via Giphy/Courtesy NBCUniversal
"You know, I've seen him do it a million times now, but I can't tell you how he does it, Henry. The right-handed part. I can tell you a whole lot about what he does with his left hand, though. He's a genius with it. He might put that left hand on your elbow ... or up on your bicep, like he's doing now. Very basic move. He's interested in you. He's honored to see you. If he gets any higher, if he gets on your shoulder, like that, it's not as intimate. It means he'll share a laugh with you, or a secret, a light secret, not a real one, but very flattering. If he doesn't know you that well and wants to share something emotional with you, he'll lock you in a two-hander. Well, you'll see when he shakes hands with you, Henry. Governor ..."
1. Primary Colors was adapted from Joe "Anonymous" Klein's book by Elaine May, who received an Oscar nomination. I partially read the book in high school, years after Bill Clinton's presidency. My point is that I don't remember if that introduction of Jack Stanton (John Travolta) was Elaine's invention or Joe's. I'll also admit that as the movie went on, I didn't pay much attention to the placement of Jack's hands when greeting or interacting with people like George Stephan -- I mean, Henry Burton (Adrian Lester).
2. Just over 90 seconds in the movie, director Mike Nichols gives us a clear view of Travolta as Stanton. I've always felt that one of Travolta's best features is his eyes and from the get go, he works those blue-greys. Of course, so did Bill Clinton. Make no mistake, pain will be felt.
3. Hey, it's Allison Janney! And Maura Tierney! We've got a star from NBC's pewter age alongside one from its bronze age alongside the man who either first or second-most epitomized Fred Silverman's ABC. It's either John or Henry Winkler. (The woman, of course, is Farrah Fawcett.) Hollywood's then-reigning king*, Tom Hanks, passed on staring in Primary Colors. Thus, no reunion of Forrest Gump and Bubba.
*Although you could make a credible argument for Travolta.
4. Primary Colors is a long movie, nearly two-and-a-half hours long, but damn if some of the time spent isn't effective. Travolta acts his dick off as Jack lionizes the literacy students. The story may be bullshit, but you, like Henry, want to believe that Jack really does see the best in Dewayne (Mykelti Williamson) and company and wants them to know that he sees the best in them. Jack supposedly not wanting to make it about him seeing the best in people is a fine ruse, one that deserves a little librarian nookie.
5. "Are you Uncle Charlie, the Medal of Honor winner?" "Well, I'm Uncle Charlie and whatever else he says. He's the master."
6. Twelve-and-a-half minutes in, it's time to meet Emma Thompson as Susan Stanton. "First impressions count, asshole. Oh, hello, this is New Hampshire. These people don't know you. They probably don't even remember your state. They're waiting to be swept off their feet by Orlando Ozio, who's a governor of a real state. ..."
7. I love that Susan in these early scenes clearly thinks at least six moves ahead of the present. "You know, the only shot we have here -- the only shot is to be perfect. Barely adequate won't swing it." Is Susan a know-it-all? Yes, with emphasis on the "know." She did have a point about how Jack shouldn't be throwing a 4 a.m. tantrum at the low-quality lodgings or Henry needing to test his tea so he won't burn his mouth.
8. Sadly, Rep. Larkin preferring moral victories to actually getting anything done doesn't feel at all dated.
9. "I mean, I've never helped run a presidential campaign before." "Well, neither have we, but that's how history is made, Henry -- *hand on top of his shoulder* -- by the first-timers." Like husband, like wife.
10. Let's hear it for the campaign staff in Mammoth Falls. Peter, Jennifer, Terry and Ella Louise might not have started their jobs with abilities, but they sure had them by Election Day.
11. Twenty-two-and-a-half minutes in, it's time to meet Billy Bob Thornton as Richard Jemmons. Nathan Rabin said it best: "Thornton channels James Carville so perfectly that after the film's release Carville was esentially reduced to doing an imitation of Thornton's imitation of him." Janet Maslin: "Billy Bob Thornton plays Richadrd with sly finesse, although James Carville plays him better." I like to believe that Carville, Thornton, Clinton and Travolta are all genuine "mamathon" champions.
12. "You wanna walk the snake?" Richard exposes his penis to Jennifer (Stacy Edwards), who handles the sexual harassment like a champ. "Gee, I've never seen one that old before." Getting reamed out by Henry, Richard calls him a "tight-ass preppy elitist." True enough, but saying that "I'm blacker than you are" should be a no-no for any white guy. Six minutes into his performance, Billy Bob has nowhere else to go.
13. The Stantons and Henry's dinner with "Jimmy Ozio" is interesting to watch in light of Andrew Cuomo's fall from grace. "(to Susan) You don't mind us talking business, do you?" "No. How else will I learn?"
14. Okay, here's where the pace gets a little slack. Still, we can't cut the scenes where Jack and Susan are concerned about Ozio being the front runner, or Jack mending his relationship with Henry, because they'll ultimately matter. Also, hey, it's James Denton!
15. Susan's mom dancing during the Thanksgiving celebation is a hoot!
via Giphy/courtesy NBCUniversal
16. "That's the kind of man you want to work for, somebody who just wants to get elected?" "No, I want to work for a man who fights the really good fight, then watch a Republican get elected." "What's the difference? Can you tell?" You just know March (Rebecca Walker) remains a professional contrarian in '22.
17. God, I love those closeups of Emma beginning at 46:17. Susan is likely checking her mental database of women who could claim they had sex with Jack. No surprise that she agrees to having someone "investigate our lives."
18. "Hello, Lib." "Hello, shit for brains." "You learned how to watch your mouth yet? I will not let you fuck up this campaign, too. I will not let it happen!" "Uh, that was 20 years ago." "Yes, I was thinner then. I had a waist." Forty-nine minutes and 15 seconds into Primary Colors, it's time for the last headliner**. I've never seen Shakespeare in Love, so it'll be fun to see Judi Dench in the Oscar-winning performance that took down mighty Kathy Bates. Next to Travolta, Kathy seemed to be the movie's surest nominee and winner. She certainly got the money reviews back in '98. "Jack Stanton fucks around, and he's got enemies."
**Give or take Larry Hagman.
19. I originally thought that Primary Colors took place from fall 1991-spring 1992, corresponding with the events that it parodies and dramatizes. Dialogue late in the movie places Libby's breakdown as occurring in 1978 and her first meeting the Stantons at the 1972 Democratic National Convention. Other signifiers that we're not in the early '90s include the Diet Coke cans, Henry's office having a 1997 phone book for Dover, New Hampshire, Politically Incorrect being on the air and Jack and ex-Gov. Fred Picker (Hagman) appearing on The Geraldo Rivera Show, a title it picked up in 1996.
20. God, the zoom in to the Krispy Kreme where Jack and Danny (Scott Burkholder) are getting to know each other is just a work of art. Again, Jack's making an everyman feel special, but in a way that doesn't feel like he's pandering. Also, unlike during the adult literacy class scene, it's just Jack, Danny and Henry. Jack has no reason to put on an act (although he might figure that Danny will mention the visit to other customers). Either way, everytime I watch this scene, I think, "Henry, take the damn apple fritter!"
21. Like I said, I've never read Primary Colors the book all the way through. I know that it includes Henry and Susan having sex at least once. I'm not sure if Henry and Daisy getting together was always in the book or if that was May's invention. Speaking of hookups, we have Libby and Jennifer. and (supposedly) Jack and Cashmere. Merry Christmas, Stantons!
22. The airport bar patrons giving commentary on Jack and Susan's shared interview reminds me of watching TV with my late, very Republican grandma. "... He will wake up every morning and bust his butt for the American people." "'Bust his butt.' The mouth on her." "He should just take her in hand."
23. Libby's appraisal of Jack and Susan in '72 is something that sticks with me. "Glorious. Golden. Golden." Libby also has Cashmere pegged: "I know just what she looked like in high school." At this point in the movie, she's enjoyably cynical towards Jack. "It's not like you've suddently become an innocent because the tape is phony. God! I wish we'd castrated you when we had the chance."
24. Repeating myself, but it's worth it. Randy (Brian Markinson) having a quote from Dallas on his office wall says so much about himself and the movie he's in. "Once you give up your integrity, everything else is a piece of cake," was said by J.R. Ewing, who could have easily said it to Henry and Libby. Part of me wonders if it was mean't as a rewatch bonus, teasing for Larry Hagman's upcoming appearance. Larry said the line was his all-time favorite and here's the kicker: J.R. said it when blackmailing a former child molester. Again, it feels too perfect of foreshadowing to be coincidental. If Production Designer Bo Welch or the set decorator wasn't a Dallas fan, you could have fooled me.
25. Speaking of foreshadowing, Libby's line, "You could not live with yourself if you denied the American people of this man."
26. Of the five cameos from four TV hosts, Larry King's have the least baggage. For a non-actor, he sells the punchline after Daisy saves the campaign and shares the manipulated dirty "conversation" featuring Larry. "How did you get my cellular?" Aside from Larry, Geraldo and Bill Mahrer, Charlie Rose pops in. If they'd have gotten Matt Lauer, we'd have a set!
27. That image of Jack standing out in the rain, trying to appeal to last-minute voters on the night of the New Hampshire primary comes to mind every time I think of pre-Super Tuesday events.
28. After nearly 80 minutes of Jack doing what comes naturally, we finally see him outright pandering when he visits Jewish retirees in Florida. If ever there was a man who looks awkward wearing a yarmulke, it's Travolta. "... And America has no better friend than the state of Israel."
29. Jack's response to learning that he may have impregnated Loretta (Bianca Lawson) -- who, lest we forget, is teenage, Black, daughter of a friend who thinks of Jack like a brother and is the Stanton's babysitter -- is chilling. "Who else knows? ... What's he want? ... I just can't catch a break, can I?"
30. "We gotta talk to him. We gotta make sure he understands there's been some kind of mistake. They're good people, but they're not sophisticated. But I want 'em to know." In hindsight, it's obvious that as he's talking to Henry, Jack is thinking of the scheme that will save his ass. Even if he insists, "I am not the father of that child."
31. From the gravity of Henry and Howard (Paul Guilfoyle) persuading Willie (Tommy Hollis) to act in Jack's best interest regarding the baby to Izzy Rosenblatt (Rob Reiner) hosting Schmooze for Jews. Reiner's a pro, letting the inane questions and chatter get the laughs. "We were just talking with Gov. Stanton about how his mother loves Las Vegas. I was wondering, senator, does your mother have a favorite vacation spot?" "My mother's dead." "Oh. I'm sorry." Then it's another tonal shift as Sen. Harris (Kevin Cooney), fresh from losing a verbal round with Jack, suffers two heart attacks and goes into a coma.
32. I'm guessing that in the book, Susan and Henry have sex after he comforts her when he finds out about Loretta's pregnancy. God, that zoom in to Emma at 92:58 is another thing of beauty. She also looked a lot like Hillary Clinton.
33. "Well, they'll kill me (in New York)." "No. It'll just feel like they have. But you'll survive. We all find a way to survive."
34. Picker was Elaine May's invention, unless I misread Stephen Hunter's Washington Post review. "The movie fabricates a new candidate ..." That's interesting that we have an adaptation with a largely new third act. In her review, Maslin said Klein was not directly involved with the making of Primary Colors. Anyway, Hagman gives a fine performance and Picker's speech about how politics has become like professional wrestling in order to keep the public's excitement remains relevant.
35. It's interesting that Jemmons/Billy Bob, now overshadowed by Libby/Kathy, sets in motion the events that will ultimately destroy her. He casually mentions to Henry (in front of Susan, who already knows this) that Libby is the type to go "crazy when her candidate turns out not to be the rock her church was built on." Jemmons also talks in earshot of Asher (Robert Klein), who wants to know "Why did Picker quit in '78?"
36. "I bust dust. I protect 'ya. I don't do in the opponent." Bates continues to be execellent as Primary Colors concludes, but it's now in spite of the material. Did Libby really expect that her services would be limited to only putting out Jack's fires? If that's the case, then Jack and Susan needed to find better help.
37. "You gotta forget who you thought (Picker) was, Libby. You gotta find out who he really is," Susan says. Picker's true self is an ex-cocaine addict whose former dealer/brief sex partner (John Vargas) is dying of AIDS. Libby's correct when she says that the whole situation is "all kind of human and awful and ... sad." She's just really unbearable about it. Sorry, but she is. The next question is what will the Stantons will do with the information. "I mean, after 25 years, I get to see what they're all about." Bitch please.
38. Jack is the first to break Libby's heart (and Henry's, as it turns out). "Now, now, what do we do with this?" Susan's next when she suggests leaking the information to The New York Times or The Wall Street Journal. Jack points out the obvious: "Why did you go out and get it if you weren't gonna use it?" Libby says she was only checking to see that Picker wasn't evil, before wrapping herself up in her bona fides.
39. "The point is we don't do this sort of thing." I half-expected Libby to say "When they go low, we go high." It feels like everyone in the room wishes that Jack and Susan had dispatched anyone but Libby to get the poop on Picker. Kathy gives her all to Libby appealing to Jack's sense of decency. "You said, 'No. Our job is to end all that. Our job is to make (politics) clean. Because if it's clean, we win. Because our ideas are better.'" It also seems like Libby is getting choked up at the idea of decency, not so much decency itself. This, by the way, was considered by Maslin to be "the film's single best and most serious scene."
40. Jack and Susan jointly and repeatedly break Libby's heart again by disavowing, then reclaiming, who they were in '72. If Picker's not taken down, everything the Stantons have worked for since the good 'ol days "dies, and fast." Not only that, but no matter what, somebody will take Picker down. "... It just ain't who we're supposed to be." Jack proposes leaking only the non-personal scandalous material, but Susan says it's all or nothing.
41. Libby tries one more time to save Picker, by revealing that "Jack's blood," which proved he didn't father Loretta's baby, is actually Uncle Charlie's. Libby admits that she thinks Jack didn't impregnate the girl, but his actions clearly indicate that he did have sex with her and tried to cover it up. Susan reminds Libby that she would end Jack's political career. Libby reads Jack for filth, saying that no one ever calls him on his shit.
42. Primary Colors was adapted and filmed prior to Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky's sexual relationship became known. The movie's theatrical and video releases coincided with waves of the controversy. Stephen Whitty, Entertainment Weekly, fall 1998: "How can viewers look at Primary Colors now in quite the way it was intended? ... The real Jack Stanton has been called (out). The real Susan Stanton is being forced to live through it. And what happens next -- and how it happens, over the next few months and years*** -- is the kind of human drama the dated Primary Colors cannot even begin to touch."
***Decades.
43. Yadda yadda, Libby regrets having been so proud of Jack and promises that if they take out Picker, she'll take out Jack. Henry walks out on the Stantons. Libby, whose regret has grown to include Susan, ends up killing herself. A contrite Jack turns over Libby and Henry's report to Picker, who sees the writing on the wall. Hagman makes a meal out of "Fucking cocaine." Henry's ahead of his time. He plans to abandon Jack's campaign and work on voter registration. Jack begs-orders-begs Henry to stick with him.
44. Now, really, who could say no to this face?
via IMDB/Courtesy NBCUniversal
45. Whitty was not pleased that May added the epilogue at Jack's inaugural ball, with the final twist that Henry did stick around. "Once again the ends justify the means, and to the spoiled belong the victories."
46. By accident, I ended up with nearly as many thoughts as U.S. presidents to date. This one's for you, Joe.
Recommended with reservations.
Thoughts:
-- "(The Stantons, et. al watch Mrs. Harris hand the reins to Picker) It's obvious that my husband will not be able to continue his campaign for the presidency." "(Howard) Fantastic! I mean -- Well, you know what I mean."
-- Box Office: Grossing $39 million on a $65 million budget, this opened at No. 2 and came in at No. 54 for 1998.
-- Awards Watch: Like I said, Kathy Bates and Elaine May both received Oscar nominations but no wins. Kathy won the Screen Actor's Guild, American Comedy and Blockbuster awards, in addition to being nominated for a BAFTA and Golden Globe. Elaine won the BAFTA and was nominated for a Writers Guild of America Award. Emma Thompson, meanwhile, was nominated for the American Comedy and Blockbuster awards, while John Travolta was nominated for the Golden Globe. Duane Byrge, The Hollywood Reporter, wrote that Travolta and Thompson were likely to get Academy Awards nominations. It's debatable if Primary Colors' Oscars buzz was defeated by the Lewinsky scandal or for opening too soon. A little of both?
-- Critic's Corner, the movie: "Only the names have been changed to protect the not-so-innocent," Byrge wrote. "Wicked, whip smart fun," according to Peter Travers, Rolling Stone. "One of the finest and funniest films ever made about the political process," Sean O'Neal declared at the A.V. Club in 2014. Roger Ebert: "It's a superb film -- funny, insightful and very wise about the realities of political life." Gene Siskel: "I think Primary Colors damages Mr. Clinton more than explains him. ... (It's) even more cynical about our political system than Wag the Dog, and I suppose we can thank Mr. Clinton for triggering that." "Struggling with its own identity crisis ... affectionately satirical at first, it switches gears in its later stages to attempt a serious assessment of political realities," Maslin wrote. "(It has) more serious ambitions to capture something important and disturbing about this era's political atmosphere. Sometimes it does." Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: "If the film overreaches a bit in its attempt to be meaningful (and it does), it still offers more than enough pleasing wit and pizazz to win us over." "(It) lacks something crucial at its center that prevents it from being an entirely credible portrait," wrote Todd McCarthy of Variety. "Anyone who worries any deeper about (this movie's impact) -- studio execs or political advisers, Clinton supporters or detractiors, (not to mention colleagues in the video department?) -- needs to take up a hobby," Lisa Schwarzbaum wrote in Entertainment Weekly.
-- Critic's Corner, John: "(It's) one of his finest, most challenging and nuanced performances," Rabin wrote in 2021. "(He) titilates and rewards audiences for thinking the worst about politicans and the best about movie stars," Schwarzbaum wrote. Maslin: "The star, an astonishing mimic, has the mannerisms down cold." "Travolta, more the instinctive movie star than the highly trained technician ... (offers) no more than a turn, an amusing and light-fingered impersonation, but like the politican he plays, it's an irresistible one," Turan wrote. Desson Howe: "After you take a moment to adjust to Travolta porked out and grayed up, the whole thing's a hoot." The visual half of the performance was uncanny, McCarthy wrote. What was missing was Clinton's intellect. "Without it, Travolta's Stanton is too much just a Southern hick with an unsual common touch."
-- Critic's Corner, Emma/Susan: "Much will be written about how much Travolta and Thompson do or do not resemble the Clintons, but their wisest choices as actors is to preserve their mystery," Ebert wrote. "The movie wisely stays a certain distance from the Stantons. There are no important scenes in which they are alone together in a room." "Emma Thompson continues her streak of fine performances," Siskel wrote. "(It's) an astute balancing act, conveying both the steely nature of her character as well as the anguish she goes through in private," Byrge wrote. Hunter: "You feel her presence in a way you don't feel Travolta's. You feel her urgency, steely focus, seriousness of purpose. She's really the one that drives the movie. ... You feel her core, which is belief."
-- Critic's Corner, Adrian/Emma: "Let's put it this way: A star is born," Hunter raved. "Alone among the cast, Lester is able to remove his character from identifcation with the real-life antecedent and make Henry live independently." Schwarzbaum figured that Lester was cast due to his obscurity. "He can most easily play the omniscient blank of a narrator." She also got a dig in at "Emma Thompson wrestling manfully with an American accent." "Lester and Thompson, both British, seem as uneasy with their American accents as with their scenes together. It's with Travolta that both actors hit their stride," Travers wrote.
-- Critic's Corner, Kathy: "A showstopper," Maslin wrote. She had a "gleeful, high-energy part (that's) a lifesaver ... good enough to practically steal the entire picture," Turan wrote. "It's an Oscar-caliber performance," according to Ebert. Siskel agreed. So did Travers. "The academy should start engraving an Oscar for Bates; she is the film's grieving heart."
-- Critic's Corner, Billy Bob: "This isn't the dynamic, mischievious, fabulously entertaining Carville of ... The War Room, a pure warrior fierce as an Genghis (and it's certainly not the latter-day blowhard who never met a Clinton lie he didn't love)," a disappointed Hutner wrote. "Superbly sly in too small a role," Travers wrote.
-- Critic's Corner, Larry: "Perfectly cast as a towering giant of a man whose sad eyes convey an almost bottomless sense of sadness and grief," Rabin wrote. "The most surprisingly moving supporting player may well be Larry Hagman," Schwarzbaum wrote. "(He) damn near glows with serenity and purpose, and Nichols skillfully shoots every Picker scene to a slower metronome beat."
-- Hey, It's the '90s!: "There was, at the time, a wave of optimistic Clinton-era films and TV shows about the U.S. presidency," Dashiell Silva observed at The Film Experience. That feels like something that only occurred between 1993-2001. I can't immediately think of any movies that had fun with the Dubya years. Well, maybe Love Actually (with Billy Bob Thornton, no less, as POTUS). "This is the first of the (Clinton portayals) that doesn't portend to really be about anything but the man himself," Keith Phipps wrote at the A.V. Club in 1998. Edmond Dantes Inferno, a commenter at Nathan Rabin's Happy Place, noted how "these movies seemed really cynical at the time. ... Now they're practially West Wing-esque fantasies." Byrge observed how the movie "shows up close what the real-life polls have been telling us -- (Clinton) rises from the ashes of each encounter." Travers wanted his readers to know that no sex scenes take place on camera. "No one, least of all Travolta and director Mike Nichols, is gettin' jiggy wit' it."
-- Hey, It's ...!: Diane Ladd, Ned Eisenberg, Bonnie Bartlett and Tony Shalhoub.
-- Fanservice Junction: The sexy men enjoying and serving guests at the pool at Eddie's hotel.
-- Let's hear it for Kevin Cooney. He -- and Larry King -- appeared in two political satires in 1998: this and Bulworth.
-- "Now, don't break our hearts." Oh, Ella Louise, you beautiful, naive, sophisticated newborn baby ...
-- Next: Wild Things. On deck: Mercury Rising.
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