The Contender

Cast View all

	Gary Oldman	Shelly Runyon
	Joan Allen	Laine Hanson
	Jeff Bridges	President Jackson Evans
	Christian Slater	Reginald Webster
	Sam Elliott	Kermit Newman
	William L. Petersen	Jack Hathaway
	Saul Rubinek	Jerry Tolliver
	Philip Baker Hall	Oscar Billings
	Mike Binder	Lewis Hollis
	Robin Thomas	William Hanson
	Mariel Hemingway	Cynthia Charlton Lee
	Kathryn Morris	Paige Willomina
	Kristen Shaw	Fiona Hathaway
	Douglas Urbanski	Makerowitz
	Noah Fryrear	Timmy
	Angelica Page	Dierdra
	Joseph Lyle Taylor	Paul Smith
	Kevin Geer	Congressman Skakle
	Doug Roberts	Congressman Harding
	Bev Appleton	Congressman Marshall
	Sandra Register	Glenda
	Anthony Booth	Peter Crenshaw
	Andrew C. Boothby	Steven Poullet
	Irene Ziegler	Maggie Runyon
	Del Driver	Director Friend

Crew View all

Director	Rod Lurie
Writer	Rod Lurie
Producer	Stephanie Antosca, Rainer Bienger, Willi Bär, Marc Frydman, Maurice Leblond, Steve Loglisci, Gary Oldman, Scott Shiffman, James Spies, Douglas Urbanski
Musician	Larry Groupé
Photography	Denis Maloney

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Notes

Story Synopsis:
United States President Jackson Evans (Bridges) has a tough decision on his hands after the sudden death of the Vice President. The frontrunner, Governor Jack Hathaway, is involved in an attempt to save an accident victim-which fails-and Evans feels it will be held against him. So, The Contender he chooses is Senator Laine Hanson (Allen), who, if confirmed, will be the first woman to hold this position. Of course, there are those-especially Congressman Shelly Runyon (Oldman)-who would like to see that her bid is rejected, and they will do anything to see that that happens. (Laurie Sevano)

DVD Picture:
The anamorphically enhanced 1.78:1 DVD picture is smooth and solid, with sharp and nicely detailed images. Some scenes have a stylized, slightly soft appearance. Colors are well balanced, with accurate fleshtones and deep blacks. One has to really be searching to catch a trace of enhancement. This DVD has a very film-like appearance. The source element is clean, with occasionally detected film grain and infrequent artifacts. Very rarely does an image shimmer, or show signs of pixelization. (Suzanne Hodges)

Soundtrack:
The sonic presentations for the 5.1-channel discrete soundtracks have been well-recorded, though are somewhat louder than would be expected for this rather quiescent-natured film. Voices have been recorded with impressive clarity, though they tend to sound overprominent with emphasis in the mid-bass. Much of the soundstage is centric toward mono dialogue, though at times atmospheric sound effects are spread across the screen, albeit with very little surround envelopment. Although there are a few exceptions, the surrounds are virtually quiet throughout. Deep bass and the .1 LFE typically are limited as well, except for some effects and music, notably during the opening credits and the dramatic auto splash into the river. The DTS® Digital Surround™ version delivers somewhat more distinctiveness in terms of tonal definition and spatial articulation, compared to the Dolby® Digital version. Otherwise, these soundtracks deliver very fine fidelity, though both would benefit from some moderation in overall volume. (Perry Sun)

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