Power is a 1986 American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 drama film

Drama film

A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...

 directed by Sidney Lumet

Sidney Lumet

Sidney Lumet was an American director, producer and screenwriter with over 50 films to his credit. He was nominated for the Academy Award as Best Director for 12 Angry Men , Dog Day Afternoon , Network and The Verdict...

 and starring Richard Gere

Richard Gere

Richard Tiffany Gere is an American actor. He began acting in the 1970s, playing a supporting role in Looking for Mr. Goodbar, and a starring role in Days of Heaven. He came to prominence in 1980 for his role in the film American Gigolo, which established him as a leading man and a sex symbol...

. The original screenplay

Screenplay

A screenplay or script is a written work that is made especially for a film or television program. Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of writing. In them, the movement, actions, expression, and dialogues of the characters are also narrated...

 by David Himmelstein focuses on political corruption

Political corruption

Political corruption is the use of legislated powers by government officials for illegitimate private gain. Misuse of government power for other purposes, such as repression of political opponents and general police brutality, is not considered political corruption. Neither are illegal acts by...

 and how power affects both those who wield it and the people they try to control.

Denzel Washington

Denzel Washington

Denzel Hayes Washington Jr. is an American actor, screenwriter, director, and film producer. He first rose to prominence when he joined the cast of the medical drama, St. Elsewhere, playing Dr...

's performance in the film as public relations

Public relations

Public relations is the actions of a corporation, store, government, individual, etc., in promoting goodwill between itself and the public, the community, employees, customers, etc....

 expert Arnold Billing earned him the 1987 NAACP Image Award

NAACP Image Award

An NAACP Image Award is an accolade presented by the American National Association for the Advancement of Colored People to honor outstanding people of color in film, television, music, and literature....

 for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture

NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture

The NAACP Image Award winners for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture:Performers that earned or won Academy Award nominations:*1. Denzel Washington- Glory*2. Djimon Hounsou- In America*3. Morgan Freeman- Million Dollar Baby...

. Beatrice Straight

Beatrice Straight

Beatrice Whitney Straight was an American theatre, film, and television actress. Hers remains the shortest acting performance in a film to win an Oscar. In her winning role in the 1976 film Network, she was on screen for five minutes and forty seconds, the shortest time ever for the winner of the...

's performance as Claire Hastings, however, earned her a Golden Raspberry Award nomination for Worst Supporting Actress.

Plot summary

Pete St. John (Richard Gere

Richard Gere

Richard Tiffany Gere is an American actor. He began acting in the 1970s, playing a supporting role in Looking for Mr. Goodbar, and a starring role in Days of Heaven. He came to prominence in 1980 for his role in the film American Gigolo, which established him as a leading man and a sex symbol...

), a ruthless and highly successful media consultant

Media consultant

A Media Consultant is a term used to describe a marketing agent or public relations executive, hired by businesses or political candidates to obtain positive press coverage....

, is juggling a couple of other political candidates when asked to join the campaign of wealthy but little-known Ohio

Ohio

Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...

 businessman Jerome Cade(J. T. Walsh

J. T. Walsh

James Thomas Patrick "J. T." Walsh was an American character actor. He appeared in many well-known films, including Nixon, Hoffa, A Few Good Men, Backdraft, Miracle on 34th Street, Breakdown, and Good Morning, Vietnam.Walsh was known for his roles as "quietly sinister white-collar sleazeballs"...

), who hopes to win the Senate

United States Senate

The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...

 seat being vacated by St. John's friend Sam Hastings (E. G. Marshall

E. G. Marshall

E. G. Marshall was an American actor, best known for his television roles as the lawyer Lawrence Preston on The Defenders in the 1960s, and as neurosurgeon David Craig on The Bold Ones: The New Doctors in the 1970s...

).

He comes into conflict with Arnold Billing (Denzel Washington

Denzel Washington

Denzel Hayes Washington Jr. is an American actor, screenwriter, director, and film producer. He first rose to prominence when he joined the cast of the medical drama, St. Elsewhere, playing Dr...

), a public relations expert whose firm Cade has hired. St. John's investigation into Cade's background prompts Billing to retaliate by bugging St. John's office phones, flooding the basement of his headquarters, tampering with his private jet, and interfering with his other clients.

These actions force St. John to take a hard look at himself and what he has become and to decide whether his ex-wife Ellen Freeman (Julie Christie

Julie Christie

Julie Frances Christie is a British actress. Born in British India to English parents, at the age of six Christie moved to England, where she attended boarding school....

) and his former partner Wilfred Buckley (Gene Hackman

Gene Hackman

Eugene Allen "Gene" Hackman is an American actor and novelist.Nominated for five Academy Awards, winning two, Hackman has also won three Golden Globes and two BAFTAs in a career that spanned five decades. He first came to fame in 1967 with his performance as Buck Barrow in Bonnie and Clyde...

) are right in believing that his success is due primarily to the exploitation of others.

Cast

• Richard Gere
  Richard Gere
  Richard Tiffany Gere is an American actor. He began acting in the 1970s, playing a supporting role in Looking for Mr. Goodbar, and a starring role in Days of Heaven. He came to prominence in 1980 for his role in the film American Gigolo, which established him as a leading man and a sex symbol...
  
   ..... Pete St. John
• Julie Christie
  Julie Christie
  Julie Frances Christie is a British actress. Born in British India to English parents, at the age of six Christie moved to England, where she attended boarding school....
  
   ..... Ellen Freeman
• Gene Hackman
  Gene Hackman
  Eugene Allen "Gene" Hackman is an American actor and novelist.Nominated for five Academy Awards, winning two, Hackman has also won three Golden Globes and two BAFTAs in a career that spanned five decades. He first came to fame in 1967 with his performance as Buck Barrow in Bonnie and Clyde...
  
   ..... Wilfred Buckley
• Kate Capshaw
  Kate Capshaw
  Kate Capshaw is an American actress. She is known for her role as Willie Scott in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. She is married to Steven Spielberg.-Early life:...
  
   ..... Sydney Betterman
• Denzel Washington
  Denzel Washington
  Denzel Hayes Washington Jr. is an American actor, screenwriter, director, and film producer. He first rose to prominence when he joined the cast of the medical drama, St. Elsewhere, playing Dr...
  
   ..... Arnold Billing
• E. G. Marshall
  E. G. Marshall
  E. G. Marshall was an American actor, best known for his television roles as the lawyer Lawrence Preston on The Defenders in the 1960s, and as neurosurgeon David Craig on The Bold Ones: The New Doctors in the 1970s...
  
   ..... Sam Hastings
• Beatrice Straight
  Beatrice Straight
  Beatrice Whitney Straight was an American theatre, film, and television actress. Hers remains the shortest acting performance in a film to win an Oscar. In her winning role in the 1976 film Network, she was on screen for five minutes and forty seconds, the shortest time ever for the winner of the...
  
   ..... Claire Hastings
• Fritz Weaver
  Fritz Weaver
  Fritz William Weaver is an American actor and voice actor.-Life and career:Weaver was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the son of Elsa W. and John Carson Weaver. His mother was of Italian descent and his father was a social worker from Pittsburgh. Weaver attended Peabody High School...
  
   ..... Wallace Furman
• Michael Learned
  Michael Learned
  Michael Learned is an American actress known for her role as Olivia Walton on The Waltons.-Personal life:Learned was born in Washington, D.C., the daughter of Elizabeth Duane "Betti" and Bruce Learned, a diplomat. Her maternal grandfather was an attaché for the United States Embassy in Rome...
  
   ..... Andrea Stannard
• J. T. Walsh
  J. T. Walsh
  James Thomas Patrick "J. T." Walsh was an American character actor. He appeared in many well-known films, including Nixon, Hoffa, A Few Good Men, Backdraft, Miracle on 34th Street, Breakdown, and Good Morning, Vietnam.Walsh was known for his roles as "quietly sinister white-collar sleazeballs"...
  
   ..... Jerome Cade
• Matt Salinger
  Matt Salinger
  Matthew Salinger is an American actor. He is the son of author J. D. Salinger and psychologist Claire Douglas.-Career:...
  
   ..... Phillip Aarons

Production

• Film editing
  Film editing
  Film editing is part of the creative post-production process of filmmaking. It involves the selection and combining of shots into sequences, and ultimately creating a finished motion picture. It is an art of storytelling...
  
   ..... Andrew Mondshein
  Andrew Mondshein
  Andrew S. Mondshein is an American film editor with more than 25 film credits. He was widely recognized for his editing of the film The Sixth Sense Andrew S. Mondshein (born 1957) is an American film editor with more than 25 film credits. He was widely recognized for his editing of the film The...
  
  
• Original Music
  Film score
  A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film, forming part of the film's soundtrack, which also usually includes dialogue and sound effects...
  
   ..... Cy Coleman
  Cy Coleman
  Cy Coleman was an American composer, songwriter, and jazz pianist.-Life and career:He was born Seymour Kaufman on June 14, 1929, in New York City to Eastern European Jewish parents, and was raised in the Bronx. His mother, Ida was an apartment landlady and his father was a brickmason...
  
  
• Cinematography
  Cinematography
  Cinematography is the making of lighting and camera choices when recording photographic images for cinema. It is closely related to the art of still photography...
  
   ..... Andrzej Bartkowiak
  Andrzej Bartkowiak
  Andrzej Bartkowiak, A.S.C. is a Polish cinematographer and director.In the early 1980s, Bartkowiak was cinematographer on three films that received Academy Award nominations for Best Picture: The Verdict, Terms of Endearment, and Prizzi's Honor.As cinematographer he has collaborated with several...
  
  
• Production Design
  Production designer
  In film and television, a production designer is the person responsible for the overall look of a filmed event such as films, TV programs, music videos or adverts. Production designers have one of the key creative roles in the creation of motion pictures and television. Working directly with the...
  
   ..... Peter S. Larkin
• Art Direction
  Art director
  The art director is a person who supervise the creative process of a design.The term 'art director' is a blanket title for a variety of similar job functions in advertising, publishing, film and television, the Internet, and video games....
  
   ..... William Barclay
• Set Decoration
  Set decorator
  A set decorator is in charge of the set dressing on a film set, which includes the furnishings, wallpaper, lighting fixtures, and many of the other objects that will be seen in the film. Props and set dressing often overlap, but are provided by different departments...
  
   ..... Thomas C. Tonery
• Costume Design
  Costume design
  Costume design is the fabrication of apparel for the overall appearance of a character or performer. This usually involves researching, designing and building the actual items from conception. Costumes may be for a theater or cinema performance but may not be limited to such...
  
   ..... Anna Hill Johnstone

The 20th Century Fox

20th Century Fox

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation — also known as 20th Century Fox, or simply 20th or Fox — is one of the six major American film studios...

 release was filmed in Armonk, New York

Armonk, New York

Armonk is a hamlet and census-designated place located in the town of North Castle in Westchester County, New York. As of the 2010 census, the CDP population was 4,330....

; the Kaufman Astoria Studios

Kaufman Astoria Studios

The Kaufman Astoria Studios is an historic movie studio located in the Astoria section of the New York City borough of Queens.-History:It was originally built by Famous Players-Lasky in 1920 to provide the company with a facility close to the Broadway theater district. Many features and short...

 in Queens, New York City

Queens

Queens is the easternmost of the five boroughs of New York City. The largest borough in area and the second-largest in population, it is coextensive with Queens County, an administrative division of New York state, in the United States....

; Alburquerque

Albuquerque, New Mexico

Albuquerque is the largest city in the state of New Mexico, United States. It is the county seat of Bernalillo County and is situated in the central part of the state, straddling the Rio Grande. The city population was 545,852 as of the 2010 Census and ranks as the 32nd-largest city in the U.S. As...

 and Santa Fe, New Mexico

Santa Fe, New Mexico

Santa Fe is the capital of the U.S. state of New Mexico. It is the fourth-largest city in the state and is the seat of . Santa Fe had a population of 67,947 in the 2010 census...

; Durango, Mexico

Durango, Durango

-Climate:The city of Durango has a semi-arid climate, classified as Bsk in the Koppen system. The climate is temperate in the western portion , with the average annual temperature being 15 °C and consisting of an average annual rainfall of 1,600 millimeters. In the eastern region, the average...

; Seattle, Washington; Vasquez Rocks Natural Area Park

Vasquez Rocks

Vasquez Rocks Natural Area Park is a 905-acre northern Los Angeles County, California, USA park acquired by the Los Angeles County government in the 1970s...

 in Agua Dulce, California

Agua Dulce, California

Agua Dulce is a census-designated place located in Los Angeles County, California. It lies at an elevation of 2,526 feet . Agua Dulce is located just north of Santa Clarita. The town has a population of about 4,000. It is located at and covers a geographic area of about...

; and Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

Poster

The poster for the film is primarily black in color, with a white bar on top that reads, in black letters:

"More seductive than sex...

"More addictive than any drug...

"More precious than gold.

"And one man can get it for you.

"For a price."

Below this is the film's title, in all-capital white letters. A small human silhouette is located at the base of the "W" in "Power." On the black field below is written, in red letters against the black:

"Nothing else comes close."

Critical reception

In his review in the New York Times, Vincent Canby

Vincent Canby

Vincent Canby was an American film critic who became the chief film critic for The New York Times in 1969 and reviewed more than 1000 films during his tenure there.-Life and career:...

 described the film as "a well-meaning, witless, insufferably smug movie that . . . suffers from the total lack of a comic imagination."

In the Chicago Sun-Times

Chicago Sun-Times

The Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship paper of the Sun-Times Media Group.-History:The Chicago Sun-Times is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city...

, Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert

Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...

 observed, "It's smart, it's knowledgeable, sometimes it's funny, occasionally it is very touching, and I learned something from it . . . The movie builds up considerable momentum during its first hour. There's a sense of excitement, of identification with this man who is being driven by his own energy, ambition and cynicism . . . During the second half of the movie, however, a growing disappointment sets in. Power is too episodic. It doesn't really declare itself to be about any particular story, any single clear-cut issue . . . the movie itself seems to sense that it's going nowhere. The climax is a pointless, frustrating montage of images. It's a good montage, but it belongs somewhere in the middle of the movie; it states the problem, but not the solution or even the lack of a solution. The movie seems to be asking us to walk out of the theater shaking our heads in disillusionment, but I was more puzzled than disillusioned."

External links

• Power at the Internet Movie Database
  Internet Movie Database
  Internet Movie Database is an online database of information related to movies, television shows, actors, production crew personnel, video games and fictional characters featured in visual entertainment media. It is one of the most popular online entertainment destinations, with over 100 million...
  
  
• Power at Rotten Tomatoes
  Rotten Tomatoes
  Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...