And to confuse that's the other. He does whichever is to his client's advantage. Did you ever ask a lawyer the time of day?
He told you how to make a watch, didn't he? Ever ask a lawyer how to get to Mr. Jones' house in the country?
You got lost, didn't you? Congress is composed of five hundred and thirty-five individuals. Two hundred and eighty-eight are lawyers.
And you wonder what's wrong in Congress. No wonder we often know how to make a watch, but we don't know the time of day." So says the never seen Replacement Party presidential candidate Hal Phillip Walker in Robert Altman's masterpiece.
As described in the film by real-life newsman Howard K. Smith, Walker is "willing to battle vast oil companies, eliminate subsidies to farmers, tax churches, abolish the Electoral College, change the National Anthem, and remove lawyers from government, especially from Congress." Politics always lurks around the edges, even if the film itself might not be viewed as strictly political.
Set as the bicentennial approached and around the attempts of a political operative (Michael Murphy) trying to arrange a massive concert/rally of country stars for Walker, really has more to say about politics and America in general than just about any other movie ever made. Even its climax speaks volumes, foretelling, in a way, of things yet to come as entertainment and politics got further blurred. My favorite song from the film has always been "It Don't Worry Me," written by Keith Carradine, but performed so memorably by Barbara Harris.
Things might not worry many Americans, but they should and it's a little scary that, as time passes, this country's content to follow trivia about crazy astronauts instead of concentrating on the things that matter, but aren't so black and white.
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