Wag the Dog
Before elections, a spin-doctor and a Hollywood producer join efforts to “fabricate” a war in order to cover-up a presidential sex scandal.
- Director:Barry Levinson
- Genre:Comedy
- Runtime:97 minutes
Cast
Dustin Hoffman : Stanley Motss
Robert De Niro : Conrad Brean
Anne Heche : Winifred Ames
Denis Leary : Fad King
Willie Nelson : Johnny Dean
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When an unnamed President of the United States is caught in a closed room with a young girl scout less than two weeks before re-election, a hired political gun (played by Robert DeNiro) is brought in to try to take the public attention away from the scandal. He decides to construct a fake war with Albania, hoping the media will concentrate on this instead. In order to come up with his ‘war’, he contacts a Hollywood producer (Hoffman), who brings in a series of specialists who help construct a theme song, build up interest and fake some footage of an orphan in Albania.
The plan’s continual setbacks (including having to use an Army prison convict to be their ‘hero’ who was “shot down behind enemy lines”) don’t disturb the producer, who continues to declare “This is nothing” while comparing the situation to a past movie-making catastrophe he averted. In the end, with the election done and the President re-elected, everything seems fine – until the producer finds out from the news outlets that the media are crediting the President’s tired “Don’t change horses in mid stream” campaign slogan with his win, rather than his elaborate plans. The producer is about to call the media to ‘set them straight’, when the President’s aide has him killed and make it look like he had a heart-attack while tanning next to his pool.
The film drew attention later for similarities to the Clinton sex scandal[2], especially after Operation Infinite Reach[3] and Operation Desert Fox, although the movie also makes reference to the Persian Gulf War and the invasion of Grenada as an example of war used as an electoral tactic. The film also explores the similarities between politics and Hollywood. Read more
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