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The Celluloid President

The Celluloid President

By: Gary Holmes
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About this listen

Jim Robinson and Gary Holmes met at college and have been talking about politics ever since. In addition to being presidential history buffs they are former aides to top politicians, and both have written for Ronald Reagan. They're here to discuss movies on American presidents. Each podcast focuses on what Hollywood is trying to tell us about America by using a president as a lead character. Join us for provocative insights, opinions and recommendations as we examine the celluloid president.

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Episodes
  • Robert Altman's "Nashville"

    Robert Altman's "Nashville"
    Feb 20 2026

    In their second podcast about movies from 1975 -- designated by Netflix as the greatest year in movie history -- Gary and Jim discuss Nashville, the sprawling epic about country music and politics. It's one of the most cynical movies of the Seventies and also secretly one of the funniest. But is it as smart about politics as it thinks it is?
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    1 hr and 5 mins
  • Warren Beatty's "Shampoo"

    Warren Beatty's "Shampoo"
    Jan 15 2026

    Warren Beatty has long insisted that his sex farce "Shampoo" set on the night in 1968 when Richard Nixon was elected President, was a political satire. But was it really, or does it tell us more about the 1970s than it does the 1960s?
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    1 hr and 7 mins
  • Netflix's "Death by Lightning" --The Assassination of James Garfield

    Netflix's "Death by Lightning" --The Assassination of James Garfield
    Dec 19 2025

    "Death by Lightning is a four-part Netflix series about the assassination of President James A. Garfield in 1881, which despite sounding pretty esoteric, is an absorbing depiction of a moment in time during the Gilded Age. Jim and Gary discuss whether this event has any lessons for us today and wrestle with the important question: what's up with all the beards?
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    1 hr
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