| View Larger Image | Power | DVDStarring: Richard Gere, Julie Christie, Gene Hackman, Kate Capshaw, Denzel Washington
Directed By: Sidney Lumet
| List Price: | $9.98 | | | Available: | Usually ships in 9 to 11 days |
| | Binding: | DVD | | Rating: |  | | Run Time: | 111 minutes | | Format: | Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Full Screen, HiFi Sound, NTSC | | Studio: | Warner Home Video | | Number of Discs: | 1 | | Aspect Ratio: | 1.33:1 | | Release Date: | May 18, 1999 | | Sales Rank: | 30,846th |
|
EDITORIAL REVIEWS |
Description
Richard Gere, Julie Christie, Gene Hackman and Denzel Washington star in director Sidney Lumet's thriller about political image making in our media manipulation age. Year: 1986 Director: Sidney Lumet Starring: Richard Gere, Julie Christie, Gene Hackman, Denzel Washington |
CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 3.0 based on 12 reviews)
|
The Human Condition by D. Lattimer (Evantson, IL)  5 Stars
May 06, 2009
I saw this last night, having seen it about 10 years ago. It still packs a punch and Richard Gere is perfect for this role. Overall this is a film about the human condition and how power corrupts, and it will always be relevant.
| |
Lumet's most underrated film. by Robert P. Beveridge (Cleveland, OH) 5 Stars
February 08, 2009
Power (Sidney Lumet, 1986)
Sidney Lumet will be forever remembered for his string of pictures in the seventies beginning with Serpico (1973) and running through, depending on your point of view, Prince of the City (1981) or The Verdict (1982). After that, conventional wisdom says, Lumet fell off a cliff until the mid-2000s. Me, I think he kept going for a bit afterwards. In fact, save Dog Day Afternoon, I've always thought that Power was Lumet's finest work.
It's the story of Pete St. John (Richard Gere), a Washignton, D.C. spin doctor. Not something you can really hang a movie on, you say? Boring? Oh, no. Not in the capable hands of Sidney Lumet. He grabs an all-star cast of St. John's clients, an all-star cast of their adversaries, installs Gene Hackman as St. John's previous mentor and current rival, and simply sits back and lets an election year unfold in Ohio (with a few detours to other states and a quick trip south of the border for spice). Add in star turns from then-rising stars Denzel Washington and D. B. Sweeney, and how can you go wrong?
Power manages to be a cautionary tale about political spin that never really feels like a cautionary tale; the script and the director are far more interested in these characters, all of whom are at least a touch crazy in the head, than they are stopping every two minutes to hand us message pap. As a result, this is one of the most effective movies of its type, when it comes to getting its message across. Sound like a paradox? It's not. Message filmmakers take note, this is what you want to be doing. Lumet's light touch and the actors' uniformly good performances make this one a gripping thriller, even while you're wondering when something's actually going to happen. It never does. This is not a movie where things blow up and cars chase each other. And yet somehow it's more absorbing than most action movies. You probably missed this one back in the day, and the DVD release a number of years ago got almost no publicity. Seek it out, especially if you're a Lumet fan. **** ½
| |
Power still relevant 22 years later by Holly Forrest (USA) 5 Stars
April 23, 2008
I was educated, enlightened and entertained by this film two decades ago, and I still am. The lines in it are witty and they capture a political life perfectly. There are a lot of great moments - the pollster/computer guy Ralph explaining his work to candidate Fritz Weaver, Gere chastising a governor's assistant for petty bureaucratic moves which could jeopardize the campaign, Hackman drunkenly chastising Gere about taking on perverted candidates, Christie ferreting out E.G. Marshall's reasons for senate retirement.... Yes, there are a lot of plots and it can get chaotic. But that is so true of political campaign life. I love the pieces where they create television ads for the candidates. Brilliant, brilliant film. Why aren't there more films from writer David Himmelstein?!
| |
Not 'Power' ful enough by Inela Vern (Grand Canyon)  2 Stars
November 12, 2007
As a lifelong fan of Mr. Washington I bought the movie to round out my collection. Didn't like the movie--the concept if PR people (Richard Gere, Gene Hackman) going to such extreme measures--aagh! Denzel's role was very minor. Disappointing movie; glad I didn't pay any money to see it.
| |
My disc was defective too, and the movie wasn't worth it... by G. Scot Shelley (Raleigh, NC)  1 Stars
February 15, 2007
I actually bought this DVD over a year ago but just decided to watch it. I'm a huge fan of Sidney Lumet, and I like Richard Gere, Gene Hackman, and the other stars in the film. About 30 mins. into the movie the picture started distorting, and after that it would skip large chunks of the movie. There was nothing visibly wrong with the DVD itself. But, I saw enough. Even before I reached the defective part, it was like watching a foreign film without subtitles. I had almost no clue what was going on, and didn't really care after a while. I can usually watch almost anything, most movies have some redeeming quality - for example, maybe an exotic, interesting locale. This is largely set in New Mexico. No offense to New Mexicans, but skip this. I threw it away.
| |
SIMILAR PRODUCTS |
| Hard Lessons
Starring: Denzel Washington, Lynn Whitfield, Debra Artis, Edna Auguillard, Billy Jaye Banner
Directed By: Eric Laneuville
Also With: Isidore Mankofsky (Cinematographer), Robin Wilson (Editor), Jerram A. Swartz (Producer), Linda Otto (Producer), Charles Eric Johnson (Writer)
Denzel washington protrays george mckenna the determined new principal of a notorious los angeles high school. Life is full of hard lessons for mckenna who risks it all by going head to head with the drug-infested gang-run war zone known as george washington high. Studio: Lions Gate Home Ent. Release Date: 05/25/2004 Starring: Denzel Washington Lynn Whitfield Run time: 94 minutes Rating: Nr
| 
| The Mighty Quinn
Starring: Denzel Washington, Robert Townsend, James Fox, Mimi Rogers, M. Emmet Walsh
Directed By: Carl Schenkel
Also With: Jacques Steyn (Cinematographer), Dale Pollock (Producer), Ed Elbert (Producer), Jeffrey Bydalek (Producer), Sanford Lieberson (Producer), A.H.Z. Carr (Writer), Hampton Fancher (Writer)
OscarÂ(r) winner* Denzel Washington (The Hurricane) and Robert Townsend (Hollywood Shuffle) star in this witty, romantic, entertaining and light-hearted who-dun-it (Vincent Canby, The New York Times). Filled with spice and adventure, The Mighty Quinn is delightful...a sunny Caribbean caper as seductive as a great big umbrella drink (The Washington Post)! Life in the easygoing Caribbean is hard on Police Chief Xavier Quinn (Washington). Dubbed 'theMighty Quinn by sarcastic islanders and...
| 
| No Mercy
Starring: Richard Gere, Kim Basinger, Jeroen Krabbé, George Dzundza, Gary Basaraba
Directed By: Richard Pearce
From the streets of Chicago to the bayous of Louisiana, Richard Gere stars as Eddie Jillette, a cop seeking to avenge his partner's death by bringing in the killer. Basinger co-stars as the murderer's moll who Jillette kidnaps and falls in love with.
| 
| Internal Affairs
Starring: Richard Gere, Andy Garcia, Laurie Metcalf, Nancy Travis, Richard Bradford
Directed By: Mike Figgis
AN EVIL LOS ANGELES POLICEMAN TOYS WITH THE MIND OF A DIVISION INVESTIGATOR ON HIS CASE.
| 
| Final Analysis
Starring: Richard Gere, Kim Basinger, Uma Thurman, Eric Roberts, Paul Guilfoyle
Directed By: Phil Joanou
Also With: Charles Roven (Producer), John Solomon (Producer), Kelley Smith-Wait (Producer), Maggie Wilde (Producer), Paul Junger Witt (Producer), Robert Berger (Writer), Wesley Strick (Writer)
A psychiatrist becomes entangled with two disturbed sistes in a deadly game of murder. Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 06/01/2004 Starring: Richard Gere Kim Basinger Run time: 125 minutes Rating: R Director: Phil Joanou
|
|
|
