Cinematically Selecting an Iowa Caucus Candidate

In August, Jon Caramanica and Jon Pareles, music critics at The New York Times, “analyzed,” to borrow their words, “playlists used by nine Democratic candidates and President Trump to see how they help set the tone for each campaign.” Set the tone is the key demarcation there. A Presidential Candidate’s playlist is not going to necessarily reflect the reality of her/his taste in music. I mean, does Senator Professor Elizabeth Warren think “Dog Days Are Over” by Florence & the Machine slaps? I’m sure she does, but I’m also sure she’s including it on the playlist not so much because it slaps but because it conveys, as the Times writes, some part of her political message. Asking a candidate to name his or her favorite movie, on the other hand, just one and free from the lead-in to a campaign rally, has always struck me as more personal. Who’s going to lie about a favorite movie? (Ted Cruz, maybe?)

That’s where Cinema Romantico comes in. For the last three Presidential Election cycles we have analyzed each candidate’s favorite movie and based on that, and that alone, absolutely nothing else, do you hear me potential angry commenters wanting to take this all out of context, cinematically endorsed one. 2020, however, proved an extraordinary challenge not so much to make a pick as to find the necessary criteria for which to make it. This all started with Beto O’Rourke, as loyal frustrated followers will remember, and who has since dropped out, penning an essay referencing “Last of the Mohicans” but without ever clarifying if this was, in fact, his favorite movie as it ours. We made repeated overtures to O’Rourke and his campaign by email and social media but he never responded.

Kamala Harris would have earned our endorsement for citing “My Cousin Vinny” (as established at my friend’s holiday party this past December, after my sixth or seventh glass of punch, Marisa Tomei as Mona Lisa Vito is the greatest screen performance *ever*) but she, too, was forced to drop out.

Candidates still in the race, meanwhile, have made it difficult to ascertain their favorite movie. The only available articles online discussing this topic – like E, like LA Mag – have merely managed to extract this crucial info from a handful of candidates, not the whole gang. As in 2016, Bernie Sanders remains evasive on the issue. Elizabeth Warren too, as we discovered in reaching out to her and her campaign by email and social media to verify her favorite movie only to receive no response. Perhaps these candidates have more pressing matters given the stakes of 2020, yes, but then again, in The New York Times recent second installment of asking the candidates 20 questions they saw fit, in their ostensibly esteemed estimation, to ask for a celebrity crush but not a favorite movie. Lame. Still, the 2020 Iowa Caucus is tonight, the stakes are high and the Cinema Romantico Cinematic Endorsement, the most vital Cinematic Endorsement west of the Alleghenies per The United States Magazine and Democratic review, must go on.

The favorite movie of Bernie Sanders is...

As stated, Bernie Sanders seems to have no favorite movie. And you know what? This feels right. If the Senator’s fellow Brooklynite, Mel Brooks, on the very first AFI 100 Greatest Movies special said he had, like, a hundred favorite movies, or thereabouts, I think I’ve come to believe that Senator Sanders has no favorite movies. Like a Lutheran Pastor watches a movie to see how he/she might work its themes into a sermon, Bernie Sanders watches a movie to see how he might filter its themes through his political revolution.

Elizabeth Warren might not have been responded to Cinema Romantico for comment but it is nevertheless well known that Senator Professor Warren is a huge fan of The Rock. So, using this information, and consulting Cinema Blend’s ranking of the 10 Best Rock movies, we deduce that Warren’s favorite movie must be “Furious 7.” Maybe next time you’ll respond to Cinema Romantico’s emails, Senator Professor.

Tom Steyer, that trendy galoot, created a Spotify playlist but has not named a favorite movie. One of his Spotify songs is, however, “The Harder They Come” by Jimmy Cliff. If Mr. Steyer had cited the film giving Cliff’s song its name as his favorite, I gotta tell you, the former hedge fund manager would have earned our endorsement going away. But not only do I doubt a former hedge fund manager knows “The Harder They Come” even is a movie, let alone a raw and ragged and violent one, if you’re making a Spotify playlist with the title track then you’ve missed the fundamental point of the movie. Surprise!

The favorite movie of Colorado Senator Michael Bennet, who I didn’t even realize was still in the race, is “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” which okay, but c’mon. This is like Rob Gordon of “High Fidelity” putting “Let’s Get It On” from “Let’s Get It On” on his Top Five Side Ones, Track Ones.

Andrew Yang’s favorite movie is “The Shawshank Redemption.” And I gotta say, it’s a little ironic that a guy who claims he wants to make America think harder says his favorite movie is one that telegraphs every move it makes from a thousand miles away.

“That’s how many favorite movies, sir?”

Pete Buttigieg, to the surprise of absolutely nobody, when asked about his favorite movie [emphasis singular noun] gave – Oh God – five. “No one favorite,” he said. “The Godfather and “Gangs of New York are up there. I’m also a fan of Sci-Fi that makes you think, like Contact and Arrival. And Dr. Strangelove is always timely.” Typical consultant. Ask him to name one movie and he essentially tells you he needs to perform additional analysis.

Joe Biden likes “Chariots of Fire”, though his explanation, about the character of Eric Liddell putting “personal fame and glory behind principles”, veers a little too close to message over aesthetic for this blog’s taste.

Amy Klobuchar, on the other hand, the Senator from the great state of Minnesota, seems sincere in her affection for “The Sound of Music”. But. This is the Cinematic Endorsement. We’re really looking for some distinctive personal taste here. And so. While I strongly considered just ignoring the Who’s In and Who’s Out and endorsing Kamala Harris anyway, that just seemed like a cop-out. What is Cinema Romantico, The New York Times?

Michael Bloomberg, former Mayor of New York, might be the most milquetoast candidate out there, but dammit if his favorite movie, “Blazing Saddles”, doesn’t pack the precise je ne sais quoi punch we’re looking for. And besides, doesn’t it seem like the 2020 Iowa Caucus should end with one big candidate fight spilling out into the street?

Cinema Romantico cinematically endorses Michael Bloomberg. (As always, please don’t take this out of context.)

Cinema Romantico's Official 2020 Cinematic Endorsement: UPDATE

Last Friday, Beto O’Rourke dropped out of the Presidential race. What this means in terms of impact, or lack of it, on the Democratic Primary, this blog is not qualified to say. Sadly, we are just as un-qualified, after all this time, to tell you whether “Last of the Mohicans” really is Representative O’Rourke’s favorite movie.

Loyal frustrated followers may recall the timeline of events. A year ago, after losing in the race for U.S. Senate to Ted Cruz, who possibly lies about his favorite movies, Representative O’Rourke published a Thank You Letter in which he name-checked “Last of the Mohicans.” This naturally led Cinema Romantico, whose favorite movie is “Last of the Mohicans”, to wonder if we and the Representative shared favorite films.

In the wake of O’Rourke’s announcement that he was running for President, this question became more urgent. We tried to get to the bottom of the manner. We sent multiple emails to O’Rourke’s campaign hoping to confirm; we received no response. We Tweeted at O’Rourke; he did not Tweet back. We offered $50 to the first friend of ours from our native state of Iowa to attend the Iowa State Fair and ask O’Rourke if “Last of the Mohicans” was his favorite movie; no one went and asked. Now he is out of the race. And so the dream of Cinema Romantico bestowing its traditional and quasi-influential quadrennial Cinematic Endorsement to the Presidential candidate whose favorite movie we find most worthy on a candidate whose favorite is our favorite movie too has died like pretty much all our other dreams.

That reminds me. Things are not looking good for Kamala Harris. Per Politico, her campaign is strapped for cash and struggling. She has laid off her New Hampshire staff. Yikes. And yet. In Googling around recently in yet another attempt to track down the identity of Representative O’Rourke’s favorite film, we were able to confirm that Senator Harris’s favorite movie is “My Cousin Vinny.” And I mean, my God. Mona Lisa Vito is canon. Her film should be Criterion. But don’t me started.

Now AOC, as we know, has already endorsed Bernie. And yet, still, four years later, we don’t know the favorite movie of Senator Sanders. Oh, occasionally he mentions “The Big Short” but that’s no aesthetic judgment; this guy’d stump for Dark Castle’s “Big Banks VI: The Banks Take Manhattan (Again).” Elizabeth Warren, meanwhile, has been cozying up to Dwayne Johnson over “Ballers.” Really, Senator Professor? A television show? The small screen? You’re gonna do me like that? 

It’s still too early to call, of course. Cinema Romantico traditionally waits until the day of the Iowa Caucuses to issue its faux-distinguished endorsement. But know this, Senator Harris is surging in this blog’s polls, Democrats. And unless one of you steps up and really shows some damn taste [thumps desk], come Caucus time Kamala’s gonna leave tire marks all over the lot of you philistines like a 1963 Pontiac Tempest. 

Cinema Romantico's Official 2020 Cinematic Endorsement Remains Up for Grabs

Last November, after conceding in a closely-fought Texas Senate race against incumbent Ted Cruz, who possibly lies about his favorite movies, former Congressional Representative Beto O’Rourke wrote a letter of thanks to his supporters, opening it by indicating his wife Amy and their kids were watching “Last of the Mohicans” in the other room. Loyal frustrated followers know that “Last of the Mohicans” is this blog’s favorite movie, and because this blog gives its cinematic endorsement to one Presidential candidate each election cycle, and because rumors abounded that O’Rourke might well toss his hat into the 2020 Democratic Presidential Candidate ring, this blog was keen to know if Michael Mann’s 1992 indisputable masterpiece was, in fact, O’Rourke’s favorite movie. Alas, we could but merely speculate.

Beto O'Rourke, whose favorite movie may or may not be The Last of the Mohicans

Since that time O’Rourke has officially entered the (very) early stages of the 2020 Democratic Presidential Candidate race. This has only made the status of his favorite movie more urgent. In discovering O’Rourke’s penchant for standing on countertops some have speculated that his favorite movie is “Dead Poets Society” which is an obvious joke and just not helpful, people. We have emailed Mr. O’Rourke at his official website in the hopes of confirming if “Last of the Mohicans” is his favorite movie but have yet to receive a response. We Tweeted at Mr. O’Rourke but our poor ol’ Tweet is still just sitting out there, wasting space, un-commented upon. As such, the imperative answer to the question O’Rourke’s favorite film remains elusive.

O’Rourke’s love of punk music is frequently cited, which suggests his favorite movie might be Penelope Sheeris’s “The Decline of Western Civilization.” He often cites his favorite book as Homer’s “The Odyssey”, which suggests his favorite movie might be The Coen Brothers’ “O Brother Where Art Thou?” In the Vanity Fair profile accompanying his Presidential bid launch, O’Rourke compared his forthcoming campaign to “every epic movie that you’ve ever seen, from ‘Star Wars’ to ‘The Lord of the Rings.’” Even if both these films are epic, though I’d contend “LOTR” is more epic in terms of being a time-wasting leviathan, what, I ask, is more epic than “Last of the Mohicans”? Nothing, that’s what! “Last of the Mohicans” is the apex of epic! True, it’s my favorite movie and I’m biased. But then, if it really was O’Rourke’s favorite movie, would he not have it included it when describing epic movies? I would think so. Then again, he is, at present, in his platitudinous way, playing the part of a populist, and so perhaps he was merely reciting the hits. Who can say? He can, that’s who.

“Just What Does Beto Believe?” asked Politico in early March. I wonder.