What The Presidents Liked To Watch

List creator: ZenBones Created on: July 31, 2005 - 5:20 PM PDT Description: Inspired by the Bravo documentary "All The Presidents' Movies" - what the presidents liked to watch, who they watched with, and what their favorite movies were.

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	movie title	related list	average rating	MPAA rating	watch	rent	buy
	High Noon (1952)
The #1 most popular movie at the White House in the past 90 years.
	Bad Day at Black Rock (1955)			Not Rated
2nd most popular - They have a real theme going there ... lone justice!
	Casablanca (Special Edition) (1942)
3rd most popular - Hopeless romantics in The White House? Maybe there's hope after all!
	Roman Holiday (1953)			Not Rated
4th most popular - Interesting footnote: the Kennedys watched this during the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis.
	Patton (1970)
5th most popular - Nixon's favorite movie. He watched this several times, including one week with Bebe Rebozo, John Mitchell and Henry Kissinger, which happened to be the week the war in Vietnam was extended to Cambodia. Nixon BTW, watched a total of 153 movies with Bebe Rebozo.
	Sabrina (1954)			Not Rated
6th most popular - These old guys sure have a love jones for Audrey! She's the #1 most popular actress in White House screening history.
	A Man for All Seasons (1966)
7th most popular - Is it the 'lone justice' angle they like about this, or the 'God before nations' angle? Hmm...
	The Longest Day (1962)
8th most popular - I think these guys need a heavy dose of "Apocalypse Now"!
	The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
9th most popular - This is one Dubya should definitely see on how futile and dangerous the qualities of stubbornness and shortsightedness are!
	Field of Dreams (1989)
10th most popular - "If you build it he will come"- Well, Dubya built the Texas Rangers' stadium but unfortunately all that happened there was that the citizens of Arlington had to pay $189 million in extra taxes. Where's Shoeless Joe when you need him?
	John Wayne - American Legend (2003)
The Duke is the most popular actor in White House History in terms of numbers of movies screened. Clint Eastwood is #2, and William Wyler is the most popular director.
	The Birth of a Nation (1915)			Not Rated
The first movie ever screened at The White House. Not a good cinematic beginning!
	American Beauty (1999)
This is one of Bill Clinton's favorites. I'm not kidding.
	Midnight Cowboy (1969)
Jimmy Carter was the first president to watch an X-rated movie in The White House (Midnight Cowboy was later re-rated to R). He also watched Paul Schrader's excellent movie "Hardcore", which was rated R but far more risqué and controversial.
	1776 (1972)
Nixon CENSORED this movie, insisting that the "Cool Considerate Men" number made conservatives look bad ("We have land, cash in hand, self-command, future planned, fortune flies, society survives in neatly ordered lives"). Damn straight!
	The American Experience: LBJ (1991)			Not Rated
Lyndon Johnson's favorite movie star was ... himself. According to the projectionist's logs, he watched himself more than anyone else. He particularly loved the ten-minute documentary about himself called "The President", which he watched 16 times.
	Spartacus (Criterion Collection) (1960)
JFK snuck into the Warner Theater in Washington DC to see this (with his secret servicemen) because The White House at that time was not equipped with 70mm projection. He told the theater owner it was one of the best movies he'd ever seen and that it was "better than Ben Hur".
	Last Year at Marienbad (Criterion) (1961)			Not Rated
Jackie Kennedy loved this. In fact, she and one of her aides were the only ones who managed to stay awake through it!
	Black Tights (1960)			Not Rated
Jackie Kennedy saw this one completely alone. She and Jack rarely saw movies together. JFK only watched 48 movies in the 1,000 days he was in office.
	Expresso Bongo (1959)
JFK watched this alone with a "mystery guest". Word is that the mystery guest was Marilyn Monroe. JFK also had an orthopedic bed in the screening room but no one has ever claimed that he shared it with anyone else.
	The Misfits (1961)			Not Rated
This was the first movie that the Kennedys watched together at The White House. Eerily ominous when one realizes that the three leads in the film all died before their time!
	The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
Another eerie and prophetic omen. JFK watched this a year before his assassination.
	From Russia with Love (1963)
The last movie JFK ever watched (he viewed it the night before he died in Dallas). James Bond by the way, is the most popular movie character that has been screened at the White House.
	Bedtime for Bonzo (1951)			Not Rated
Guess who considered this one of his faves?
	Santa Fe Trail (1940)			Not Rated
Another Reagan favorite, even though he detested Errol Flynn (because of his sexual escapades and his way of upstaging Ronnie).
	Sudden Impact (1983)
Bonzo goes Butch - He steals the infamous "Go ahead, make my day" line from Dirty Harry Callahan, and uses it to intimidate the rest of the world.
	Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)			Not Rated
One of Reagan's aides tried to get this movie screened in order to convince Reagan not to go to Bitberg, but to no avail. The movie was never screened.
	Apocalypse Now (1979)
Carter watched this with his chairman of the joint chief of staff, his secretary of defense, and Stansfield Turner, who was head of the CIA at the time. Their response was described as being similar to that of the audience's response in Mel Brooks' "The Producers" to the "Springtime for Hitler" number.
	Black Hawk Down (2001)
Dubya watched this during the Afghanistan war in January 2002 and was quoted as saying "I will never put soldiers in harm's way without all the backup they need". Somebody really ought to screen "Gunner Palace" for him!
	Angels In the Outfield (1994)
The original 1951 film was Eisenhower's favorite movie. I'd love to know what he'd think of this version!
	The Marx Brothers Collection (Disc 1 of 5) (2003)
Harry Truman's favorite movies were always the Marx Brothers comedies.
	Mrs. Miniver (1942)			Not Rated
FDR screened this after a hearty recommendation by Winston Churchill, then endorsed it to the Hollywood moguls as "propaganda worth 100 battleships", and had them distribute it widely in order to help in the war effort.
	National Geographic - PT 109: Kennedy's Lost Ship (2002)			Not Rated
JFK could have asked for an associate producer's credit for the Hollywood movie that was based on PT 109. He chose Cliff Robertson for the lead (over Peter Fonda and Warren Beatty among others), and made numerous decisions regarding the director and the production.
	The Return of the Pink Panther (1975)
Gerald Ford fell asleep during the Pink Panther cartoon before this movie began and woke up during the credits, which also featured the cartoon. He thought his family was nuts for watching a two-hour Pink Panther cartoon.
	Mr. Holland's Opus (1995)
Hillary Clinton's favorite movie. Admirable, but... zzzzzzzz.
	13 Days (2000)
This was the first movie screened for Dubya's administration. The event had been postponed from a date with the Clinton administration so it must have been rather awkward since Ted Kennedy was among the guests!
	Three Kings (1999)
This received a special screening at the Clinton White House. Clinton BTW, always watched the entire credit roll at the end of every film.
	Saving Private Ryan (1998)
This is Dubya's favorite movie. I wonder if he prefers the "Clean Flix" version that edits out the profanity? Tom Hanks BTW, has been invited to The White House more than any other actor.
	All the President's Men (1976)
The movie that helped get Jimmy Carter elected was the first movie screened during the Carter presidency. (Nixon BTW was watching "Skin Game" starring James Garner on the night of the Watergate break-in).
	The American President (Disc 2 of 5) (2000)			Not Rated
Say what you will about the Carter presidency; when it comes to having the most eclectic taste in movies and being the biggest movie fan, he wins hands down. He watched 580 titles (that's 1 movie every 3 days!), including 60 movies during the Camp David Accords. His aide says "we stayed home a lot, we had a nice house".