IDSG Bonus 38: Absolute Power (1997)

We're continuing our series on movies about (or at least featuring) the American presidency with this Clint Eastwood picture (Eastwood both directed and stars in the film) penned based on the David Baldacci book, adapted by William Goldman. I'd never seen the film before we decided to do it for the podcast, but Goldman wrote about adapting the book for the screen in his second screenwriting book, Which Lie Did I Tell?, which is highly recommended by me for anyone looking to understand the life of a screenwriter in the 1990s.

Anyway, the movie isn't so great, I think mostly because Eastwood doesn't give the material any weight and doesn't give his actors room to breathe. We had a fun conversation nonetheless, so please enjoy the episode.

This episode is dedicated to the memory of Gene Hackman, who plays the president in the film.

Thanks as always for your continued support. We are planning to do another thriller kinda/sorta about the presidency later this week (In the Line of Fire), and will also be releasing that as a bonus.