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List Price: $29.95 | | Label: Criterion
Salesrank: 49043
Released: October 5, 2004 |
| Our Price: $18.45 |
| Used Price: $7.33 |
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MPAA Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
During the 1988 presidential campaign, Democratic hopefuls spiritedly canvass the country, jostle for their party’s nomination and the honor of opposing Republican Vice President George Bush, when Senator Jack Tanner suddenly emerges from the shadows of a lengthy political hiatus to challenge candidates such as Al Gore, Jesse Jackson, Gary Hart, and Michael Dukakis. Filmmaker Robert Altman and Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Garry Trudeau created this mock-documentary television miniseries, which brought a fictitious presidential candidate out on the campaign trail and shed a revelatory light on America’s political process and landscape. The Criterion Collection is proud to present Tanner '88 in its entirety, from New Hampshire to the convention... and beyond.
Description of Tanner '88 - Criterion Collection:
It still looks like one of the most adventurous projects ever undertaken for television: to concoct a fictional presidential candidate and follow him as he mingles (often improvising) amongst the real-life candidates on the campaign trail. Tanner '88 was the brainchild of director Robert Altman and "Doonesbury" cartoonist Garry Trudeau, who executed this on-the-fly series for HBO during the 1988 primary season. Thus we get "former Michigan congressman" Jack Tanner (Altman regular Michael Murphy) sorting out his messy professional and personal life as he hobnobs with the likes of Bob Dole, Pat Robertson, Kitty Dukakis, and real-life journalists. Some of these meta-fictional encounters are cameos, but some are remarkable full-blown sequences, such as Tanner's heart-to-heart with Bruce Babbitt as they stroll beneath Washington's cherry trees. (But then you always knew politicians were basically actors.) The deft supporting cast includes Pamela Reed and Cynthia Nixon. For fans of satire, Tanner is smart and sometimes mind-bending; for fans of Altman, it's the director at the top of his characteristic game: a multi-layered, many-sided ensemble picture that happens to be all about America. --Robert Horton
Tanner '88 - Criterion Collection Reviews:
Really Good for the historical political junkie 
2009-10-25 - A remnent of the days of George H (!) W Bush, Ronnie (cut down trees to save the enviroment) Reagan, and Michael "As the son of Greek Immigrants" Dukakis, it is a funny and interesting start to the mockumentary buisness.
it hasn't aged all that well, and frankly, it's overly comical, but nontheless very interesting
Interesting in theory, but not in reality 
2009-06-17 - This is a show written by Doonesbury writer Gary Trudeau and directed by filmmaker Robert Altman. That is a pretty good team, isn't it? And the idea is great too: a fictional former congressman running for the Democratic nomination in 1988. Definitely ahead of its time - this is something MTV might have done in 2004.
The problem is, it's not very good. Trudeau's writing is fine - he says writing scenes is a lot like writing daily cartoons, so he's had the practice. It's also pretty well-informed, although the consultants who helped may have more to do with that than Trudeau.
It is very Altmanesque, down to the "cocktail party" dialogue technique, where everybody says their lines amidst chatter from everyone else. I personally can't stand this, since it makes it necessary to turn up the volume like you are deaf in order to hear the funny asides and stuff. But it's Altman, all right.
But the problems are several. First, it's shot on videotape, which looks unbelievably cheap. Think "outtakes" or "audition footage" and you'll maybe get close. Was this necessary? I really doubt it. It is hard to overcome how low-budget it makes this look.
The drama itself isn't much. Some reviewers seem to think this anticipates Clinton's rise, or skewers slickly produced political campaigns. The candidate is a standard liberal, getting arrested protesting and everything, so he's not Clintonesque. And genuine commentary on modern campaigns might be nice; instead we get meaningless platitudes that are instantly forgotten. Much is made of a scene with Bruce Babbitt advising the candidate, but I can't tell you what the heck anyone said because it was pure puffery.
The idea is an interesting one, and when I heard about it, I couldn't wait to see it. There's cameos by political consultants (Shrum, Matthews), politicians (Dole, Robertson, Kitty Dukakis), and others. The episodes sometimes show campaign techniques that are interesting. But not very often, and the drama between staffers and reporters (many of whom are out and out dorks with zero appeal) is very dull. There's also plenty of exaggerated reactions (when one character leaves the room, the camera shows everyone with dropped jaws for about 30 seconds). The whole thing feels like amateur hour. There was one hilarious moment when the candaidate goes to a robotic factory. It was one of the funniest things I'd seen in a while, but it was definitely the exception.
The most interesting thing about this is the time capsule quality of it. It shows what liberals might have wished for back in the late 80s before Willie Horton, etc. The candidate's cabinet proposals include Robert Redford, for example.
But it's not very interesting all by itself, so I can only give it two stars.
Written by a cartoonist 
2008-07-21 - The concept is clever but the characters are one dimensional and, well, caricatures. Satire is important but anyone who'd even consider watching this is already too politically savvy to draw wisdom from observations like "in modern politics, the candidate's whole life is open to judgement".
Furthermore, it was shot in VHS video which looks terrible and the acting is not great (actor who plays Tanner the exception).
A reviewer on one site said he watched the whole thing in one sitting. If you are the type who can take in six hours of Altman's meandering camera and muddled dialogue, maybe you have a chance at enjoying this. Otherwise, just get Shortcuts and call it a day.
Predicted fate in 08 
2008-01-27 - Tanner 88 is a prescient addition to the catalog of mockumentary films initiated by Spinal Tap in 84. The presidential candidacy of Jack Tanner in 88, following a semi-scripted format, foretells the character of a future candidate, Barack Obama, who appears in the reprise, Tanner on Tanner. In that sequel, Obama's actual keynote address in 04 before the Democratic National Convention in Boston smacks of the glittering generalities mouthed by Tanner in 88: "We are not red states and blue states. We are the United States." Altman's skillful satiric skewering of politics, mass media, and in particular documentary film making demonstrate the common thread of style over substance. Early aspirations of pursuers in all three of those fields begin with high hopes for social justice, but substance is eventually gutted by the exigencies of compromise along the road to becoming a power player. One scene late in Tanner on Tanner exemplifies the schism between personal belief and public profession. In that scene, one film editing monitor shows a sweating Tanner in a racquetball court railing against the Bush presidency for taking this country into war with a "swinging dick," while an adjacent monitor shows Tanner telling Charlie Rose why the U.S. should stay the course in Iraq.
Altman's skillful breaking the frame of the journalism's fourth wall and the intermingling of actors and real life characters create a suspension of disbelief that had me caring about what happened to Tanner and his daughter after 04.
Robert Altman's Mockumentary MASTERPIECE
2006-07-10 - This is one of the most important things Alman's done. Which is probably why it's one of his favorites along with MASH and NASHVILLE and SHORT CUTS. It is a political satire set in the '88 presidential election. It has everything and more, even a sequal, Tanner On Tanner. Very smart and sophisticated. CHECH IT OUT NOW!!!!!!
