The Front Runner (film)

After finishing second to Walter Mondale in the 1984 Democratic Party presidential primaries, former Senator Gary Hart is now the widely accepted frontrunner in the 1988 Democratic Party presidential primaries. Leading up to the formal launch of his campaign in April 1987, some of Gary's campaign staff are concerned he won't open up about himself (letting the public "get to know him"), instead focusing on ideas and policy. Meanwhile, at The Washington Post, editors and journalists discuss whether the paper should report on Hart's marital problems and rumoured promiscuity.

After the first week of campaigning, Gary joins his friend Billy Broadhurst for a yacht cruise from Miami to Bimini on the Monkey Business, where he meets Donna Rice, a young woman. Days later at an array of pay-phones in an airport, two reporters — A.J. Parker of the Post and Tom Fiedler of the Miami Herald — overhear Gary's end of a conversation, presumably with Rice.

On the campaign plane, Gary gets to know A.J., offering paternal advice and giving the young reporter a Tolstoy novel to learn about the Soviets. Later in Iowa, A.J. offends Gary during an interview by asking whether he has "a traditional marriage". Gary responds: "You want to know what I'm doing in my spare time, A.J., is that it? Follow me around, put a tail on me. You'd be very bored."

Meanwhile in Miami, Tom Fiedler has received an anonymous call from a young woman alleging that Hart "is having an affair with a friend of mine". Fiedler dismisses the call at first, but tracks two women on a flight to Washington D.C. and stakes out Hart's townhouse, seeing Hart go out and come back with Rice.

Knowing that the story will hit the news, Gary phones his wife, Lee Hart, and apologizes. After the story appears on page A1 of the Herald, Lee and daughter Andrea are besieged by reporters outside their home in Troublesome Gulch, Colorado. Meanwhile in D.C., campaign staffer Irene befriends Rice over alcoholic beverages for the purpose of getting information from her, and then sends Rice back to Miami, where her privacy is torn to shreds by the press.

Gary argues with his campaign manager, Bill Dixon, about whether to respond to the Herald story. Dixon thinks Hart needs to speak out to control the damage, but Hart vehemently argues that any response at all would legitimize the reporters' action, so that no politician would ever again have any privacy.

At the Post, reporters have received an anonymous package with photos taken months previous, of Hart with another woman. A.J. Parker argues that reporting on this aspect of Hart's life is not good journalism, but the editor, Ben Bradlee, overrules him.

Preparing for a press conference, Gary's campaign team notes that a majority of the public believe the Herald went too far, and candidates' private lives should be off-limits. When told that the media may ask whether he has ever cheated on his wife, Gary strongly retorts, "It's nobody's goddamn business!", which the team agrees is the perfect answer. As Lee arrives, the staff leaves. Lee tells Gary that she may leave him eventually, but not now.

At the press conference, it is A.J. Parker who asks whether Hart has committed adultery; instead of giving the rehearsed answer, Hart weakly stammers that he doesn't think it is a fair question. Later, A.J. asks for comment from the campaign, on the photos received by the Post anonymously.

Hart drops out of the campaign, and remains married to Lee for decades afterward.

Asterisk denotes fictional character

Presidential biographer and historian Jon Meacham appears in a cameo role as the moderator of a Georgetown town hall.

In May 2018, Sony Pictures and Stage 6 Films acquired U.S. distribution rights to the film at the 71st Cannes Film Festival, with a planned awards season release.[14][15] The Front Runner had its world premiere at the Telluride Film Festival on August 31, 2018.[16][17] It then screened at the Toronto International Film Festival beginning September 8, 2018.[18]

The Front Runner began a limited release on November 6, 2018, the first film to ever be released on Election Day in the United States, a Tuesday. It then expanded to 22 theaters on November 16, 2018, and nationwide on November 21, 2018.[19]

• Official website
• The Front Runner at IMDb
• The Front Runner at Metacritic
• The Front Runner at Rotten Tomatoes