Touches You

Really Surprised!

Great movie! If you want to be entertained and have a few good laughs, see this movie. The music is also very good,

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

In the aftermath of the JFK assassination, Lyndon B. Johnson (Bryan Cranston) becomes the new president. He pushes for the Civil Rights Act. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (Anthony Mackie) is leery of him gutting the voting rights out of the bill but he is taken by LBJ's promise of a war on poverty. J. Edgar Hoover (Stephen Root) has King under constant surveillance. Senator Hubert Humphrey (Bradley Whitford) leads the liberal wing and Johnson picks him as his VP. They are opposed by Senator Richard Russell (Frank Langella) of Georgia and the Dixiecrats. Lady Bird Johnson (Melissa Leo) is always by his side as he struggles for the next year to get elected.This is compelling history and probably as well told as can be in this amount of time on TV. It's a little messy as the movie dives into the sausage making. Bryan Cranston is a first rate actor although I expect LBJ to use his bulk against his smaller opponents more. The elevator scene is terrific for that reason. This is a great political TV movie.

Spectacular acting job by Cranston, who absolutely nails LBJ. This movie, aside from its entertainment value is interesting as a reminder of Johnson's bravery and his significance in our country's history regarding basic human rights. Johnson was quite the political deal-maker in his day. Having lived through this period myself I can vouch for the accuracy of Cranston's portrayal of LBJ. I feel millenials should see this movie so they can see exactly why, how and when the political leanings of an entire section of the country went from being totally Democratic to totally Republican virtually overnight and have stayed that way for over 50 years. You can draw your own conclusions about why his happened.

My comment is not about the movie itself but about the totally biased characterization it gives of LBJ. This movie/TV show is part of a grand design to rebuild the image of the USA and of its "grand leaders". LBJ here looks as if he was a perfect human being, caring for the blacks and a totally remarkable and laudable person. May be he was for this HR fight, but it shades all the rest,the notoriously corrupt politician, and the likely to be underground leader of the plot who killed Kennedy. Read all the books about him. I think it is worth to be mentioned.And BTW how unsound is this rule that you need to write 10 lines to make a point?Change this !Please

There's no doubt that there are lots of strong performances in this movie: Cranston as LBJ, Leo as Lady Bird, Whitford as HHH, and Langella as "Uncle Dick" Russell. But you can tell this movie was based on a play, because, try as they might to infuse this movie with any action and excitement, the film is mostly a bore, and I found myself nearly dozing off multiple times. And maybe their portrayal of the sleaze of politics also bothered me, most notably with Humphrey coming up to MLK at the Democratic convention and bubbling over with enthusiasm about a "great deal" they reached with him when HHH knew it was a terrible deal. Finally, while Anthony Mackie is fine as MLK, he physically looks nothing like him, and since they made an effort to have so many other characters look like their real-life counterparts, Mackie's appearance stood out like a sore thumb.