Boogie Man: The Lee Atwater Story (2008)

93% of critics liked it
(29 reviews)
82% of users liked it
(346 ratings)

Boogie Man documents the life of political strategist Lee Atwater, whose take-no-prisoners style of campaigning helped win George Herbert Walker Bush the presidency. The lessons from that campaign, learned by others such as Karl Rove, informed the tactics that led to Bush's son also occupying the… More Boogie Man documents the life of political strategist Lee Atwater, whose take-no-prisoners style of campaigning helped win George Herbert Walker Bush the presidency. The lessons from that campaign, learned by others such as Karl Rove, informed the tactics that led to Bush's son also occupying the Oval Office. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi

Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 1 hr. 28 min.
Directed By: Stefan Forbes
Written By: Stefan Forbes
Genres: Documentary, Special Interest

In Theaters: Sep 26, 2008 Limited
On DVD: May 4, 2010
Studio: InterPositive Media

Critic Reviews

Jonathan F. Richards, Film.com
Director Stefan Forbes has assembled a brilliantly complex portrait that shines an unnerving light on the man who painted the landscape of contemporary American politics.
Jessica Reaves, Chicago Tribune
By the end of Forbes' brisk, economical portrait, Atwater has been revealed as a repugnant and pathetic soul--and a political visionary, among the first to fully understand and harness the raw power of voters' fears.
J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader
Stricken with brain cancer in 1990, Atwater renounced his Machiavellian ways, but as Forbes points out, his legacy lives on in his eager proteges Karl Rove and George W. Bush.
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
Boogie Man is a fascinating portrait of an almost likable rogue.
Mark Feeney, Boston Globe
Instead of attempting a character study, Boogie Man returns an indictment.
Robert Koehler, Variety
Atwater's career is viewed here with fascination and some sympathy, and the pic is sure to win votes in election season with specialty distribs and public tube mavens.
Luke Y. Thompson, L.A. Weekly
Fascinating to a political junkie like me who wasn't aware of the game back then.
Louis Proyect, rec.arts.movies.reviews
A morality tale about the sewer politics of the Republican Party since Reagan and very relevant to the 2008 elections.
Rob Thomas, Capital Times (Madison, WI)
A cinematic smear job against Atwater would be the easiest thing in the world, but Forbes is more interested in presenting a complex character study than a piece of liberal agitprop.
Nathan Rabin, AV Club
Conventional but absorbing.
Matt Pais, Metromix.com
Both fascinating and upsetting, and makes you wish politics weren't so, well, political.
Jonathan Kiefer, Sacramento News & Review
Positively brims over with sour-grapes hearsay and character assassination. But you just know he deserved it, right?
Cynthia Fuchs, PopMatters
Lee Atwater is remembered as brilliant or shameful, effective or destructive, his life part American Dream, part horror movie.
Loey Lockerby, Kansas City Star
Boogie Man does not inspire pity for Atwater but sadness that a man of such talent wasted his life and learned his lesson too late.
Eric Meyerson, Filmcritic.com
electrifying
Jeff Vice, Deseret News, Salt Lake City
It's refreshing to see a political documentary that's not just boosterism or political propaganda. If anything, this is an argument for 'cleaner' campaigning.

Read all 16 critic reviews

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Alec B

It tells its story in a way you might expect, but it has a few fascinating moments where even Atwater's most ardent defenders of his political tactics in Republican campaigns still decry him as a vicious monster capable of anything. It might even be fair to say that they only… More
It tells its story in a way you might expect, but it has a few fascinating moments where even Atwater's most ardent defenders of his political tactics in Republican campaigns still decry him as a vicious monster capable of anything. It might even be fair to say that they only liked him because he was on their side.