Political Poster Children

[For the Politics & Movies Blog-a-thon.]

Oliver Stone’s W. wasn’t short on publicity materials. There were as many as 10 different promotional poster designs, some of them lackluster (a pair depicting George W Bush as either “Angel” or “Devil”), others of them inspired. Too inspired, in fact. As I argued in my review of W., Stone’s film never captures its subject with greater accuracy or commentary than is achieved in two of the print ads: one showing Josh Brolin’s Bush resting his chin on his folded hands in childlike contemplation, the other showing him sitting back in his chair in the Oval Office with his boots resting on his desk in Texas cowboy arrogance.

Those images advertise the film that Stone should have made, but didn’t. And though one would suspect that the W. posters would join a long line of provocative or at least evocative political-movie artwork, a quick scan of the library suggests otherwise. Below is a hardly-complete collection of promotional posters for political films. Of these, I think The Candidate best evokes the film’s philosophies (though the poster for The American President makes it clear that it’s a love story more than a political yarn).

If you notice a glaring omission, please point it out in the comments section, and I’ll try to add the image. Reactions to the current collection are encouraged.