Presidential Movie Legacies
(originally posted on IMDb 8 August 2018)

Three years after "Selma" (2014) was criticized for its portrayal of President Lyndon Baines Johnson during the 1965 Selma to Montgomery marches and voting rights movement, lo and behold, there have been two biopics of LBJ, both of which focus on his role in the passage of the prior Civil Rights Act of 1964. HBO's earlier "All the Way" (2016) also features LBJ's collaboration with Martin Luther King Jr. as a catalyst for the Southern President's surprising turnaround and legislative accomplishments on civil rights, while the late President John F. Kennedy assumes this supporting role in this movie, "LBJ." In lieu of MLK, the most prominent African American in "LBJ" is the President's cook, who he claims is like part of his family.

Whereas "All the Way" continues through Johnson's victory in the 1964 presidential election, "LBJ" stops at the President's address to Congress calling for the passage of the Civil Rights Act, but begins with scenes of JFK's fatal trip to Dallas intercut with flashbacks of Johnson's rise to the vice presidency. "LBJ" is especially narrow in its focus on one of America's busiest presidents, with only casual references to Medicare, Medicaid, the Voting Rights Act and the Vietnam War, most of which are only mentioned as the end credits roll. The result is a fawning appraisal of the legacy of a "great man" that bypasses how he is also one of the more controversial figures of the late 20th Century, which may be evidenced merely by reading the conflicting reviews here on IMDb.

Rob Reiner and company's daft view of LBJ's process boils down to his mostly making a bunch of phone calls, two episodes of which are edited as montages. He also meets with other leaders of the two camps of opposing Democrats: the Kennedy brothers (with an actor who played RFK a few years ago now playing JFK), as well as Kennedy-supporter and Southern Senator Ralph Yarborough (as portrayed by former President Thomas J. Whitmore), on one side, and Senator Richard Russell as practically the movie's sole embodiment of Democratic and Southern legislators' opposition to the civil rights movement (as portrayed by former Speaker of the House Eli Raphelson). In between these phone calls and meetings, there's some fun made of the President's crassness in describing his nether regions to his tailor or his open-door discussions with staff while he goes to the bathroom--things that have already been shown in other movies and media, from his defecating in "The Butler" (2013) to Rachel Maddow trying to contain her laughter while playing on her MSNBC show the real tape of LBJ's conversation with his tailor. And, there's some psychologizing concerning LBJ's supposed fear that people won't love him.

Like Bryan Cranston in "All the Way," Woody Harrelson, reportedly, is about half a foot too short for the part, but he also must wear considerable makeup and prosthetics merely to affect a passing resemblance to the historical figure. Most of the movie is shot above the waist, which conveniently helps to conceal the height differential, as well as his wearing platform shoes. Such a performance and script pale in comparison to decent presidential biopics such as "Lincoln" (2012), or even lesser ones, such as "Hyde Park on Hudson" (2012). A "West Wing" TV episode is likely to be more engrossing than "LBJ," and, indeed, when Aaron Sorkin collaborated with Reiner, it was to greater acclaim than this with "The American President" (1995).