the ides of march

Director: george clooney

Actor: paul giamatti,george clooney,philip seymour hoffman,ryan gosling

Data Published: Fri Oct 07 2011

Genres: Drama,Thriller

Key Words: politics,presidential campaign,intrigue,presidential election,campaigning

IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1124035/

WIKI: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ides_of_March_(film)

Description: The Ides of March is a movie starring Paul Giamatti, George Clooney, and Philip Seymour Hoffman. An idealistic staffer for a new presidential candidate gets a crash course on dirty politics during his stint on the campaign trail.

Plot: Stephen Meyers is the junior campaign manager for Governor Mike Morris, who is competing against Senator Ted Pullman in the Democratic presidential primary. Both campaigns are vying for the endorsement of Senator Franklin Thompson, who controls 356 delegates that would clinch the nomination for either candidate. Meyers is asked by Pullman's campaign manager, Tom Duffy, to meet in secret. Meyers calls his boss, Morris campaign manager Paul Zara, who does not answer. Meyers decides to meet with Duffy, who offers him a position in Pullman's campaign; Meyers refuses. When Zara calls back, Meyers does not tell him about the meeting. Meyers starts a sexual relationship with Molly Stearns, an attractive intern whose father is the chairman of the Democratic National Committee. Meyers admits to an angry Zara that he met with Duffy, who said that Pullman will offer Thompson the position of Secretary of State in exchange for his endorsement. Zara and Meyers discuss the matter with Morris, saying they must make the same offer to Thompson. Morris refuses on principle, as he thoroughly disagrees with Thompson and his policies, and wants a "clean" campaign without such deals. While Molly is sleeping, Meyers finds that Morris is trying to call her after he picks up her phone by mistake. He discovers that they had a brief sexual liaison several weeks previously, and Molly is now pregnant with Morris's child. Molly needs $900 for an abortion, but cannot tell her father because her family is Catholic. Meyers helps her with the money but warns her not to tell anybody, and fires her from the campaign to make the problem go away. Ida Horowicz, a reporter for The New York Times, reveals to Meyers that an anonymous source leaked his meeting with Duffy, and plans to publish an article unless Meyers gives her the details about the Morris campaign's overtures to Thompson. After dropping Molly off at the abortion clinic, Meyers goes to Zara for help. Zara reveals that he leaked the meeting to Ida with Morris' approval as a pretext for firing Meyers over his purported disloyalty. An angry and desperate Meyers then offers his services to Duffy, who admits he only met with Meyers to influence his opponent's operation under the likelihood that either Meyers would come to work for him or be fired for taking the meeting. Duffy apologizes for using Meyers and advises him to quit politics before he becomes a cynic like him. Meyers offers to sell out Morris but Duffy declines, believing Thompson's endorsement of Pullman is assured. Having been told that Meyers had threatened to take down the campaign, Molly fatally overdoses on pills in a hotel room. Meyers comes across the scene and steals her phone. Unbeknownst to the Morris campaign, he meets with Thompson to set the conditions for his endorsement and his delegates. Meyers confronts Morris and gives him an ultimatum: either give him Zara's job and offer Thompson his post, or Meyers goes the press with Molly's purported suicide note and expose the affair. Morris relents, giving up what is left of his personal integrity, and meets Meyers' demands. Zara takes his firing philosophically and is amicable when he chats with Meyers at Molly's funeral. Thompson officially endorses Morris, making him the de facto Democratic nominee. Now senior campaign manager, Meyers is on the way to a remote TV interview with John King when Ida ambushes him and says her next story will be about how Meyers delivered Thompson and his delegates and got his promotion. He reacts by having security bar her from coming any further. Meyers takes his seat for the interview, just as Morris finishes a speech about how "integrity and dignity" matter, and is asked for insight as to how the events surrounding the primary unfolded.