The Second Civil War TV Movie (1997)
Welcome
to the Human Race.
Director: Joe Dante.
Starring: Beau Bridges (Governor of Idaho), James Coburn (Jack
Buchan), Kevin Dunn (Jimmy Cannon), Jerry Hardin (Colonel McNally), Phil
Hartman (President of US), Dan Hedaya (Mel Burgess), James Earl Jones (Jim
Kalla), Brian Keith (General Charles Buford), Denis Leary (Vinnie Franko),
Elizabeth Pena (Christina), Ron Perlman (Alan Manieski).
In the near future, a planeload of immigrant
orphans are on their way to a charity facility in Idaho when the Governor of
the state closes its borders and refuses them entry. This sparks a
division of military forces, between states government's National Guard and
federal government's Army, each hell bent on protecting their own version of
the American Dream, as well as their media images. At the center of this
Constitutional storm is a President unable to make a decision without checking
with his advisors and referencing one of his predecessors, a Governor more
interested in liaisons with his immigrant news reporter mistress than dealing
with immigration laws, a newsroom where facts and truth balance with viewer
shares, and a TV audience more interested in their favorite daytime soap
opera. The Great American Melting Pot is about to uncivilly boil over.
This HBO black comedy is an excellent mix of
political and news media parody, race relations satire, and morality
tale. Wonderfully quirky, and sometimes deeply meaningful,
dialogue. Characters run the gamut from dignified to loony.
Performances from a large cast are all vibrant and spot on. A movie gem.
Favorite Line(s): "Can't make an
omelet without busting some sacred eggs. We're making history here and you
ain't with us, are you?" "No I'm not." "You
should be. Why not?" "Maybe because I'm a reporter, I ain't
with anybody. Maybe because too many sacred eggs are getting busted. See, I
rode the buses back in the 60s to bring people together. Pretty unfashionable
now, isn't it?" "Your wife, she's Jewish, ain't
she?" "You know, I forgot what she is, all I remember is that
we met on the back of a bus."
"I'm trying to remember the words to the
Pledge of Allegiance. I said it a million times when I was a kid. Right now I
can't seem to remember the words."
Definitely worth a rent/buy.
First published in 2004 on The Perlman Pages.
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