5 favorite movie/tv presidents or leaders of a country ?

[Jayson]

You can pick people who played real leaders or fictional. My 5 favorite would be

1 John Travota(Bill Clintony presdient)=We all know he was playing Clinton and I really liked how they made him a flawed man, with a real intrests in helping people. I feel like that is how the real Bill Clinton is like. Someone who can be selfish but also someone who does care about the plight of the little man.

2 PResdient Bartlett(West Wing)+Proably the best presdient of all-time. Who here doesn't wish he was real?

3I forget his name but the African woarlord played by Forrest Whitaker=Great arc were he seems like a okay guy at first but then you see how evil he is,deep down.

4Roslin)Battlestar Galatica)=Super sexy and was tough but also could be sensitive and tender and vunerable which are great traits in tv/movie character.

5"Futurama's version of Richard Nixon=Funny character.


Jason

 

[Christopher]

3I forget his name but the African woarlord played by Forrest Whitaker=Great arc were he seems like a okay guy at first but then you see how evil he is,deep down.

You mean Idi Amin? You do know he was a real historical figure, right? One of the great monsters of the last century, responsible for at least 100,000 deaths during his reign?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idi_Amin

 

[Jayson]

3I forget his name but the African woarlord played by Forrest Whitaker=Great arc were he seems like a okay guy at first but then you see how evil he is,deep down.

You mean Idi Amin? You do know he was a real historical figure, right? One of the great monsters of the last century, responsible for at least 100,000 deaths during his reign?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idi_Amin

Yep I knew he was real. I just didn't know his name. In the movie though I like how they present him as a okay guy at first, when you know what type of guy he really is. I could see why the young british doctor would be seduced into staying at first.

Jason

 

[Smiley]

The two that come to mind are Harrison Ford in Air Force One and Michael Douglas in The American President. They are closely followed by Bill Pullman in Independence Day.

 

[The Borgified Corpse]

I wanna see a celebrity boxing match between Harrison Ford from Air Force One & Bill Pullman from Independence Day.

Roslin)Battlestar Galatica)=Super sexy and was tough but also could be sensitive and tender and vunerable which are great traits in tv/movie character.

Personally, I hated that two-faced bitch.

 

[Gary Mitchell]

^Yeah, I didn't really like Roslin either.

Morgan Freeman as the President in Deep Impact.
Martin Sheen as President Bartlett in The West Wing
Dennis Haysbert as President David Palmer in 24
Bill Pullman as the President in Independence day
Henry Fonda as the President in Fail-Safe

Martin Landau as the President in By Dawn's Early Light.
I just watched this movie the other day after not seeing it for a long time. Interesting movie.

 

[The Borgified Corpse]

Jack Jicholson as the President was the best thing about Mars Attacks!

I recently watched Species II. What the hell kind of America would elect Richard Belzer as President?

 

[Aragorn]

Though I never saw either movie (which were both basically the same movie), President Mark Harmon or President Michael Keaton would seem like a lot of fun.

 

[bluedana]

3I forget his name but the African woarlord played by Forrest Whitaker=Great arc were he seems like a okay guy at first but then you see how evil he is,deep down.

You mean Idi Amin? You do know he was a real historical figure, right? One of the great monsters of the last century, responsible for at least 100,000 deaths during his reign?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idi_Amin

Yep I knew he was real. I just didn't know his name. In the movie though I like how they present him as a okay guy at first, when you know what type of guy he really is. I could see why the young british doctor would be seduced into staying at first.

Jason

I see what you're saying, Jason. Forrest Whitaker played the role brilliantly. Had he been just a straight up monster, the world would not have been seduced into supporting his rise to power. It was only once he was there that his mental unbalance became evident. So, yeah as a real person he was a monster, as Christopher points out, but as a movie character, very intriguing and one of the best performances ever.

5. Martin Sheen in The West Wing
4. Glenn Close in Air Force One. I love how she keeps the cabinet together in the face of the threat and uncertainty.
3. Blair Brown. I forget the name of the movie but she played the first elected female president. (Edit: It's called Majority Rule.) It's a really good performance, and in many ways is very similar to how I would have imagined a Hillary Clinton administration. (But the movie aired prior to the 1992 election, I think.)
2. Queen Elizabeth II in The Queen.
1. My number one would be Morgan Freeman in Deep Impact.

 

[Captaindemotion]

1. Jed Bartlett in The West Wing

2. Jeff Bridges in The Contender (President The Dude, how cool would that be?)

3. Dennis Haysbert as President Obalmer in 24

4. Ray McNally as a fictional UK Prime Minister in the classic 1980s British tv drama A Very British Coup

5. Tie between Jimmy Smits as Matt Santos in The West Wing and BROTUS Wayne Palmer in 24.

 

[Zachary Smith]

Rufus T. Firefly! "HAIL, HAIL, FREEDONIA!!"

 

[Harvey]

David Palmer on 24
Jed Bartlet on The West Wing
Charles Logan on 24
Richard Nixon on Futurama
Laura Roslin on Battlestar Galactica

 

[LutherSloan]

What's scary is the Richard Nixon impression from Futurama isn't too far off of the real guy.

 

[Christopher]

What's scary is the Richard Nixon impression from Futurama isn't too far off of the real guy.

In some ways, it is. For instance, the last movie portrayed him as a vicious anti-environmentalist. But the real Richard Nixon was just the opposite. He actually founded the EPA. Before Ronald Reagan remade it into the party of big business, the Republican Party used to be a big supporter of environmental protection. They didn't see conservatism and conservationism as being incompatible. And Nixon in particular did a lot to protect the environment. It's probably the best thing he accomplished as a president.

 

[Davros]

Zaphod Beeblebrox as portrayed by Mark Wing Davie.

 

[Sci]

3I forget his name but the African woarlord played by Forrest Whitaker=Great arc were he seems like a okay guy at first but then you see how evil he is,deep down.

For the record, Whitaker was playing Idi Amin in the 2006 film The Last King of Scotland.

Idi Amin was not a "warlord;" he was a Major General in the Ugandan Army who overthrew the government in a coup d'etat and installed himself as President of the Republic of Uganda. As President, he ruled as a military dictator for eight years and murdered, as Christopher noted, at least 100,000 people.

That may sound like a minor nitpick, but I think it's important not to associate idea of "warlord" with any bad African leader who actually holds a political or military office. "Warlord" is a term used to describe unofficial leaders who derive their power from charisma, wealth, or other sources not derived from a government, particularly those who are the heads of major terrorist organizations, drug cartels, or other large rouge armies that do not serve any internationally-recognized state. ("Warlord" would not be a bad way to describe, for instance, Mohammed Omar, the head of the Taliban.) Amin's power was all governmental.

It's important to remember that because it's important not to inadvertently associate African societies with the connotations brought about by the word "warlord" -- ideas of lawlessness, anarchy, tribalism, primitive political organization, and, generally, the notion of their being "uncivilized." Doing so plays into stereotypes about Africans that are utterly outdated and inaccurate.

That's not to say that Amin was exactly civilized -- but he was no less uncivilized than, say, the Premiers of the Soviet Union or Adolf Hitler, who are never referred to as "warlords" in European history.

 

[Sci]

As for me...

Without a doubt, the gold standard for fictional presidents that I'd actually want to see in real life is Martin Sheen's President Josiah "Jedd" Bartlet of New Hampshire, from Aaron Sorkin's The West Wing. Particularly during the first four seasons. If Bartlet were real, I would vote for him in a heartbeat.

Michael Douglas's President in The American President is also pretty nice -- to be expected, since it was also written by Aaron Sorkin.

Helen Mirren's turn as Her Majesty Elizabeth II in The Queen was absolutely amazing... as was Michael Sheen's under-appreciated performance as the Right Honourable Tony Blair in the same film. Both capture their subjects perfectly -- and while we get to see both of them at their worst, it becomes fairly clear by the end of the film why Her Majesty would have made a much better Prime Minister than Blair, in spite of her own arrogance and disconnect from the British people.

As noted by the OP, Forest Whitaker's turn as President Idi Amin in The Last King of Scotland was astonishing. By turns charismatic and terrifying, Whitaker stole the film, and absolutely deserved his Oscar. He embodies all the horror of seeing all of the powers of the state held in the hands of a sociopath.

All the praise Frank Langella earned for his performance as former U.S. President Richard Nixon in Frost/Nixon was justly deserved. The man just became Tricky Dick, the good and the bad.

(Incidently, the last three films I just listed there were written by British playwright and scriptwriter Peter Morgan, who seems to have a thing for stories about heads of state and government. His other films include The Deal, a British TV movie about the deal between Tony Blair (Sheen again in his first turn as Blair) and Gordon Brown that Blair would serve as Prime Minister for ten years before handing power over to Brown; the film adaptation of The Other Boleyn Girl, about the sisterly rivalry for the hand of English King Henry VIII; and is writing an upcoming film called The Special Relationship, about the relationships between Tony Blair (Sheen again, playing Blair for the third time) and former U.S. President Bill Clinton, and more broadly about the relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom.)

Morgan Freeman, of course, gets props for his turn as the unnamed United States President in Deep Impact. Kurtwood Smith and David Warner get my respect for creating a memorable Federation President in Ra-ghoratreii of Efros and Klingon Chancellor in Gorkon, respectively, in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I'm sticking to fictional presidents here:

- Hiram Roth (Robert Ellenstein, Star Trek IV)

- Noah Daniels (Powers Boothe, 24)

- Tom Beck (Morgan Freeman, Deep Impact)
(Sci - he is named in the film. He introduces himself in that scene with the reporter - Tea Leoni's character - in the bunker)

- Tom Whitmore (Bill Pullman, Independence Day)

- James Marshall (Harrison Ford, Air Force One)

 

[Sci]

- Tom Beck (Morgan Freeman, Deep Impact)
(Sci - he is named in the film. He introduces himself in that scene with the reporter - Tea Leoni's character - in the bunker)

Ack! I'd forgotten that.

 

[cardinal biggles]

I'll do ya one better...

Fictional

1. Martin Sheen as Jed Bartlett, The West Wing
2. Michael Douglas as Andrew Sheperd, The American President
3. Mary McDonnell as Laura Roslin, Battlestar Galactica
4. Jack Nicholson as James Dale, Mars Attacks!
5. Peter Sellers as Merkin Muffley, Dr. Strangelove, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb

Historical

1. Albert Finney as Winston S. Churchill, The Gathering Storm*
2. James Whitmore as Harry S. Truman, Give 'Em Hell, Harry!
3. Bruce Greenwood as John F. Kennedy, Thirteen Days
4. Frank Langella as Richard Nixon, Frost/Nixon
5. Helen Mirren as Queen Elizabeth II, The Queen

*technically, this one shouldn't count, because it's covering a period of time where Churchill wasn't even in the Cabinet, much less P.M. But I digress, mostly because it's Albert Finney playing Winston Churchill, and he won an Emmy for it.