The Candidate (1972)

Bill McKay, though son of a former governor, has no political ambitions but is hand-picked by a strategist to run for senate. Rather than winning, the goal is to simply shake up the race, giving McKay freedom to be bold. Welp, boldness works a lot better than expected.

The acting is strong and the pseudo-documentary style works, but it's too dated to be anything other than a time capsule at this point. What was probably groundbreaking and audacious when it came out simply cannot retain that now that we're so used to unqualified, unpolished everymen running for office and winning.

C+