LBJ (2016)
The story of U.S. President Lyndon Baines Johnson from his young days in West Texas to the White House.
Director:
Rob ReinerWriter:
Joey Hartstone (screenplay)Stars:
LBJ centers on the political upheaval that Vice President Johnson faced when he was thrust into the presidency at the hands of an assassin's bullet in November 1963. With political battles on both sides of the aisle, Johnson struggles to heal a nation and secure his presidency by passing Kennedy's historic Civil Rights Act.
Country:
USALanguage:
EnglishRelease Date:
3 November 2017 (USA) See more »Box Office
Budget:
$37,000,000 (estimated)
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Company Credits
Technical Specs
Runtime:
Color:
ColorAspect Ratio:
2.35 : 1Did You Know?
Trivia
Democrat President Lyndon Johnson is one of four people who have served as President and Vice President, as well as in both houses of Congress. See more »Goofs
When Richard Russell and LBJ talk at the airplane plant, LBJ places one or both hands on Russell during the conversation but the location of his hands on Russell changes from angle to angle. See more »Quotes
John F. Kennedy:
When Kennedys shoot, it's usually at Nazis.
Lyndon B. Johnson: Are there many Nazis in Hyannisport?
Lyndon B. Johnson: Are there many Nazis in Hyannisport?
Fortified by vivid, compelling performances from Woody Harrelson and Jennifer Jason Leigh as Lyndon and Lady Bird Johnson, Rob Reiner’s
“LBJ” captures a tumultuous political era and one of its most profanely
colorful leaders with a good deal of insight and emotional torque.
Though the film understandably leaves out much about Johnson’s career to
focus on his growing commitment to Civil Rights, it does so with verve
and conviction before, alas, turning more soft-edged and conventionally
hagiographic as it nears the finish line.
The film’s historical frame represents some interesting choices on the part of screenwriter Joey Hartstone.
While Johnson’s legacy includes such milestones as his Great Society
legislation, Head Start, Medicare and Medicaid as well as his escalation
of the Vietnam War, “LBJ” largely ignores the events of his presidency
to focus on what came before, in the years 1959-63: first, his power as
the Senate majority leader; then, his years as vice president, when he
felt largely neutered and marginalized until fate catapulted him to the
pinnacle of power.
The effectiveness of this approach stems from
the fact that it centers on the time in his life when, between passages
when he exercised enormous influence, Johnson was challenged by being
rendered a mere spear-carrier in the glamorous Kennedy retinue. Such
episodes in a politician’s life – internal exiles, if you will – entail
psychological struggles that test his character, sagacity and resolve to
the extreme. Hartstone’s smart, flavorful script makes the most of this
rough passage.
In what initially seems a somewhat corny
contrivance, but later proves its dramatic worth, the film intersperses
the first two-thirds of its narrative with a depiction of the events of
November 22, 1963, with the Johnsons arriving in Dallas and following
President and Mrs. Kennedy in the motorcade that will take them through
downtown. At this point, Johnson is the quintessence of a background
figure, and obviously not happy about it. But the film soon jumps back
four years, to his time as a kingpin of the Senate, when his powers are
manifest to all.
We see him commanding a roomful of aides,
barking orders, cajoling, cussing, juggling telephones, even playfully
threatening a subordinate with castration. This is the grinning,
arm-twisting, deal-making LBJ of legend, and Harrelson gives him to us
full-bore. Though the actor doesn’t have as much physical resemblance to
Johnson as did the Bryan Cranston of “All the Way,”
and thus must make use of ample make-up and prosthetics, he
energetically conveys both Johnson’s blustery personality and evolving
internal struggles.
In some ways, the most important relationship LBJ has in the film is with veteran Senator Richard Russell (Richard Jenkins),
who, as leader of the Senate’s Southern caucus, has been successfully
opposing all Civil Rights legislation for decades. Johnson has a great
deal of personal sympathy for Russell and, as a Southerner himself,
understands the resistance of whites to changes in the laws affecting
race. Yet he also understands the Northern position too. As he puts it,
he “speaks both languages,” which indeed helps explain his pivotal role
in history.
Come 1960, Johnson reaches a crossroads when John F. Kennedy (Jeffrey Donovan)
beats him for the Democratic nomination for President. LBJ regards JFK
as a “show horse,” and himself as a “work horse” and therefore more
suited to taking on the work of running the nation; so when Kennedy
offers him the Vice Presidential slot, he not only has to deal with the
ignominy of a de facto political demotion, he does so facing the active
opposition of bratty Robert F. Kennedy (excellent Michael Stahl-David), who resents having such a relative rube on the ticket.
The
LBJ-RFK conflict—with JFK as bemused moderator—continues after Johnson
successfully attempts to make the Vice Presidency a greater, more
efficacious power base than it has been before, and also faces the
rising pressures for meaningful Civil Rights legislation. Then comes the
watershed moment of Dallas. The film renders this dark day with
wrenching immediacy and such pungent details as LBJ refusing to leave
Dallas without Kennedy’s body.
Thereafter there’s both humor and
political urgency in Johnson’s trying to persuade JFK’s young Ivy League
circle of aides to stay on and help him make the transition, an effort
that includes embracing the Civil Rights legislation that Kennedy had
hoped to introduce. Throughout these and earlier battles, LBJ is
bolstered by the unflinching calm of Lady Bird, who’s brought to life
with almost uncanny exactitude in Jennifer Jason Leigh’s fine
performance.
In its final act, the film unfortunately devolves toward TV-movie
conventionality by ending on the high note of Johnson announcing the
legislation that will produce the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In reality,
of course, LBJ’s career went on to include both triumphs and the tragic
Vietnam escalation that effectively destroyed his presidency. As to why
“LBJ” wouldn’t try to show both the dark and the light, I was reminded
of a director recently complaining of an actor that “he doesn’t
understand that not everything is ‘the Hero’s Journey.’”
Indeed “the Hero’s Journey” is one of those rudimentary screenwriting concepts that turns into a blight when it’s over-applied. Oliver Stone’s “Nixon”
had the courage and insight to embrace the tragic elements in its
protagonist’s story. If “LBJ” had done the same, a very good film might
have a become a truly exceptional one.
FINAL RATING: 6/10 FOR THE GENRE & 6/10 OVERALL. Sympathetic but lightweight drama has strong language.
Thanks for reading and have fun watching movies.
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