Fletch and Bad News Bears director Michael Ritchie helmed The Candidate, a super ‘70s political satire starring Robert Redford as Bill McKay, the son of a former Democratic governor of California, who is hand-picked by a political strategist to run a seemingly can’t-win race against a sitting Republican senator. Since no one expects him to win, McKay is given license to say whatever he wants to, without factoring in the counsel of political strategists. This proves… unpopular, and since the Democrats don’t want to be completely obliterated, they advise McKay to make his message more palatable to the mainstream. Unsurprisingly, considering he looks like Robert Redford, McKay’s politics becomes more popular the blander and more toothless his speeches get. I’d point out parallels to 2020, but I’m too depressed and I have lots more slides left to write up. Currently streaming on HBO Max.
