Ralph Nader Movies

This documentary follows director Kevin Booth as he investigates the world of illegal drugs, from street-corner dealers to high level kingpins, from narcotics officers to powerful judges. Appraoching his subject matter with a skeptical eye, Booth questions the effectiveness of the drug war, and the motives of those who continue to fuel it from all ends. Through research and investigation, Booth asserts that there might well be just as much greed, crime, and corruption on either side of the narcotics battle, as the drug war is steeped in issues of race and class. ~ Cammila Albertson, All Movie Guide

Filmmaker Chris Payne explores the many factors that played into the ultimate failure of the electric car to catch on with consumers, even as gas prices began to skyrocket, in a thoughtful meditation on the increasingly important role that renewable energy plays in modern society. Introduced as a means of providing an alternative to increasing oil consumption and reducing pollution in 1996, the electric car was all but a forgotten memory only a decade later -- but why? Though interviews with consumer advocacy experts, automotive industry experts, and oil industry heavyweights, Payne paints a though-provoking picture of a culture whose aversion to change and reliance on dwindling resources may be rooted in the financial concerns of a wealthy few, and may also be leading consumers down a troubling path. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

The life and career of one of America's most tenacious consumer advocates and political activists is brought to the screen in this richly detailed documentary. Born in a small town in Connecticut, Ralph Nader was raised to believe the words of his father that "you can fight city hall," and Nader made a nationwide reputation for his willingness to take on the wealthy and powerful. After receiving a degree from Harvard Law School, Nader first became a household name in 1965 with his book Unsafe at Any Speed, in which he detailed the auto industry's willingness to sacrifice safety in the name of greater profits. The book so outraged General Motors that they hired investigators to dig up dirt on Nader and make trouble for him; the plan backfired when Nader sued for invasion of privacy and walked away with a 425,000-dollar settlement that he used to set up an activist group to investigate both public servants and private commerce and how they live up to their responsibilities. However, Nader's long career as a incorruptible watchdog was tarnished in 2004 when Nader ran for president in a campaign that attracted a great deal of attention for a third party candidate -- and was blamed by many Democrats for drawing enough votes away from Al Gore to allow George W. Bush to walk away with an extremely narrow victory. An Unreasonable Man was directed by Henriette Mantel and Stephen Skrovan, the former of whom worked as a member of Nader's staff in the '70s. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

This 1977 episode of Saturday Night Live is hosted by Ralph Nader and features musical guest George Benson. ~ Skyler Miller, All Movie Guide