Boogie Man: The Lee Atwater Story | Rotten Tomatoes (2024)

Audience Reviews

Audience Member Was definitely looking for more juicy tid bits about this notorious scumbag but don't think the filmmakers dug deep enough. Rated 3/5 Stars • Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/09/23 Full Review Audience Member To some an evil genius, to some a complicated genius. This doc comes down more on the former, but does show through a great many interviews that he was a very complex man. I think perhaps too much credit (or blame, depending on your point of view) is given to Atwater, Rove, and so on. By ignoring how "real" issues also motivate voters docs play into the same cynicism they accuse those on the Right of dwelling on in their campaigns. The Left of course are a bunch of choirboys who get rolled with dirty tricks that have never, ever been seen in American politics, or so the narrative seems to go. Still, I enjoy presidential campaigns so much that I enjoy these docs in spite of their flaws. Rated 4/5 Stars • Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/14/23 Full Review Audience Member Wanabe leaders of the world learn, this is how you steal, lie, cheat, manipulate, push and pull yourself into the leadership of the most corrupt society in the world and get paid whilst doing said. The co*ckiness of these actions if followed meticulously could make you the leader of any insane society in the free world, of course that depends on if you can find one, left. Nibbles: Oreos and milk. Rated 5/5 Stars • Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/22/23 Full Review Audience Member one of the best documentaries i've seen, hands down. Rated 5/5 Stars • Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/16/23 Full Review Audience Member The film comes in with an agenda, so it fails to present an objective portrait of the late Mr. Atwater. I get the sense, which watching this that it was made by people still bitter about the 1988 election results, and parts of this film have a slight tinge of bullsh*t. Still, it is a fascinating peek behind the curtain. It should be watched with a discerning eye so you can separate fact from conjecture presented by many of the interviewees (including Dukakis, undoubtedly upset about having never been president) in the film. There is no doubt that certain tactics employed by Atwater in the '88 election changed how elections would work for years to come. Not in a good way. Rated 3/5 Stars • Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/21/23 Full Review Audience Member Boogie Man vividly portrays the anxious, ambitious political consultant who clawed his way to the top of, and transformed, Republican politics in the 1980s and 1990s. Atwater brought the national G. O. P. a sharper style of wedge issue politics rooted in white resentment, taken directly from Strom Thurmond's South Carolina. Atwater introduced Ronald Reagan to white Southerners in a town famous only for the murder of civil rights volunteers. Eight years later, Atwater helped pave George H.W. Bush's way to the White House with his racist Willie Horton ads. All the while, Atwater played blues guitar alongside legendary black musicians and mentored the next Republican svengali, Karl Rove. The film explores the questions, puzzles, and contradictions of Atwater's brief life through his own words and those of people who knew him without necessarily forcing an overall interpretation on the viewer. Fascinating viewing for anyone interested in politics, history, or human nature. Rated 4/5 Stars • Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/27/23 Full Review Read all reviews

Boogie Man: The Lee Atwater Story

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