LBJ

Few things are as comfortable as a Rob Reiner film. The director who is still commonly referred to lovingly as Meathead by fans of the iconic All in the Family television series has been directing films since the early 80's and his films are consistently entertaining inoffensive fair marketed to mass audiences. The Princess Bride, A Few Good Men, The American President and The Bucket List are just a sampling of the director's filmography that audiences will be familiar.

Those that watch Rob Reiner on the talk show circuit would know that the outside of being an actor and director, he is very political activist who uses his celebrity status to bring attention to equal rights and to social issues such as violence and tobacco use.

So it is a bit of surprise that Rob Reiner has never made a film that might leverage his strong activist lifestyle. Until now, that is.

LBJ is Rob Reiner's film about the 36th President of the United States, Lyndon B. Johnson, who was thrust from the Vice-President's chair to the Oval Office desk after the assassination of John Fitzgerald Kennedy on that fateful November day in 1963.

Woody Harrelson plays LBJ and the film takes us backwards and forwards in time from LBJ's unsuccessful run for the Democratic Party nomination through JFK's assassination and ultimately through the President's fight for an Equal Rights Bill.

The heart of the film comes from LBJ's battle within his own party. Robert Kennedy (Michael Stahl-David) is hardly a fan of the foul-mouthed Texan who was hand-picked by brother John for the Vice-President position. The two will battle wills and disagree on almost all political talking points throughout their tenures. Also providing resistance to LBJ's forward thinking is Senator Richard Russell (Richard Jenkins) from the state of Georgia. Russell is portrayed as a racist that does not believe that individuals of color deserve the same rights and freedoms as all other Americans. LBJ does his best to try and win the trust of Russell and LBJ walks the thin line of keeping Russell in the fold before he abandons his friendship with the Senator in his attempt to fulfill the inroads JFK had made in his equal rights efforts prior to his assassination.

Harrelson is barely recognizable as the title character. The make-up is thick to ensure he resembles the former President. At times, the make-up is brilliant. The big ears and receding hairline of LBJ is captured expertly. But at other times – particularly in close-ups – the make-up looks like Harrelson was an extra in Warren Beatty's Dick Tracy film.

LBJ is obviously the focus, but there is ample time given to JFK. And the assassination in Texas is captured with valuable attention to detail. The assassination is a key point in the life of LBJ and Rob Reiner takes the time to film it correctly (it was filmed in Texas exactly where the shooting took place). Jeffrey Donovan (televisions Burn Notice) plays Kennedy and brings subtle touch to the role not attempting to overdo the Boston drawl.

As with all other Reiner films, LBJ plays it safe. Audiences may learn a few things about the complicated man along the way. His foul mouth, how he would have meetings while sitting on the toilet, and his insecurity always believing that he was not loved by either his inner circle or his country (he did win re-election by the widest margin in American history). To my embarrassment, I didn't know that LBJ was in a procession car with JFK the day he was killed. But LBJ is no Lincoln. Where the Spielberg film was brilliantly written and a character study of both a political family and the process to which they battled, LBJ skims the surface like a rock skipping along calmer waters. Gritty, LBJ is not.

But safe entertainment can still be good entertainment and Reiner is surely a master at that craft. There is plenty of humor in the film to keep the characters interesting and keeping the story non-linear works to valued effect. LBJ will not be considered Rob Reiner's best work, but it is exactly what you can come to expect from the director. And slipping into a comfortable shoe can be so so comfortable.

A film like this is viewed through the lense of our experience. In the 60s I was politically active, adored Bobby Kennedy and despised LBJ. So naturally I think the film was too kind to LBJ and too unkind to Bobby. But let's put that aside and look at the film itself.

The acting by Woody Harrelson and Jennifer Jason Leigh is excellent. You think you're watching the real thing. They are the only two actors who do such great job, and the others do OK.

There is a real sense that this is a docudrama rather than a film.

My main criticism is that the film makers stopped in mid film. The story of LBJ didn't end with the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. It continued through the devastation of the Vietnam War. The true story is how Johnson squandered the legacy of JFK with his foreign policy, and all that is left out.

When I saw the cast for this and then saw the average rating of 6.0 I thought, there must be something terribly wrong with this movie. There isn't! The cast is good through and through and Woody Harrelson which I feel is still underrated is tremendous as LBJ. It takes a little time to get the focus of the movie but it becomes clear after about a third of the film and it all builds too a very strong ending. If you like this kind of movies, you will definitely enjoy LBJ.

When you make a movie about historic events it is always hard. People will criticize it is not accurate enough or that you portrayed the person to positive or to negative depending on who it is. To sum it up, there is a lot of expectation of what a movie like LBJ should be. And people are always disappointed if they don't get what they expect. In this case I can see that people are maybe disappointed that the movie ends where LBJ's presidency begins. There is much more to tell but that was not the intend of this film so I can criticize that. From a technical standpoint, cast, direction, music, script and so on this a really good movie.

If you want to see a similar take on LBJ but with a focus more on LBJ's presidency I recommend to watch "All the way" from 2016 with Bryan Cranston as LBJ.

Always enjoy movies of history and political ones and this latest "LBJ" is one good look at the past president from west Texas. It shows that Lyndon Johnson was a man of faith and courage despite what the no doubters and others thought of him. Johnson(Woody Harrelson) is shown as a senator who's taken a back seat to many as he's a southern democrat, yet things change when president Kennedy asks him to be his running mate and vice presidential candidate in 1960 and upon election, Lyndon still gets a cold shoulder from Kennedy brother Bobby and other northern democrats.

Yet all of that changes as Johnson is thrown into the spotlight and becomes president after president Kennedy is hit and killed with an assassin's bullet in Dallas in 1963. Oh Lyndon has come along way from west Texas to the white house. Along the way doubt and indifference is found even from his own party, yet Johnson thru hard work determination and political back room workings gets the landmark Civil Rights Act passed in 1964.

Overall good film that's a historical and political look at a great figure a president that was for the people and their rights and a society changer even when it wasn't popular or it didn't seem the norm. "LBJ" is one picture to watch for historical and political social reasons.

I was 10 when LBJ became president. I associated him more with possibly putting me in Vietnam than anything else. It wasn't a good impression. This movie and Harrelson's excellent portrayal fleshes out the man as someone who had mastered the art of political give and take, who was as powerful a senator as you could become, and yet someone who needed people's approval and even love. If you expect to see LBJ the great manipulator and master politician, you'll only get a little of that. More, you'll get exposed to LBJ's complex relationships with his wife Lady Bird, John and Bobby Kennedy, Kennedy's presidential staff, and one or two congressmen such as Senator Russell of Georgia. Set against a huge backdrop, this is still an intimate movie of LBJ the man. My wife and I both enjoyed it.