John McCain Movies

Part of the Biography television series from A&E, this documentary reviews the career and personal life of Senator and war hero John McCain.

Born into a family with a distinguished reputation in the U.S. Navy--McCain spent his childhood and adolescent years moving between naval bases in America and abroad. He graduated from the Naval Academy at Annapolis in 1958 and trained as a Navy pilot. With the outbreak of the Vietnam War, McCain volunteered for combat duty and began flying carrier-based attack planes on low-altitude bombing runs against the North Vietnamese.

McCain's plane was shot down over the North Vietnamese capital of Hanoi. He eventually spent five and a half years in various prison camps--three and a half of those in solitary confinement--and was repeatedly beaten and tortured before he was finally released.

Having adapted well to the largely conservative politics of his home state Arizona, McCain won election to the U.S. Senate in 1986. In 1999, McCain emerged as a challenger for the Republican presidential nomination in 2000. However, his large electoral deficit forced him to withdraw.
~ John Patrick Sheehan, All Movie Guide

Barry Goldwater was among the most controversial figures in American politics in the 1960s. A hard-line fiscal conservative and an outspoken supporter of the war in Vietnam, Goldwater was elected to the U.S. Congress as a senator from Arizona in 1952, and he helped galvanize the Republican party, leading the way for a bolder brand of conservative politics that many have cited as the first steps to the election of Ronald Reagan as president and the new wave of conservative thought that followed, despite Goldwater's own infamous defeat when he ran for president opposite Lyndon Johnson. However, while Goldwater was regarded as a spokesman of the far right, his political views were far broader than his reputation would suggest -- he frequently supported civil rights and environmental legislation in Congress, he was an outspoken opponent of the influence of Christian activists in politics, and his positions took an a more libertarian stance as the Republican party moved farther to the right in the 1980s. (He also once called Richard M. Nixon "the most dishonest individual I have ever met.") Goldwater also earned a reputation for his sharp sense of humor and his unflinching honesty. Barry Goldwater's granddaughter C.C. Goldwater produced the documentary Mr. Conservative: Goldwater on Goldwater, in which home movies, archival interviews, newsreel footage, and conversations with Goldwater's friends, relatives, and colleagues come together to create a portrait of the public and private sides of this complicated man. Among those interviewed in the film are Walter Cronkite, Hillary Clinton, Helen Thomas, George Will, Sandra Day O'Connor, Ben Bradlee, Julian Bond, and Al Franken. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Two guys find out the hard way that sneaking into the wrong party can cause serious problems in this comedy. Jeremy Klein (Vince Vaughn) and John Beckwith (Owen Wilson) are a pair of longtime friends who work for a law firm, helping contentious couples mediate their divorces. Their job has given them a cynical attitude about marriage, and as a hobby each weekend the two make a point of crashing weddings reception, where they load up on free food and booze and try their luck at seducing the bridesmaids. When William Cleary (Christopher Walken), the nation's Secretary of the Treasury and a possible candidate for the Presidency, announces his daughter is to wed, the nuptials are billed as the social event of the year, and Jeremy and John decide they must attend the reception. However, John makes the mistake of falling head over heels for Claire (Rachel McAdams), the bride's sister, while Jeremy attracts the attentions of a woman he'd prefer not to be involved with, and soon their romantic peccadilloes get them in very hot water. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

In 1961, as Dwight D. Eisenhower gave his final address to the nation before leaving the office of President of the United States, he warned that America "must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence...by the military-industrial complex." Nearly 45 years later, as the United States finds itself waging a war in Iraq for reasons that seem increasingly unclear with the passage of time, Eisenhower's statement becomes all the more pertinent, and the question becomes more apt: has the machinery the United States established to wage war helped prevent conflict, or has it done more to inspire it? Documentary filmmaker Eugene Jarecki offers an in-depth look at how the United States has readied itself for battle, and why and how the nation goes to war in the film Why We Fight. Named for Frank Capra's famed series of Defense Department films (which explained the motives behind America's entry into World War II), Why We Fight features interviews with foot soldiers, Army recruits, Pentagon personnel, decorated veterans, members of Congress, national security advisors, top military strategists, and many more as they talks about the core philosophies of American military strategy and how they have changed since the end of the Second World War. Why We Fight received the Grand Jury Prize at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide