Asheville, at the Biltmore Estate.^[2]

In Marshall, North Carolina, the downtown area stands in for an unnamed town in West Virginia. There, the Western Carolina University Marching Band portrays the "Marching Dorothys" (a fictional group based upon gay icon Judy Garland's character from the Wizard of Oz), at a gay pride parade.

References

1. ^ "Box Office Mojo - My Fellow Americans". http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=myfellowamericans.htm. Retrieved September 14, 2011. 
2. ^ Visit Western North Carolina Foothills

External links

• My Fellow Americans at the Internet Movie Database
• My Fellow Americans at AllRovi
• James Garner Interview on the Charlie Rose Show
• James Garner interview at Archive of American Television