Bulworth

All you want to know about Bulworth

Bullworth redirects here. For the fictional town and school see Bully (game)

Bulworth is a 1998 Academy Award-nominated American film which was co-written, co-produced and directed by the film's star, Warren Beatty. The film co-stars Halle Berry, Oliver Platt, Don Cheadle, Paul Sorvino, Jack Warden, and Isaiah Washington. The film follows the title character, California Senator Jay Billington Bulworth (Beatty), as he runs for re-election.

Bulworth
Promotional movie poster for Bulworth
Directed by	Warren Beatty
Produced by	Warren Beatty Pieter Jan Brugge
Written by	Warren Beatty Jeremy Pikser
Starring	Warren Beatty Halle Berry Oliver Platt Don Cheadle Paul Sorvino Jack Warden Isaiah Washington Christine Baranski Amiri Baraka
Music by	Ennio Morricone Ol' Dirty Bastard Transcenders
Cinematography	Vittorio Storaro
Editing by	Billy Weber Robert C. Jones
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date(s)	May 15, 1998
Running time	108 min.
Country	US
Language	English
Gross revenue	$29,202,884

1 Plot summary
2 Political and social commentary
3 Nominations
4 See also
5 External links

Plot summary

A veteran Senate Democrat, Bulworth is losing his bid for re-election to a fiery young opponent. Bulworth's liberal views, formed in the 60s and 70s, have lost favor with voters, and so he has conceded to moderate politics and to accepting donations from special interests. In addition, though he and his wife (Christine Baranski) have been having affairs openly for years, they must still present a happy facade in the interest of maintaining a good public image.

While planning to commit suicide, Bulworth negotiates a $10 million life insurance policy with his daughter listed as the beneficiary in exchange for a favorable vote for the insurance industry. Tired with the state of affairs and politics in general, he then contracts to have himself assassinated within two days' time. Here, Bulworth takes a major turn, politically and personally. Knowing his time left on earth is short, he begins speaking his mind freely at public events and in the presence of the C-SPAN film crew following his campaign. His frank, potentially offensive remarks make him an instant media darling and re-energize his campaign. After becoming involved with Nina (Halle Berry), Bulworth tries to set his sordid political track-record straight while he is pursued by the paparazzi, his insurance company, his campaign managers, Nina's protective drug-dealing brother, and an increasingly adoring public, all before his impending assassination.

He soon discovers that Nina was given the hit contract but refused to carry out Bulworth's assassination. Bulworth happily accepts a new campaign for the presidency right before he is assassinated before a crowd of reporters and urban supporters by an insurance representative, fearful of Bulworth's push for socialized medicine. The ending scene shows a homeless man (Amiri Baraka) repeating one final time to the camera the maxim he profferred to the Senator near the film's beginning, "Bulworth, you got to be a spirit. You can't be no ghost."

Political and social commentary

This film presents a great deal of controversial political and social commentary—often, but not always, through Bulworth's open, honest, and unusual campaign speeches. These speeches are often especially (and comically) controversial due to the demographic of Bulworth's audience, and many of the beliefs espoused by Bulworth closely mirror Beatty's actual political beliefs. Memorable scenes include his comments to the African American church near the beginning; his comments to the supposedly Jewish movie producers (which may also be a tongue-in-cheek comment on behalf of the writers); Bulworth's comments about corporations controlling the American political system, and the ongoing comments depicting Democrats and Republicans as being just as bad as the other. Nina also makes some insightful comments as to why there are no black leaders anymore, as does L.D. in justifying using children in his drug-dealing business, which Bulworth later repeats verbatim on CNN. However, the overall theme of the film is espoused by an anonymous vagrant (played by poet Amiri Baraka) who encourages Bulworth to, "Sing, be a spirit, Don't be no ghost!", an exhortation to be outspoken.