The film focuses on a scandal that emerged with the approach of the American presidential election. Just days before the election, the presidential candidate's campaign manager (Robert De Niro) is accused of allegedly having sex with a woman. To quell this scandal and protect the candidate's chances of being elected, the campaign manager teams up with a famous Hollywood producer (Dustin Hoffman) to produce a video showing that a fake war has broken out and the candidate is navigating a national crisis to appear as a successful leader.
The title of the movie is associated with the idiom "shake the dog" and refers to an executive diverting attention by creating a fake crisis to cover up something.
"Wag the Dog" has been a critically acclaimed film. The film is considered particularly successful in both the dark humor and political satire genres.
The 1997 film "Wag the Dog" focuses on a scandal that emerges as the American presidential election approaches. Conrad Brean (Robert De Niro), the presidential candidate's election campaign manager, is accused of having sex with a woman just days before the election.
Brean teams up with Stanley Motss (Dustin Hoffman), a famous Hollywood producer, to quell the scandal and protect the candidate's chances. To divert the attention of the American public, the two decide to manipulate public opinion by creating a fake war scenario. As per the scenario, Albania, which is a small country, is at war with the United States of America and the US army has started military operations in Albania.
Motss, Brean and their team cover this fake war using many media outlets and a famous music producer. They make propaganda videos, military footage, and other fake documents that make people feel like they're real.
However, the management of the mock war turns out to be more challenging than expected. A journalist approaches exposing the fake war, and Brean and Motss work relentlessly to silence it. Eventually, all the lies Brean and Motss have made are exposed, and Brean apologizes for lying to the President, the campaign team, and the American people.
"Wag the Dog" is considered a successful example of black humor and political satire. The film focuses on the manipulation of public opinion and the power of the media and provides a frightening example of how a war can be faked.
Wag The Dog was directed by director Barry Levinson, who is a master at mimicking real-life events. The name of the main character in the movie, Stanley Motss (Dustin Hoffman), was chosen as a modified version of the name of Robert P. Motss, who also did similar jobs in real life.
The "Albanian War" soundtrack used in the movie is a soundtrack album that doesn't exist in real life. Film score composer David Wirsig recorded an album for the band "The Bedow Brothers", a band that doesn't exist in real life.
Wag The Dog became popular again in 1998 due to its similarities to the real-life Monica Lewinsky scandal. In this case, it was revealed that President Bill Clinton had an illicit relationship with a 21-year-old intern, and Clinton used the phrase "Don't run my government and my country because of a sex scandal" in a speech after the incident came to light. This statement is also a summary of the main theme of the movie.
Director : Barry Levinson
Writers : Larry Beinhart, Hilary Henkin, David Mamet
Director of Photography : Robert Richardson
Music : Mark Knopfler
Production : 1997 - USA - 97 m.
Genre : Comedy / Drama
Writers : Larry Beinhart, Hilary Henkin, David Mamet
Director of Photography : Robert Richardson
Music : Mark Knopfler
Production : 1997 - USA - 97 m.
Genre : Comedy / Drama
CAST :
Dustin Hoffman
Robert De Niro
Anne Heche
Woody Harrelson
Denis Leary
Willie Nelson
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