Power (film)

Infobox Film
name = Power


image_size =
director = Sidney Lumet
producer = Reene Schisgal
Mark Tarlov
Kenneth Utt
Wolfgang Glattes
writer = David Himmelstein
starring = Richard Gere
Julie Christie
Gene Hackman
music = Cy Coleman
cinematography = Andrzej Bartkowiak
distributor = Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation
released = January 31, 1986
runtime = 111 min.
imdb_id = 0091786

"Power" is a 1986 American drama film directed by Sidney Lumet. The original screenplay by David Himmelstein focuses on political corruption and how power affects both those who wield it and the people they try to control.

Denzel Washington won the Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture.

Plot summary

Pete St. John, a ruthless and highly successful media consultant, is asked to join the campaign of little-known Ohio businessman Jerome Cade, who hopes to win the Senate seat vacated by St. John's friend Sam Hastings. He comes in conflict with Arnold Billings, a public relations expert whose firm has been hired by Cade. St. John's investigation into Billings' background prompts Billings to retaliate by bugging St. John's office phones, flooding the basement of his headquarters, tampering with his private jet, and interfering with his other clients. His actions force St. John to take a hard look at himself and what he has become and to decide if his ex-wife Ellen and ex-partner Wilfred Buckley are right in believing his success is due primarily to the exploitation of others.

Principal cast

*Richard Gere ..... Pete St. John
*Julie Christie ..... Ellen Freeman
*Gene Hackman ..... Wilfred Buckley
*Kate Capshaw ..... Sydney Betterman
*Denzel Washington ..... Arnold Billing
*E.G. Marshall ..... Sam Hastings
*Beatrice Straight ..... Claire Hastings
*Fritz Weaver ..... Wallace Furman
*Michael Learned ..... Andrea Stannard
*J.T. Walsh ..... Jerome Cade
*Matt Salinger ..... Phillip Aarons

Principal production credits, etc.

*Film editing ..... Andrew Mondshein
*Original Music ..... Cy Coleman
*Cinematography ..... Andrzej Bartkowiak
*Production Design ..... Peter S. Larkin
*Art Direction ..... William Barclay
*Set Decoration ..... Thomas C. Tonery
*Costume Design ..... Anna Hill Johnstone

The Twentieth Century-Fox release was filmed in Armonk, New York; the Kaufman Astoria Studios in Queens, New York City; Albuquerque and Santa Fe, New Mexico; Durango, Mexico; Seattle, Washington; Vasquez Rocks Natural Area Park in Agua Dulce, California; and Washington, DC.

Critical reception

In his review in the "New York Times", Vincent Canby described the film as "a well-meaning, witless, insufferably smug movie that . . . suffers from the total lack of a comic imagination." [ [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A0DE1DA113DF932A05752C0A960948260 "New York Times" review] ]

In the "Chicago Sun-Times", Roger Ebert observed, "It's smart, it's knowledgeable, sometimes it's funny, occasionally it is very touching, and I learned something from it . . . The movie builds up considerable momentum during its first hour. There's a sense of excitement, of identification with this man who is being driven by his own energy, ambition and cynicism . . . During the second half of the movie, however, a growing disappointment sets in. "Power" is too episodic. It doesn't really declare itself to be about any particular story, any single clear-cut issue . . . the movie itself seems to sense that it's going nowhere. The climax is a pointless, frustrating montage of images. It's a good montage, but it belongs somewhere in the middle of the movie; it states the problem, but not the solution or even the lack of a solution. The movie seems to be asking us to walk out of the theater shaking our heads in disillusionment, but I was more puzzled than disillusioned." [ [http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19860131/REVIEWS/601310302/1023 "Chicago Sun-Times" review] ]

References

External links

* [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091786/ "Power"] at the Internet Movie Database
* [http://uk.rottentomatoes.com/m/1016609-power/ "Power"] at Rotten Tomatoes