Bob Roberts (1992)

User Rating:

6.9/10   

Director:

Tim Robbins

Writer:

Tim Robbins (written by)

Release Date:

4 September 1992 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Tagline:

More amazing than Watergate.

Plot:

A corrupt rightwing folksinger runs a crooked election campaign while only one independent muck-raking reporter is trying to stop him.

Plot Keywords:

Reporter | News Anchor | Song | Satire | Political

Awards:

Nominated for Golden Globe. Another 3 wins

Cast

Tim Robbins	...	Bob Roberts
Giancarlo Esposito	...	Bugs Raplin
Alan Rickman	...	Lukas Hart III
Ray Wise	...	Chet MacGregor
Brian Murray	...	Terry Manchester
Gore Vidal	...	Senator Brickley Paiste
Rebecca Jenkins	...	Delores Perrigrew
Harry Lennix	...	Franklin Dockett
John Ottavino	...	Clark Anderson
Robert Stanton	...	Bart Macklerooney
Kelly Willis	...	Clarissa Flan
Merrilee Dale	...	Polly Roberts
Tom Atkins	...	Dr. Caleb Menck
David Strathairn	...	Mack Laflin
James Spader	...	Chuck Marlin

Runtime:

102 min

Country:

USA | UK

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Canada:PG (Ontario) | Finland:K-18 (2004) (self applied) | Australia:M | Germany:12 | Spain:13 | UK:15 | USA:R | Singapore:PG | Iceland:L

Filming Locations:

Eisenhower Auditorium, Pennsylvania State University, State College, Pennsylvania, USA

Company:

Miramax Films

Trivia:

Writer/Director/Actor Tim Robbins wrote a song called "Revape Amerika" for Tapeheads (1988). It was performed by Robbins, credited as "Bob Roberts". Robbins reworked the song into "Retake America", used in this film.

Goofs:

Errors in geography: In a scene where Bob gets off the bus in "Harrisburg" a police barrier clearly says "City of Philadelphia."

Quotes:

Bob Roberts: Don't smoke crack. It's a ghetto drug.

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in "The Simpsons: Sideshow Bob Roberts (#6.5)" (1994)

Soundtrack:

This World Turns

Eerily prophetic

I am surprised that no one in this comments index noticed how true-to-life this film turned out to be.

"Bob Roberts" was a 1992 'mock-umentry' about the election of a Republican know-nothing (the title character) to a U.S. Senate seat in Pennsylvania; in the movie Roberts wins against a too-brainy-to win Democrat played by Gore Vidal. The real 1994 U.S. Senate race in Pennsylvania featured Rick Santorum as the Republican candidate. Santorum not only had the same aggressively anti-intellectual outlook as Roberts (I understand his staff is afraid to leave him alone with the press lest he 'throw a brick'), he even used generous helpings of Roberts' faux-revolutionary rhetoric to claim that his election would be an empowerment of the common people of Pennsylvania against a murkily-described 'elite'. In fact, Santorum, like Roberts, was a front man for an economic interest - to wit, the health insurance industry - who bankrolled 95% of his lavish campaign and which was eager to replace his rival, Harris Wolford, who was an advocate for universal health coverage. Like the Vidal character, Wolford was disadvantaged by being a genuinely concerned person whose detailed worldview found it hard to stand effectively against the style of Santorum/Roberts.

Guess who represents our state today.