Here's Eight Movies About Presidents (Real And Fictional) To Enjoy This Presidents' Day
Happy Presidents' Day!
We know most people only really think of one thing on this holiday - "thank god, a day off" - but what it's really for is remembering all of our past Presidents - their lives, their legacies, their achievements, and who they were as people.
So, with those two things in mind, what better way to celebrate Presidents' Day (and that day off) than with a good-old-fashioned movie marathon?
Here's eight movies about Presidents - some real, some fictional - that you can enjoy this Presidents' Day.
Air Force One
When President James Marshall (Harrison Ford) boards Air Force One with his family and advisors after making an anti-terrorism speech in Moscow, he doesn't expect the plane to be hijacked by a group of terrorists (led by Gary Oldman). But this President is an ex-soldier, and he'll do whatever he can to save his family, and everyone else on the plane.
Lincoln
This beautiful tale detailing the end of the civil war, as President Abraham Lincoln deals with a country divided as it literally tears itself apart, brother against brother, and tries to get the 13th Amendment pushed through to help bring it all to a close and end slavery. Daniel Day-Lewis gives a spellbinding performance as the powerful yet soft-spoken 16th President.
The American President
What would happen if the U.S. President was a widower who found new love during his term? What if that new love was with an environmental lobbyist?
President Michael Douglas - er, Andrew Shepherd - has to find out exactly that in The American President, when he falls for Sydney Ellen Wade (Annette Bening) right as an election cycle approaches. With his approval ratings dropping every time he's seen with her, Shepherd has to choose: another turn with the Presidency, or another chance at love?
Nixon
There are a ton of movies about the exploits and shortcomings of President Richard Nixon, but none quite as well loved as Oliver Stone's Anthony Hopkins-led biopic, which follows Nixon not only during his presidency, but from his childhood as the son of Quakers, moving through his life chronologically as we see him become a college student, find love, climb the political ladder, and eventually find him embroiled in one of the biggest presidential scandals in history - Watergate.
This movie attempts to make a rounded view of what Nixon was truly like - his positive attributes, and the ambition and feelings of inadequacy that drove him to ruin.
Dave
When the president dies of a stroke in the middle of having sex with a prostitute, his shifty White House Chief of Staff hires a look-alike, Dave Kovic, to fill in, without ever informing anyone - including the First Lady, played by Sigourney Weaver. But something starts to feel off when everyone realizes this guy is nicer - and kind of better at his job - than the actual President was.
Thirteen Days
For thirteen days in 1962, The US and the Soviet Union stood on the brink of nuclear war - a period of time during the presidency of John F. Kennedy dubbed the Cuban Missile Crisis. With a JFK played by Bruce Greenwood, Thirteen Days captures the tension, terror, and trepedation in the White House as the President and his team worked to avoid the ultimate disaster.
All The President's Men
Let's look at the Watergate scandal from another angle: The one of the reporters who discovered it.
Bob Woodward (Robert Redford) and Carl Bernstein (Dustin Hoffman), two new reporters at the Washington Post, don't expect to find much when they start digging into the 1972 burglary of the Democratic Headquarters at the Watergate apartment complex - but what they found, with the help of a mysterious informant named Deep Throat, went all the way to the top - despite repeated warnings about their own safety.
Southside With You
Starring Tika Sumpter and Parker Sawyers, the romantic biopic Southside With You tells the story of the first date between President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama, back when she was still Michelle Robinson from Chicago. Despite what seems like simple subject matter, the film manages to tell a deep and nuanced story that critics and audiences loved.
