Alan Alda has a benign presence here, as in most of his work, but his range is a little greater than it's been given credit for. He was a perfect arrogant slimeball as Robert Gallo in "The Band Played On." But he's believable here as a good-natured family man, a Democratic U. S. Senator from New York, who is torn between his friendship for an aging mentor, Melvyn Douglas, and his principles. Douglas wants him to endorse the president's nominee for the Supreme Court, a former racist. That opposition will bring him to national attention but it will mean betraying some of those who have helped him in the past and could help him in the future. It also means skewering on national television the nominee, who may in fact have been nothing more than a well-meaning and effective pragmatist in compromising desegregation ten or fifteen years ago.
There's also a problem with Alda's home life. There usually is when a man is dedicated to a demanding career. Look at the number of times John Wayne's love life was shredded because of his commitment to the military.
On top of that, Tynan is seduced not only by the opportunity to climb the political ladder, but literally by Meryl Streep, the wife of a prominent Southern personage.
It's all just terrible. Alda's wife, Barbara Harris, in a nice scene, is introduced to Streep and can tell in an instant that there has been not just an exchange of information and advice between Streep and Alda but also an exchange of bodily fluids.
The movie ends the way John Wayne's movies ended, with the wife coming around to her husband's point of view. Streep wipes away her tears and boards an airplane to return home. Harris really does give a nicely shaded performance. While Alda stands on the platform at the Democratic National Convention, accepting the riotous applause, ready to give the speech that will launch him into stardom, he stares at Harris, whose face melts from dispassionate disapproval to subdued acceptance. Nice job.
But the story, though it has its moments, is a little weak. It's hard to follow the various intrigues and one or two loose ends remain. (Eg., what happens to Melvyn Douglas as he lapses into senility before the cameras?) And some scenes are too drawn out -- Streep and Alda giggling and wrestling around in bed, pouring cold beer on each other. Ditto for a scene with Alda and Harris. We get the point; we get it, honest.
It reminded me of another movie that appeared about the same time, Robert Redford's "The Candidate." Neither is an epic expose of political and personal life in Washington. Their ambitions may be hefty but the budgets for both were a little smaller. "The Candidate" is marginally the better movie.
Best scene: a rivalry between two pols, Alda and Rip Torn, to see who can east the most of Torn's hellishly hot Cajun stew without throwing up. It's pretty funny.
Worth catching once in a while, mainly for the performances.
There's also a problem with Alda's home life. There usually is when a man is dedicated to a demanding career. Look at the number of times John Wayne's love life was shredded because of his commitment to the military.
On top of that, Tynan is seduced not only by the opportunity to climb the political ladder, but literally by Meryl Streep, the wife of a prominent Southern personage.
It's all just terrible. Alda's wife, Barbara Harris, in a nice scene, is introduced to Streep and can tell in an instant that there has been not just an exchange of information and advice between Streep and Alda but also an exchange of bodily fluids.
The movie ends the way John Wayne's movies ended, with the wife coming around to her husband's point of view. Streep wipes away her tears and boards an airplane to return home. Harris really does give a nicely shaded performance. While Alda stands on the platform at the Democratic National Convention, accepting the riotous applause, ready to give the speech that will launch him into stardom, he stares at Harris, whose face melts from dispassionate disapproval to subdued acceptance. Nice job.
But the story, though it has its moments, is a little weak. It's hard to follow the various intrigues and one or two loose ends remain. (Eg., what happens to Melvyn Douglas as he lapses into senility before the cameras?) And some scenes are too drawn out -- Streep and Alda giggling and wrestling around in bed, pouring cold beer on each other. Ditto for a scene with Alda and Harris. We get the point; we get it, honest.
It reminded me of another movie that appeared about the same time, Robert Redford's "The Candidate." Neither is an epic expose of political and personal life in Washington. Their ambitions may be hefty but the budgets for both were a little smaller. "The Candidate" is marginally the better movie.
Best scene: a rivalry between two pols, Alda and Rip Torn, to see who can east the most of Torn's hellishly hot Cajun stew without throwing up. It's pretty funny.
Worth catching once in a while, mainly for the performances.