MovieChat Forums > Wag the Dog (1998) Discussion > President Reagan

President Reagan

posted 16 years ago by popcorn-butter
8 replies | jump to latest

"In 1983, as a direct result of President Ronald Reagan's political decision to maintain a land-base in war-torn Beirut -- a decision which flew in the face of advice from military brass -- 241 Marines are slaughtered when a smiling terrorist drives a truck loaded with 2000 lbs of TNT and compressed gas into the barracks building lobby. Two days later, in what many viewed as an attempt to divert the public's attention from his disastrous foreign policy *beep*-up, Reagan orders the Marines to invade Grenada, a tiny spice-producing country with 125,000 citizens. It was this incident, and not Lewisnkygate, that inspired the film Wag the Dog http://www.suntimes.com/ebert/ebert_reviews/1998/01/010201.html.";

http://web.archive.org/web/20040403182611/http://www.suntimes.com/eber t/ebert_reviews/1998/01/010201.html

-Jerky LeBoeuf, 2004

[–] ericblr716-2 16 years ago

Oh yeah, and it just so happens that the movie covered all of the sex scandals that where happening around that time. I was there I saw the exact same freakin crap that was coming out about Clinton! That movie was done as a parody of Clinton not Reagan! You are sadly mistaken.

[–] innatenomad 16 years ago

Actually this film was released shortly before the Clinton scandal.

[–] jdownsyou 16 years ago

From what I understand the movie is based off a book which was inspired by the first Gulf War under George Bush Sr. Although the point of the book wasn't that the government faked the war, but that because there was very little man-to-man fighting and was mainly carried out on computer screens, it could barely be called a war. The movie took this idea step further and said a war could happen through media alone.

[–] toddhisattva 16 years ago

Which Clinton scandal?

He left a trail of tail all the way from Arkansas.

Whatever its germination, "Wag the Dog" was so clearly an indictment of President Caligula's Balkan Distraction it's hard to believe anyone would argue otherwise.

It's so Clintonian it should be classified as a biography or documentary!

[–] pauluswiggus 16 years ago

While I agree that it is VERY easy to compare this film with Clinton's MANY indiscretions, the main source was a book based on the 1st Gulf War (hence the many references to that war in the film). The filmmakers clearly played up the sex scandal element (which would hardly relate to George Bush Sr.) in light of Clinton's efforts (although the film WAS released AFTER Lewinsky-gate), but that wasn't the originally intended focus.

[–] confirmations 16 years ago

You are coorect - I was around for both terms of Ronnie- he was soooo popular with the Joe Sixpack's in the country- the rest of us were horrified...but hey, Americans want their P's to look the part ---and granted when Ronnie was on script he was great but a dottering senile old-man when away from a teleprompter -

[–] yankee242B 16 years ago

The fact that it can be argued between Reagan, GHW Bush and Clinton (and even GWB) just proves the point the movie is making. It is a theme that knows no age, political leaning or date. It can be done by anyone at any time.

[–] tornado2449 8 years ago

You nailed it Yankee.

This movie has no real party agenda. It's about corruption of any kind.