Scariest Political Movie I Ever Saw…

Scariest Political Movie I Ever Saw… November 6, 2012

Christopher_Walken_The_Dead_Zone

You may have seen it too. No, it wasn’t Bob Roberts, nor was it The Manchurian Candidate.

The one I’m thinking about even starred Martin Sheen, long before he even knew he would be President in the television series The West Wing. Everybody loved President Josiah “Jed” Bartlet back in the day, didn’t we? Jed was even a Noble laureate, as I recall.

Anyway, I said “scariest” so in this movie, see, Sheen was a supporting actor. The star was Christopher Walken, and he was definitely suited for the role of Johnny Smith, in the Stephen King derived thriller, The Dead Zone.

Long story short (spoilers, though the film came out in 1983 so who gives a rip?) Johnny, a teacher, got into a car accident that left him in a coma. It being 1983, and all, they actually let him live that way, you know, in the hospital, long enough so that he eventually wakes up.

When he awakens, he discovers he has psychic powers which lets him see into the future. Pretty cool, huh? Except sometimes the future looks awful. Johnny being Walken, guess which way this rolled?

Like here, right before one of his students (Johnny’s a tutor nowadays) goes ice skating on the frozen lake in the back yard of the creepy actor (Anthony Zerbe) who always plays creepy bad guys house. Roll tape.

It’s gonna be hard to pay the mortgage with an attitude like that, you know. Unless your predictions are spot on, which in this case, it was.

FYI, Johnny was comatose for so long that his girlfriend (Brooke Adams) had given him up to being a vegetable forever, so she married another guy. It happens. And the guy is like into politics and knocks on Johnny’s door one day on a Get Out The Vote campaign drive for some stiff (Martin Sheen) running for Senate.

Wait. That may sound like the scary part but it isn’t.

Johnny re-meets girl, meets hubby, learns of Senator Sheen, and somehow winds up going to a political rally where he shakes hands with Joe Biden er, I mean Greg Stillson. Here’s the vision he saw,

Rut-ro Raggy! Moral of the story? Don’t go to political rallies when you’re a psychic, umkay? I better share the trailer with you.

Yep. Tom Skirret is in it. And Herbert Lom ( kill Clouseau!) too. And yes, you saw Colleen Dewhurst in there too. Too bad this isn’t streaming on Netflix, though it looks like it is available on YouTube for $2.99.

Paying for movies on YouTube? Now that is scary.

Speaking of psychics, have you gotten the impression that I’m not going to post anything on the election today? Then you too may be psychic! I might change my mind later though, so keep an eye on your feed reader. Or check the other Patheos Catholic Portal folks in the sidebar over yonder. ==>>

Or, you can head over to New Advent.

Speaking of Christopher Walken creepy movies, did you ever see the one where he played a mercenary (Dogs of War)? Trust me, it gives a whole ‘nother meaning to the importance of the phrase “synchronize your watches.” Don’t be late.

And when Chris sneaks into a country, he can play Trivial Pursuit with the bad guys like it’s nobody’s business. I mean one minute he’s planning a coup d’état, and the next, he’s schmoozing with the bad guys and getting his bluff called. Bad lip reading seen here,

See there? No additional cowbell required. 🙂


Browse Our Archives