The Contender

Political thriller about a candidate for the US vice-presidency who is the victim of a slur campaign. When the US vice president unexpectedly dies, the president chooses a female senator to take his place instead of the respected politician everyone assumed he would. In order to destroy her chances, a powerful opponent who has his own candidate in mind puts his staff to work, digging up whatever they can to ruin her name., The sudden death of the Vice President of the United States forces president Jackson Evans to pick a replacement. He decides against picking the popular governor of Virginia, Jack Hathaway, and instead makes the radical choice of Senator Laine Hanson to become the nation’s first female Vice President. Governor Hathaway’s political friends include Shelly Runyon, a powerful congressman who will oversee Hanson’s confirmation. Runyon digs into Hanson’s personal life and finds evidence that in college, Hanson participated in an alcohol-fueled orgy. When faced with this scandal, Hanson refuses to respond to the attacks, causing a political crisis leading to further shocking revelations., The hard-ball gamesmanship and casual character assassination of American politics sets the stage for this thriller from writer and director Rod Lurie. When the Vice President of the United States unexpectedly dies, all eyes in Washington D.C. are on President Jackson Evans (Jeff Bridges) as he chooses a new VP. Sen. Jack Hathaway (William Petersen), a respected career politician enjoying a new swell of popularity after a well-publicized attempt to save a drowning woman, is expected to be Evans’ choice, but instead he picks Sen. Laine Hanson (Joan Allen), a decision that raises eyebrows on both sides of the political fence. Veteran power broker Shelly Runyon (Gary Oldman) is vehemently opposed to Hanson’s appointment, in part because the Democratic senator was once a Republican, and vows to do everything in his power to prevent her from being confirmed. Runyon and his staff start digging for dirt on Hanson, and soon make a surprising discovery — her personal morality is called into question when it’s alleged that she took part in a group sexual liaison while she was a college student. The Contender also stars Mike Binder as one of Hanson’s advisors, Mariel Hemingway as an old friend with a surprising secret, Christian Slater as an ambitious congressmen assisting Runyon, and Philip Baker Hall as Hanson’s father; it was the second feature from former film critic Rod Lurie., The race for the vice-presidency comes down to two horses, old-style charmer Jack Hathaway or respectable Laine Hanson. A woman in the White House? Not if arch-conservative Shelly Runyon can help it. Runyon uncovers scandal in Hanson’s past, and starts to turn the screws on the president., Joan Allen, Jeff Bridges and Gary Oldman deliver electrifying performances in this suspenseful political thriller. After the vice president dies in office, the liberal president (Bridges) nominates a female senator (Allen) for the position. But conservatives attack the nomination with accusations of deviant sexual activity in her past. Christian Slater., When the President of the USA (Jeff Bridges) needs a new VP, he plumps for Joan Allen over William Petersen. Power broker Gary Oldman, opposed to Allen, begins a vicious campaign to smear her, based on an alleged sexual indiscretion when she was a student. As Oldman rakes for the dirt, Allen must defend herself against the claims in Rod Lurie’s tense political drama.