Library Film Series

The film Primary Colors will be shown on Tuesday, October 28, at 6:00 p.m., in the Library classroom, 2nd floor. This is the second event in the Fall 2008 Library Film Series, featuring films about politics and elections.


Primary Colors (1998) is a “superb comedy-drama [that] provides an illuminating, insightful, and frequently hilarious look at the harsh realities of presidential politics. John Travolta stars as Jack Stanton, a presidential hopeful whose campaign is challenged by dual dilemmas: how to squelch a scandal involving the candidate's alleged sex with an underage girl, and how to handle information that could potentially ruin Stanton's opponent (superbly played by Larry Hagman). Stanton's wife (Emma Thompson) stands by her man despite awareness of his infidelities, but his loyal campaign planners (played by Billy Bob Thornton, Maura Tierney, and Adrian Lester) experience a crisis of conscience. So does one of the Stantons' oldest friends (Kathy Bates, in an Oscar-nominated role), whose sense of betrayal and lost idealism proves too much to bear. … Primary Colors plays like a sophisticated comedy with loads of memorable scenes and dialogue, but it sneaks up on you with devastating dramatic impact. Anchored by Travolta's superb performance, the movie presents a story of great moral complexity and leaves viewers to contemplate their own reactions to the volatile and ethically complicated game of modern politics.
(Amazon.com review)

Dr. Michael Jones, Assistant Professor, Social Sciences/History-Political Science, will introduce the film and moderate a post-viewing question & answer session.

The last film in the series, The Candidate, will be shown on November 18.

Contact Shamim Rajpar, srajpar@mtaloy.edu or 886-8662, if additional information is needed.