All the Way (2016)

Bryan Cranston returns to the role of LBJ, in this HBO film adaption of the play of the same name, which Cranston did on Broadway. All the Way tells the story of the Johnson presidency from the moment he is told Kennedy is dead in 1963 to his victory on election night 1964. As such this movie makes a perfect companion piece to Path to War, a 2002 HBO film that picks the story up at the 1965 inauguration. While that movie tells the story of the fall of the Johnson presidency, crippled by the trap of the Vietnam War, All the Way tells of its rise. All the Way with LBJ was one of the presidents campaign slogans in 64, and most of this movie is set in that year, and principally built around the effort to pass the 1964 Voting Rights Acts, and the fall out from that decision which caused Johnson no end of political grief in his native south.

Melissa Leo plays "Lady Bird" Johnson, Anthony Mackie MLK, Frank Langella Georgia Senator and Johnson mentor Richard Russell Jr., and Stephen Root J. Edger Hoover. All do a fine job but this is Cranston's film, his is easily my favorite performance of Johnson on screen. Lyndon is typically shown as a supporting character in JFK's story, or as a colorful character in something like Lee Daniels The Butler, but Cranston's is the most human and rounded portrayal I've ever seen of the man. While there is of course some foreshadowing here, you mostly see the man at the moment, as he was, unburdened from the later context we know but he wouldn't. Cranston's a fine actor and this is a fine film, I often find fault in movies like this because I know my history pretty well and have a high standard for realism, and this movie more then meet that standard. The best point of reference might be Spielberg's Lincoln, which also deals chiefly with behind the scenes legislative finagling. A fine history lesson and a compelling film. ****