I say it every time I write about one of his films, but man, I love watching Robert Redford movies. He made his performances seem so effortless and so real. This time out, he takes a bit of a dig a politics, as he takes on the role of Bill McKay, son of former governor, John J. McKay (Melvyn Douglas).

In an Oscar-winning script by Jeremy Larner, the film finds Bill McKay approached by political operative, Marvin Lucas (Peter Boyle). Lucas offers to run McKay’s run for California senator, because he knows there’s no way that McKay can win against Republican incumbent, Vrocker Jarmon (Don Porter).

What is does do is allow McKay to speak his mind on a number of subjects, and admit he doesn’t have a platform for others. He comes across a straight-shooter, and a man-of-the-people, and the people begin to pay attention to him.

Could he win?

If so, Lucas and his team, which includes Michael Lerner as Paul Corliss, are going to have to properly groom him, and create his doctrine, and what seemed like a fun run as a Democratic hopeful, turns into an actual race for the senatorial seat.

Soon, he and his wife, Nancy (Karen Carlson) are in the center of a political storm as news programs and interviews descend on them. How long will it take for them to discover McKay is having an affair – something that is only hinted at visually through the course of the film – and what will that mean for his career when it comes out?

It was a nicer day for politics in the early 70s. Sure, McKay and Jarmon take shots at one another, Jarmon plays the nepo card on McKay, saying he’s too young, and his daddy pushed him into it, but it never gets really brutal, like today’s politics.

In fact, there are moments when both parties are able to present their ideas, and discuss them openly and freely, without fear of violent rebuke. Those were the days.

We get to see the way McKay’s candidacy is put together, how its run, and how it changes over the course of the film. We see changes from shoot-from-the-hip answers to questions to rehearsed and memorized sound bites, and through it all, McKay doesn’t quite believe he can win or make a change.

But what if he can?

This was a fun little political drama that shows what things were like back in the day, and really illustrates how much they have changed in the 21st century.