The NZA Posted September 17, 2015 Share Posted September 17, 2015 Every Single Movie That Jimmy Carter Watched at the White House After painstakingly going through the President’s daily journal, which outlined his tasks for each day, I’ve made a list of every movie Carter watched while in office from January 20, 1977 until January 20, 1981. And man, he really did watch a lot of films. Part of my fascination with the movies that presidents watch is just cheap voyeurism. But the other part is an earnest belief that popular culture influences things in the real world. President Nixon was obsessed with the film Patton during the Vietnam War. President Reagan urged Congress to take computer security seriously after seeing War Games in 1983. So what can we glean from the list I’ve compiled of President Carter’s viewing habits? Well, he certainly watched the major movies of his time that dealt with energy concerns like 1979’s nuclear-phobic The China Syndrome. He was also screening plenty of war films. The former president hosted an early private White House screening of Apocalypse Now with director Francis Ford Coppola and about 75 other people on May 10, 1979. It wasn’t released in theaters until August. But it wasn’t all modern gloom and doom. Jimmy and the First Lady, Rosalynn, watched plenty of Westerns like Shane and A Fistful of Dollars. And they’d watch a goofy comedy now and again. (Animal House, Airplane, Caddyshack and Meatballs are all on the list). They even watched some films that might be considered horror, like the 1978 film Magic or the 1980 movie The Changeling. And they watched plenty of Humphrey Bogart movies. In one of the most interesting screenings I came across, Carter watched Star Wars with Anwar Sadat, the President of Egypt, on February 4, 1978 at Camp David. That meeting was actually a secret strategy session for peace in the Middle East that would pave the way for the historic Camp David Accords in September of 1978 between Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin. Sometimes President Carter watched movies immediately when they hit theaters. For instance, he watched The Empire Strikes Back five days after it had been released. Other times, there didn’t appear to be much urgency. The first movie Carter saw in the White House theater? All the President’s Men. The night after he lost his re-election campaign to Ronald Reagan he watched the 1967 film The Bandits. I'll list the first year here-and you can find the rest at the link. President Carter watched a TON of movies. Carter is sworn into office January 20, 1977 All the President’s Men (1976) - January 22, 1977 One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975) - January 28, 1977 Network (1976) - February 5, 1977 Rocky (1976) - February 19, 1977 The Godfather (1972) - March 3, 1977 The Magic Christian (1969) - March 5, 1977 Buffalo Bill and the Indians (1976) - March 12, 1977 The Bad News Bears (1976) - March 26, 1977 The Shootist (1976) - March 27, 1977 Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) - April 2, 1977 Harry and Tonto (1974) - April 7, 1977 Nashville (1975) - April 22, 1977 Chinatown (1974) - April 26, 1977 Blazing Saddles (1974) - April 28, 1977 Lucky Lady (1975) - April 29, 1977 The Island of Allah (1956) and Herbie Rides Again (1974) - May 21, 1977 Zorro (1940 or 1975?) - June 9, 1977 The French Connection (1971) - June 12, 1977 Silver Streak (1976) - June 24, 1977 Rocky (1976) - June 25, 1977 The Caine Mutiny (1954) - June 27, 1977 Camelot (1967) - June 30, 1977 MacArthur (1977) - July 6, 1977 Islands in the Stream (1977) - July 10, 1977 Jaws (1975) - July 22, 1977 Music Man (1962) - July 23, 1977 A Star is Born (1937, 1954, or 1976?) - July 29, 1977 The Deep (1977) - July 31, 1977 Bridge Over the River Kwai (1957) - August 2, 1977 Smokey and the Bandit (1977) - August 12, 1977 High Noon (1952) - August 27, 1977 Gnome Mobile (1967) - August 30, 1977 That’s Entertainment (1974) - August 31, 1977 Cabaret (1972) - September 9, 1977 What’s Up Doc? (1972) - September 11, 1977 The Longest Yard (1974) - September 21, 1977 Sinbad (1977) - September 23, 1977 Sounder (1972) - September 26, 1977 Citizen Kane (1941) - December 3, 1977 Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) - October 6, 1977 The Hustler (1961) - October 15, 1977 The Lincoln Conspiracy (1977) - October 18, 1977 Frankenstein (1931) - October 19, 1977 Bears and I (1974) - October 20, 1977 On the Waterfront (1954) - October 23, 1977 The Wind and the Lion (1975) - October 26, 1977 Three Days of the Condor (1975) - October 28, 1977 Fiddler on the Roof (1971) - November 4, 1977 The Great Waldo Pepper (1975) - November 9, 1977 Man With the Golden Gun (1974) - November 10, 1977 Island at the Top of the World (1974) - November 11, 1977 The Turning Point (1977) - November 13, 1977 Black and White in Color (1976) - November 16, 1977 Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966) - November 19, 1977 Goodbye Columbus (1969) - November 22, 1977 Funny Girl (1968) - December 8, 1977 New York, New York (1977) - December 12, 1977 The Maltese Falcon (1941) - December 19, 1977 Live and Let Die (1973) - December 26, 1977 Midnight Cowboy (1969) - December 27, 1977 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Da Cap'n 2099 Posted September 17, 2015 Share Posted September 17, 2015 If Obama watched as many movies in his entire stint as president as Carter did in his first year they'd be ripping him apart. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Hakujin Posted September 18, 2015 Share Posted September 18, 2015 I think I counted the films as a total of 400 over his four+ years, and maybe baytor can back me up here, but that's not excessive. Especially when you factor in there's no cable back then and you only had three channels of TV. He watched an average of about two movies a week. That sounds about right. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The NZA Posted September 18, 2015 Author Share Posted September 18, 2015 ^both those posts are true...but my takeaway? goddamn, what an era for film that was. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Da Cap'n 2099 Posted September 18, 2015 Share Posted September 18, 2015 Not that many movies, considering, but didn't he have other things to do? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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