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News & ArtsWednesday, February 11, 2009
Politics / Film The Best Conservative Movies Of All Time
Posted by Paul Constant on Wed, Feb 11, 2009 at 4:20 PM
So the National Review is counting down the 25 Best Conservative Movies of All Time. Unless you subscribe to NR, you can't see the whole list yet. You just have to wait for them to count it down like all the other non-paying plebes. Today, they just unveiled #11.
But The Same Dame just published the whole list. Here are a few, with Same Dame's commentary:
5. 300 (2007) - Definitely conservative—homophobic homoeroticism, with bad writing and shitty filmmaking to cap it off!6. Groundhog Day (1993) - Really? This is a political film?
7. The Pursuit of Happyness (2006) - OK, I guess it's about a guy who works hard, and all libruls are lazy deadbeats. But what about leaching off that homeless shelter?
8. Juno (2007) - By all means, take it!
God, I love conservative film interpretation. It all makes so little sense.
5
Gilliam is a fine example of a conservative director. I encourage faithful Republicans to check out some of his other American masterpieces: Tideland is a hallmark of family values, and Fear & Loathing will give your kids a respect for law enforcement.
6
Glenn Greenwald had a good post about the tragically hilarious inclusion of "Brazil" on the list.
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2…
OT, but Greenwald also has good posts on Obama's recent 180-degree reversal of position on State Secrets (i.e., he will maintain the Bush administration's twisted abuses of executive power). How come we haven't seen word one about that on Slog yet, huh?
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2…
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2…
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2…
OT, but Greenwald also has good posts on Obama's recent 180-degree reversal of position on State Secrets (i.e., he will maintain the Bush administration's twisted abuses of executive power). How come we haven't seen word one about that on Slog yet, huh?
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2…
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2…
8
Paul,
As a fella who voted for McCain the following seven of the 25 are actually excellent:
"Lives of Others"
"Groundhog Day"
"Juno"
"Master & Commander"
"Brazil"
"United 93"
"Gran Torino"
Three others that should have been included are:
"Breaker Morant" (1981)
"The Deer Hunter" (1978)
"The Best Years of Our Lives" (1946)
Finally, it's exceedingly difficult for a film to be apolitical, but the following four films endeavor to view war horrifically but try to keep politics out:
"Shame" (1968) by Ingmar Bergman
"Full Metal Jacket" (1986) by Stanley Kubrick
"Gallipoli" (1981) by Peter Weir
"All Quiet on the Western Front" (1929) by Lewis Milestone
All are outstanding regardless of your political bent
As a fella who voted for McCain the following seven of the 25 are actually excellent:
"Lives of Others"
"Groundhog Day"
"Juno"
"Master & Commander"
"Brazil"
"United 93"
"Gran Torino"
Three others that should have been included are:
"Breaker Morant" (1981)
"The Deer Hunter" (1978)
"The Best Years of Our Lives" (1946)
Finally, it's exceedingly difficult for a film to be apolitical, but the following four films endeavor to view war horrifically but try to keep politics out:
"Shame" (1968) by Ingmar Bergman
"Full Metal Jacket" (1986) by Stanley Kubrick
"Gallipoli" (1981) by Peter Weir
"All Quiet on the Western Front" (1929) by Lewis Milestone
All are outstanding regardless of your political bent
10
Uh oh, many of my favorite movies, like Incredibles and Brazil are in there, somehow. I guess I must be conservative.
@6, nobody can really figure out what the fuck Obama's people are doing with this case. it's pretty troubling and confusing. That said, what is Slog going to say about it that would be any more intelligent and thoughtful than Greenwald's coverage? Do you really need to see what ECB or Lindy West think about this development?
@6, nobody can really figure out what the fuck Obama's people are doing with this case. it's pretty troubling and confusing. That said, what is Slog going to say about it that would be any more intelligent and thoughtful than Greenwald's coverage? Do you really need to see what ECB or Lindy West think about this development?
11
Paul... Why did you edit out the full commentary on Juno: "Because only conservatives choose not to have an abortion. By all means, take it!"
12
Incredibles is listed because it's supposedly purports objectivist, anti-socialist philosophy.
Lord of the Rings - antiquated caste system, somewhat racist (all the "good" races are white, the "evil" races are black), yeah. But what of the unintentional gay subtext and the intentional environmentalist undertones?
Lord of the Rings - antiquated caste system, somewhat racist (all the "good" races are white, the "evil" races are black), yeah. But what of the unintentional gay subtext and the intentional environmentalist undertones?
13
I'm guessing there's no "Falling Down" because in the movie the lead character is mildly upset when the Neo-Nazi store owner harasses the gay guys.
A true Republican would have also harassed the fags, and then dressed up in Nazi gear with the Neo-Nazi and masturbated on machine guns in the back of the store while planning a bombing on a Federal building.
Also, at the end of the movie, the guy gets shot and loses his little girl. For it to be a Republican wet dream, he'd have to grab his little girl, have an awkward chastity ball dance on the pier, and then get shot by a transgendered black cop, who turns out to be Satan. Or something.
A true Republican would have also harassed the fags, and then dressed up in Nazi gear with the Neo-Nazi and masturbated on machine guns in the back of the store while planning a bombing on a Federal building.
Also, at the end of the movie, the guy gets shot and loses his little girl. For it to be a Republican wet dream, he'd have to grab his little girl, have an awkward chastity ball dance on the pier, and then get shot by a transgendered black cop, who turns out to be Satan. Or something.
14
I am a liberal and I love "Falling Down."
Anyway, I think this is not so much a list of "conservative films" as much as it is a list of films conservatives like. Half the movies on the list have no politics at all (Groundhog Day? The Incredibles?)
Anyway, I think this is not so much a list of "conservative films" as much as it is a list of films conservatives like. Half the movies on the list have no politics at all (Groundhog Day? The Incredibles?)
15
Patton should be #1
That film is so great, even I feel like joining the army and attacking those godless commies.
That film is so great, even I feel like joining the army and attacking those godless commies.
17
Lord of the Rings: LOTR is conservative in the literary sense- the idea that nothing will ever be as good as it used to be. This is also a particularly Catholic sentiment when found in English literature (JRR's family converted when he was a boy.) JRR disavowed any political meaning to the otherwise utterly conservative allegory in "The Scouring of the Shire" at the end of RotK.
Dark Knight- yup, Nolan meant for Batman to be George Bush. But it's also not clear that he believe Batman to have made the right choices. My own view is he's saying it's up to the viewer to decide.
We Were Soldiers- conservatives love this movie because it repeats the lie that it wasn't Nixons fault that we lost Vietnam, that the war was somehow magically unwinnable, when in fact if we had merely continued to FUND the South Vietnamese after we abandoned them, they never would have fallen to the NVA. It absolved them of their martial sins.
Dark Knight- yup, Nolan meant for Batman to be George Bush. But it's also not clear that he believe Batman to have made the right choices. My own view is he's saying it's up to the viewer to decide.
We Were Soldiers- conservatives love this movie because it repeats the lie that it wasn't Nixons fault that we lost Vietnam, that the war was somehow magically unwinnable, when in fact if we had merely continued to FUND the South Vietnamese after we abandoned them, they never would have fallen to the NVA. It absolved them of their martial sins.
18
@4(5280),
You're right. At least one film featuring the Duke (John Wayne) must be included. John Ford's masterpiece (one of several) "The Searchers" from 1956 should be mentioned. Probably the finest Western ever made. And, arguably a conservative one.
You're right. At least one film featuring the Duke (John Wayne) must be included. John Ford's masterpiece (one of several) "The Searchers" from 1956 should be mentioned. Probably the finest Western ever made. And, arguably a conservative one.
19
@10,
It's news, isn't it? You'd think there might at least be a link in the morning news or something. And I do recall reading about Obama once or twice on Slog in the past -- they certainly didn't ignore him then just because other people were doing better coverage.
It's news, isn't it? You'd think there might at least be a link in the morning news or something. And I do recall reading about Obama once or twice on Slog in the past -- they certainly didn't ignore him then just because other people were doing better coverage.
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