Tony Even a Brit like me knows exactly who these fictional characters are portraying from the start. Think all the actors major & minor deserve resounding applause if not accolades for their portrayals. The film does ask the question as to whether US democracy actually fulfils the ideal it pretends to aim for. The presidential elections are a prime example, you overthrow monarchy & aristocracy. Yet end up with the same old oligarchies - Kennedy's / Bush's / Clinton's. The winner is usually a populist, well that's democratic, but slightly demagogic. This guy, as lets face it you've never had a woman running the country, often uses presidential decrees to force his policy through, that my friends is what the Greeks called a tyrant. So as you can see, or the Greeks would, you've left democracy a long way back in this paragraph & probably history.

classicalsteve Over 20 years before a film like Primary Colors could even be conceived, a young Italian heart-throb was breaking box office records with a film which defined the Disco era: the film was Saturday Night Fever, and the movie star was John Travolta. The year: 1977. Fast-forward 20 years. Disco was over, and the New York suburbanite whose career declined in the 1980's, often labeled a one-trick pony, had a resurgence in the 1990's. Travolta went from movie star to actor, and Primary Colors is no question Travolta's best effort.Rather than playing a New York street-smart and club hustler, Travolta dons the garb of a cheeky Midwestern politician, Jack Stanton, a Midwest governor who rings a helluva lot like Bill Clinton. His auspicious wife, Susan Stanton (played stride-for-stride by the incomparable Emma Thompson) has the intelligence and no nonsense drive which rings a lot like Hillary Clinton. Together, they are on the road to capture the Democratic Party nomination for President of the United States. Adrian Lester in a superb and entirely convincing performance plays the straight man Henry Burton, a new-comer to the campaign. Throughout the entire film, we see the Stantons through Burton's eyes, which are at first enthralled, smitten, and eventually disillusioned with not only the shortcomings of Jack Stanton but the entire political process.Burton is pulled into the process even before he has committed himself. He accompanies Stanton on all the primary stops, staying in cheap hotels and constantly eating out. At one point he says he's never been involved in a political campaign, to which Susan Stanton replies "Neither have we." He sets up speech venues, and campaign headquarters. He also makes a few blunders along the way, neglecting to be informed about an appearance by one of their opponents. Stanton is so livid, he throws his cell phone out the window. Stanton seems to have all the qualities for making a good presidential candidate. He is highly intelligent yet personable at the one-on-one level. He is an effective debater and speaker. And he has a winning personality that the electorate can admire, even adore. But Stanton has a secret. When given the chance to engage in an extra-marital affair, he can't seem to stop himself. As the campaign progresses, Stanton's sexual history starts to come to the fore. Burton, Richard Lemmons the campaign manager (Billy Bob Thorton), and private investigator Libby Holden (Kathy Bates) must do their best to pick up the pieces and clean up for Stanton. Or at the least, they have to figure out what the press might find and beat them to it, like a wild boar stocking prey as they are characterized.All the leads and supports are par excellence. The unexpected stand-out of the cast is John Travolta who really captured the mannerisms, gestures, and speech of Bill Clinton, a.k.a. Jack Stanton. He really seems a Midwestern WASP rather than an NY Italian. Because the rest of the cast is so strong, the cast keeps up with Travolta line-for-line. High marks go to Adrian Lester as the campaign organizer Henry who loses first his girlfriend, then later his sense of morality when he signs onto the campaign. Emma Thompson can't be beat as Susan Stanton, a.k.a. Hillary Clinton. Billy Bob Thorton's character is essentially James Carvill, the southern democrat who was Clinton's campaign manager, the equivalent of Karl Rove.Unlike many other industrialized countries, the US electorate desires their politicians to have relatively clean records in areas which have nothing to do with politics. Extra-marital affairs are absolutely taboo for US Presidents yet very common among leaders in Europe. (I've heard having a mistress is a prerequisite for the Prime Minister of France.) Stanton is essentially Bill Clinton by another name. Clinton was and is a brilliant politician, but he couldn't keep his pants zipped while campaigning for and occupying national office. But somehow he made it work.

secondtake Primary Colors (1998)This starts off really great, and gets the flavor of a real campaign, without too much Hollywood hype (campaigns have their own kind of falseness, which is played up here). John Travolta not only hits it just right as a feeling and determined candidate, he also nails Bill Clinton pretty well, too. I don't suppose Emma Thompson is supposed to match Hillary quite as well, but she's a perfect running mate, and throw in Billy Bob (Thornton) as a sidekick and you have a really solid working trio. But it doesn't quite keep the focus or momentum, or honesty, of the opening scenes. Or humor, sometimes. (This is a comedy, by the way, and director Mike Nichols knows comedy, as does his screenwriter and longtime collaborator, Elaine May. They used to do stand up comedy together in the 1950s!) What begins as a kind of revelation and interior exploration digresses into more and more clichés of what campaigns do, and what they have to do (sleaze wise) to succeed. We know this stuff. It isn't the facts that enchant us, it's the exceptions to the facts, and it's the nuances between them. It never quite flags, though twenty minutes less screen time sounded good by the end. And Travolta and Thompson hold up their roles consistently.The real saving grace in the second half is the bursting on the scene of Kathy Bates, who is herself at her best. It might be the best Kathy Bates Kathy Bates has ever done, including some impassioned, tearful stuff. The opposing candidate is remarkably convincing--you even want to vote for him--played by Larry Hagman. On the other hand, the young clerk and campaign manager Adrian Lester is a bit too restrained and dull to make him even noticeable.Nichols is best when he gets two or three or four people interacting as real people, with flaws and intensity and passion (as in "The Graduate" and "Closer"). And those moments here are terrific, and sometimes hilarious, and make the rest easily worthwhile.

wes-connors "John Travolta leads an all-star cast (including Emma Thompson, Kathy Bates, and Billy Bob Thornton) on a wild race to the presidency in this savagely funny comedy. Jack Stanton (Travolta) is a virtually unknown Southern governor on a quest for the White House with his strong, savvy, and equally ambitious wife, Susan (Thompson). Running against the odds, the Stantons need all the help they can get from their extremely colorful political team. Together, they take off on a hilarious, heart-wrenching, and ultimately history-making roller coaster ride to the top," according to the DVD sleeve description.Mike Nichols and Elaine May do a marvelous job in turning writer Joe Klein's once controversial pages into a motion picture. "Primary Colors" is a satirically fictionalized account of U.S. President Bill Clinton's 1992 primary campaign. Mr. Klein originally published his story as "Anonymous", which made Washington tongues wag for months. The story deals frankly with several of its characters' non-marital sexual relations. Ultimately, the story did not damage the reputations of Bill and Hillary Clinton; it does not accurately convey their love or intellect, but nicely illustrates Mr. Clinton's empathy.Travolta makes a particularly fine impression as the thinly-disguised Commander-in-Chief. Playing the team's "George Stephanopoulos", idealistic Adrian Lester (as Henry Burton) quietly emerges as Travolta's co-star. The rest of the cast is uniformly excellent. Putting "Betsey Wright"-like Kathy Bates (as Libby Holden) in charge of "bimbo eruptions" was an inspiration; she was born to duet with Olivia Newton-John on "Please Mr. Please", and won several "Best Supporting Actress" honors. Nichols makes every small role count (immediately obvious with Allison Janney and Mykelti Williamson).******** Primary Colors (3/20/98) Mike Nichols ~ John Travolta, Adrian Lester, Emma Thompson, Kathy Bates