Bill McKay (Robert Redford), California Democratic candidate for U.S. Senator, a man of integrity and ideals, will now let the great American political machine manipulate him. Because now he's got to win.
The Candidate, directed by Michael Ritchie from an on-target Academy Award-winning Best Original Screenplay (1972) by Jeremy Larner, is all about the packaging of today's office-seeker. Still timely after 25 years, it's a sharp insider's view of how admen, press agents, pollsters and media czars converge on election campaigns. Peter Boyle, Melvyn Douglas and Don Porter co-star in one of the wittiest political movies ever made.