10 Best Movie Presidents
First off, let us put aside all those great portrayals of actual presidents living or dead. If we included all those we would find ourselves inundated with great performances from everyone from Walter Huston’s Abraham Lincoln to Paul Giamatti’s John Adams to Pat McCormick’s Grover Cleveland. No, here we are going with those make-believe Commanders-in-Chief that have graced the silver screen. Granted, one of those on the lists are obviously channeling a real president, but technically he is a fictionalized (slightly) version of said president. With all that said, and without further ado, I give you the 10 Best Movie Presidents.
10. Alan Alda in Canadian Bacon
Okay, the movie is just atrocious (known mainly for it being the only non-documentary directed by the rabble-rousing Michael Moore as well as the final film completed by John Candy before his untimely death), but Alan Alda as the not-so-capable President-without-a-name is a hoot-and-a-half and that is enough for me to include this very funny, and often overlooked (at least post-M*A*S*H) comic actor.
9. Kevin Kline in Dave
Kline is one of those comic actors who usually do not get the respect due them. Playing the duel role(s) of President Bill Mitchell and temporary replacement Dave Kovic, Kline shows off these comedic talents in a film that granted is not the best comedy in years but is punctuated enough by the actor’s ability and timing to make the whole shebang – as sit-commish as it may very well be – work.
8. James Earl Jones in The Man
How can a president with the voice of James Earl Jones (both Darth Vader AND Mufasa!!) not be on this list? Playing Senator Douglass Dilman who becomes president after the President and Speaker of the House are killed and the VP declines the office, Jones takes on this role, in a film that was surely cutting edge at the time considering the racial storyline, with the usual verve and vigor associated with the powerful iconic actor. In a long line of strong, daring performances, this is one of the master thespians best.
7. John Travolta in Primary Colors
Yes he is playing the thinnest of veiled version of Bill Clinton, and we said only fake presidents here, and yes he is playing a presidential hopeful, not an actual president, but who are we to stand on such formality – Travolta is great in the role and I just could not find it in my heart to kick him out on a technicality. Travolta’s turn as Governor Jack Stanton is a near pitch-perfect impersonation of former President Clinton (though for legal reasons he is not playing the actual Clinton) and that combined with the real Clinton being my favorite president of my lifetime, means he makes the cut.
6. Jack Nicholson in Mars Attacks!
Part of a star-studded Tim Burton-directed comic extravaganza that is easily one of the straight-out funniest comedies of the past twenty years or so, Jack actually plays two parts here. One is President James Dale, the other is sleazy Vegas porn monger Art Land. The fact that Jack plays both parts practically the same (indignation turned to arrogance to differentiate the two) and plays them pretty much as close to his own public persona as possible (Hell, the guys not even acting!), is what makes his dual role so fun to watch.
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56 Comments
Cool!
Awesome! I made a top five a while ago for President’s Day and glad to see four of ‘em made your list. The one missing here is Morgan Freeman in Deep Impact.
I’ve never actually seen Deep Impact.
Jeff Bridges from The Contender should be on there. Solid list.
Agree. No list of film Presidents is complete without Bridges.
Contender is another one of those films I have not seen. I love Jeff Bridges and it is one of the few films of his I have not seen. I am sure poor Alan Alda would be knocked off the list to make room for Bridges if I were to see the film.
Boy are you guys wrong the one missing is Gregory Itzin from 24! By far the best fictious president. I don’t care that his on a tv-series.
Honorable mention to John Travolta playing a governor (Bill Clinton) running for president in primary colors.
I already cheated a bit by including the originally made-for-TV The Man, so I suppose I have my small screen quota.
Another good choice, though like Travolta he was merely running for president, would be Michael Murphy in Altman’s HBO series Tanner.
Gregory Itzin is a good choice. We loved to hate him! But Dennis Haysbert still tops him for me! Glad to see you’re a fan of 24!
Dennis Haysbart turned in an iconic performance in the first two seasons and shpuld of course be on a list like this.
Itzin’s character is so much bolder and provoking in a way that really sticks out.
Perhaps we need to see Harrison Ford’s President & Bill Pullman’s President in a steel cage death match?
I would pay to see that.
Ahah, me too!
Just where in the hell is President Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Herbert Camacho?
Who again???? (to lazy too copy paste)
From Idiocracy. Apparently I wasn’t too lazy to copy and paste, otherwise I would never have known.
He would’ve been my #1.
President Camacho: Shit. I know shit’s bad right now, with all that starving bullshit, and the dust storms, and we are running out of french fries and burrito coverings. But I got a solution.
He makes a very realistic future President.
You and me Kevyn. =)
John Travolta in Primary Colours is better than all of Richard Gere/Nicholas Cage’s careers. And his chemistry with Emma Thompson is one of the biggest surprises ever.
Have you seen “The Weather Man” or “Lord of War”?
And where did that statement come from?
oh ya and that small movie …. “Leaving Las Vegas”?
I’ve seen like five seconds of it. Should I watch it during or after my alcohol problem?
Definitely during because I think you need to be half in the bag to not get up and walk out of such a highly overrated piece of Oscar bait crap as Leaving Las Vegas.
With that said, I still love Nic Cage.
Great list, but I challenge the notion that Kevin Kline does not get the respect he is due. Kline is an extremely well-respected actor – in the world of theater, certainly, and I believe in film as well.
By critics and cinephiles (and theatrophiles??) he is well respected, but by the public I don’t think he gets what he deserves.
He’s the only actor of the last 25 years to get an Oscar for a comedy role.
Jack Palance in City Slickers. Christoph Waltz in Inglourious Basterds. Jack Nicholson in As Good As It Gets. Granted the last two could be considered comedy hybrids, but City Slickers for sure.
Still, I love Kevin Kline and just adored his role in A Fish Called Wanda.
I’d like to add Ronald Lacey as President Widmark in The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension.
Lectroids? Planet 10? Nuclear extortion? A woman named John?
I second (or third) the motion that you see THE CONTENDER asap! Probably the best movie president I can think of; “fucking shark steak!”
As for Douglas – I agree his persona and character is terrific in the film. But I saw this recently and the bit about gun control at the end had me rolling my eyes.
I will see the Contender. I promise.
As for the gun control bit – Yes, perhaps it is eye-rolling-worthy, but then nobody’s perfect.
Of course I will stop myself from any further political speak since this is not the place and I don’t want to set off anyone’s ticker.
Great list Kevyn!
As I haven’t seen The American President, I’d say Dr Strangelove is my favourite here. Such a brilliant film made even better by Seller’s hilarious portrayal of the president.
Also, wasn’t Danny Glover some kind of Obama like President in the awful 2012? Not that it deserves to be on the list, but reading this brought him to mind for some reason…
Yes he was… don’t remind me. =0
I thought so.
That film was so bad, it’s amazing how a film about the end of the world can be so tedious!
Thanx.
And 2012 was a spectacular motion picture experie…..I can’t keep saying that. No, it was indeed bad. Actually it was worse than bad, it was just boring as Hell.
What about Den Hedaya as Richard Nixon in Dick? That movie’s been mentioned more than once around AM the last few days, so I thought it would make the list… I thought it was hilarious.
“First off, let us put aside all those great portrayals of actual presidents living or dead. If we included all those we would find ourselves inundated with great performances from everyone from Walter Huston’s Abraham Lincoln to Paul Giamatti’s John Adams to Pat McCormick’s Grover Cleveland. No, here we are going with those make-believe Commanders-in-Chief that have graced the silver screen.”
Ah. Good point. But I would like to see a list of 10 Best Movie Presidents based on real presidents. It would be hard to pick 10, I suppose, but still interesting…
I simply quoted the beginning of the post. =)
If I were to do a 10 Best list for real presidents, Hedaya would surely be on it, as would Walter Huston, Henry Fonda and Raymond Massey as Lincoln, Josh Brolin as Dubya, Paul Giamatti as Adams, Pat McCormick as Cleveland, James Whitmore as Truman and Kevin Kline as Grant in the otherwise completely ridiculous Wild Wild West.
I’m sure I left someone out – that was just off the top of my head.
I think the Nixon in “Watchmen” is one of the silliest caricatures of the last decade, a decade that had no shortage of absurd critiques of politicians. His nose was just… it rivals Steve Martin’s in “Roxanne.” Also, Anthony Hopkins in “Amistad” as John Quincy Adams is quite exceptional. Landau and Brolin were both good as Nixon and Dubya in “Frost/Nixon” and “W,” respectively. In terms of fictitious presidents, Donald Pleasance is particularly slimy in “Escape from New York” and Schwarzenegger in “The Simpson Movie” is pretty funny, if a bit harsh.
I believe that was Frank Langella in Frost/Nixon, not Martin Landau – but yes, he was quite good. And Donald Pleasance actually came in 11th place when I was putting this together.
Ahhh. Good call
Guys, guys guys. I’d have had Harrison Ford in at 1, and Bill Pullman at number 2, while Michael Douglas’s variant sits nicely at number 3.
Yes, Morgan Freeman from Deep Impact! You know, for a U.S. President in a movie though, Harrison Ford didn’t do too much AS President. He was an amazing reluctant hero in a John McClane kind of way though!
I’m continuing to voice the opinion that Jeff Bridges not only should be on this list for Contender, but in the top 3, alongside Douglas and Ford. Kline and Pullman are great additions, as well.
I noticed that no one mentioned Kevin Pollak in Deterrence, that other political thriller from Rod Lurie. He plays a US President snowed in inside of a diner during a time of crisis. Terrific film and a surprisingly strong performance from Pollak.
And really, for you to leave out not one but TWO Gene Hackman presidents? Absolute Power and Welcome to Mooseport! Ok, maybe not….
Do Black Presidents in end of the world movies get a sort of combined vote on this list? If so, I’m throwing the lot behind Morgan Freeman in Deep Impact. Tom Lister Jr. in Fifth Element comes in a close second. Just saying.
Ha!
I did contemplate putting Lister on the list.
Oh man, good call on Lister. He’s an awesome president!!!
Mikey D representing!
I do like most of these but my fav is probably between Bill Pullman in Independence Day and Michael Douglas in The American President.
I love the role of Bill Pullman in Independence day. He is the best choice for a President character.
Castor do you have any idea about “Which Actor plays most number of President roles in the Film history” !!!
Many actors have played two presidents (either real or fake). These include Henry Fonda, Gene Hackman, Leslie Nielson, James Cromwell, E.G. Marshall, Kevun Kline, Raymond Massey, Chuck Heston and Ken Howard. As far as I know only one actor has done it three times. That would be relatively unknown character actor Frank McGlynn who played Lincoln in three separate films.
Great Choices and a great site!
My favorite was Kevin Kline as Dave. I always watch the film every time it airs even though it’s camp.
It’s an interesting blend of popular, comedies and social dramas you have put together Kevyn! Great work! Pullman is so underrated as you stated; Lost Highway and The Killer Inside Me are just two of his best performances… And the Nicholson prensence in Mars Attacks! is hilarious!
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