Ron Miller
How about Pres. Bill Clinton?
Roger Ebert has been trying out new partners
on his syndicated "Roger Ebert & the Movies" TV
series ever since his long-time film reviewing colleague, Gene
Siskel, died 
last year, but he
may have found the ideal replacement at last.
Would you believe President Clinton?
"You're going to have to be looking for a new job pretty soon," Ebert asks The President in "A Conversation with Bill Clinton," a special edition of "Roger Ebert & the Movies" that will show the weekend of Feb. 5-6 on participating local stations.
What Ebert had in mind, though, was for Clinton to take over for Jack Valenti as chief of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) when he leaves office in January of 2001. Clinton chuckles over that suggestion, then playfully tells Ebert: "Maybe I'll be your new partner!"
Worse ideas have come along. In their lively and entertaining half-hour together, President Clinton demonstrates a very solid knowledge of movies and a good give-and-take style with Ebert, the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times. It would seem to be a match made in Heaven - at least until such time as Clinton tried to dip into Ebert's popcorn box or steal some of his Jujubes.
Clinton explains his secure grip on cinema by saying he grew up in movie theaters and "saw every movie that came my way" as a youngster. Even with all his presidential headaches, The Prez says he still spends lots of time in the White House movie theater, which he claims is the presidential "perk" he'll miss the most - even more than Air Force One or Camp David -- when his eight-year run comes to an end.
"I try to see everything," he tells Ebert, then proves he's not boasting by going into a serious discussion of "The Harmonists," a foreign film so obscure that Ebert says, "I thought I was the only one who ever saw it."
This President is widely-believed to be the one most connected to the Hollywood show business scene. They say he even has more Hollywood friends than Ronald Reagan had - even though Reagan and his first lady, the former Nancy Davis, both were Hollywood stars before entering politics. Many have surmised Clinton might take a job in Hollywood after he leaves the White House.
Ebert acknowledges Clinton's thorough background
in movies quite often during the half hour and shamelessly assures
the President that he not only knows the cinema, but also has
great taste when picking his favorite movies.
The President says his all-time favorite is Fred Zinnemann's
1952 "High Noon," the classic western in which lawman
Gary Cooper must face a band of gunslingers on his 
wedding
day (to Grace Kelly) and can't persuade any of the townspeople
to help him out.
Ebert refrains from pointing out the obvious: Clinton has more or less been there and done that himself. Some might say his refusal to step down when a hostile Congress impeached him was Clinton's "high noon" moment in office. One also can imagine Clinton humming "Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darling" the "High Noon" theme song, to the First Lady when the Monica Lewinsky dirt began to hit the fan.
Naturally, Clinton draws no such parallels with Ebert, though he does mention the film's connection to the era of the Hollywood blacklist and the anti-communist witch-hunters. (The script was written by Carl Foreman, at one time a blacklisted writer. The storyline today is considered by many to be a metaphor for the way friends deserted blacklisted writers when they were summoned before the House Un-American Activities Committee.)
The President also likes current movies, too. He praises Denzel Washington's performance in "The Hurricane" and suggests Washington may win the Oscar for it. He also raves about "American Beauty" and the work of its stars, Kevin Spacey and Annette Bening, calling it "an amazing film."
Another 1999 film that earns Clinton's heavy praise: "Three Kings," a cynical black comedy/adventure that takes place during Operation Desert Storm. He found the film highly entertaining, but also praises it for forcing America to take a closer look at our nation's failure to help the Shiite muslims, severely mistreated by Saddam Hussein's regime after the truce.
Probably the lightest moment comes when Clinton tells Ebert about meeting last year's Oscar-winning best actor, Italian Roberto Begnini, who actually squealed with joy, then jumped into Clinton's arms. The President explains that nearly pulled the rug out from under his Secret Service bodyguards.
The President reserves special praise for two current Hollywood stars - Robert DeNiro and Meryl Streep, who he believes are the best in the business today - and worthy of comparison to the larger-than-life stars of yesterday. He also adds Tom Hanks to that short list of great current stars, saying, "Hanks has that kind of range, too."
Give Ebert credit for not needling The President on those occasions when it seems too tempting to pass up. One such moment: Clinton goes on about his love for "Casablanca" and its stars, Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman, then says of Bergman, "I would have liked to have known her."
Ebert doesn't react with the sudden burst
of laughter that got out of me. I thought it was hilarious, but
I guess it depends, as Clinton might say, on how you define the
word "know."
©2000 by Ron Miller
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