La vie privée d'un sénateur

Whatever happened to the rabbit was high on my list of questions and thoughts at the conclusion of The Seduction of Joe Tynan, but that's not actually a good thing. Sure, Alda, Streep, Douglas, and Torn all give solid performances which lifts the material above its inherent quality, but only so much. There's the Washington story which is well written and mostly solid. Then there is the family story which does not work as well. Much of the dialogue in this section feels clumsy and at times unnatural. The direction is fine but it's the script here that let's Joe down and leaves the viewer with an unremarkable film.

a highly underestimated work definitely worth revisiting. it's a portrayal of sexual politics and power in washington d.c. that is still relevant today. it features a stunningly real and moving performance by the great barbara harris. bring her back!

Awfully familiar stuff about persons who take pride in the career over their family and power corrupting, the film is however quite well acted, which brings it above par of its type. Alan Alda and Meryl Streep are both excellent, and although Melvyn Douglas won an Oscar in the same year as this film for 'Being There', he deserves it more here. The acting bridges on being melodramatic from the rest of the cast, but it is hard not to call this a well acted film with those three great performances. There is also some insight into American politics, but the film does assume a bit more than just a basic understanding already, and therefore there is a chance that viewers not familiar with American politics will wind up confused. The music choices are rather poor, and there is one very silly sequence put to square dancing music. Overall though, this is a reasonable film. It does have its flaws, but it has excellent acting to compensate. It might not show anything new or explain everything well, but it is certainly adequate entertainment for its running time.

I was a senatorial intern in the 70's. (Fortunately never seduced.)

But this film accurately depicted the City of the Time.

Watch for the two or three second bit that depicts the "auto-pen."

When I was an intern, I was interviewed by my small-hometown-newspaper, and instructed by my supervisor that I could discuss anything, I could even disagree with the Senator, but I WAS NOT TO MENTION THE AUTO-PEN!!!

The auto-pen was a device that manipulated an actual felt-tip pen to produce a signature replica to make it appear that the Senator had actually signed a letter.

The perfect precursor to what Aaron Sorkin and company so wonderfully wrought, Alan Alda and Jerry Schatzberg's intelligent and telling political drama/romance is more like the made for TV movie genre than first run feature. That having been said there's little to take to task here and much to be grateful for including some great character actor turns by Rip Torn and Melvyn Douglas (watch for the gumbo eating/policy thrashing scene) and some shrewd Washington insiders' observations. Somehow, it's hard to imagine Bush, Cheney and the neo cons having nearly half the fun.

Streep anchors the proceedings, investing a level of sophisticated theatricality that gives this film its necessary edge. Her robust good nature at proclaiming, "He's my Daddy!", while piloting a small plane, suggests both her southern belle roots as well as her tenacious appetite to be THE woman behind THE man.