MY FELLOW AMERICANS

'''My Fellow Americans''' was a 1996 movie starring Jack Lemmon and James Garner as feuding ex-presidents. Dan Aykroyd, Lauren Bacall, John Heard, Wilford Brimley, and Jeff Yagher also appeared in this comedy. It is named for the traditional opening of Presidential addresses to the American people.
Originally Lemmon's perennial collaborator, Walter Matthau, was slated to co-star. However, health problems kept Matthau from appearing in the film and James Garner was instead chosen to star opposite Lemmon in their only project together.

Contents

Synopsis

Timeline

Filming

Quotes

External link

Synopsis

Former United States Presidents Russell P. Kramer (Lemmon), and Matthew Douglas (Garner) have spent the past thirty years hating each other. The movie starts out with the Republican Senator Kramer of Ohio winning the Presidential election, narrowly defeating Democratic Indiana Governor Matthew "Matt" Douglas in a very close race. We hear Kramer's trademark speech, "Our dreams are like our children . . . " He says he hopes there stay in Washington is for a long time to come.
The film then skips forward four years, to the Democrat Douglas' landslide win over the incumbent Kramer. Kramer later states 80 million voted against him. By the end of his first term, Douglas is well-known for his infidelity. Then it skips forward another four years, to the point where Kramer's former Vice President William "Bill" Haney (Aykroyd) defeats Douglas. Haney's Vice President Ted Matthews (John Heard) is widely seen as an idiot and becomes a continuing embarrassment for the Haney administration. Finally it skips ahead three years.
At this point, Kramer is spending most of his time writing a large number of books, and speaking at various inconsequential functions. Kramer continues to use the "Our dreams are like our children" line at every opportunity. Douglas is in New York, putting the finishing touches to his own book. Douglas is also going through a divorce. Kramer and Douglas are sent to a funeral by Haney, and spend almost the entire trip arguing with each other.
Soon, the Democrats find out about ''Olympia'', a series of kickbacks to a defense contractor organised by Haney when he was Vice-President. Democratic Party Chairman Joe Hollis (Brimley) encourages Douglas to investigate further whilst Haney and his Chief of Staff, Carl Witnaur (Bradley Whitford, who appears in The West Wing in a similar role), plot to have Kramer take the blame. Hollis tells Douglas that the Democrats would support him if he wanted to run for office again. Douglas takes the offer hoping to beat Haney and get back into the Oval Office. When the rumors of Olympia begin to suggest that Kramer was involved, Kramer begins his own investigation.
At this point, the contractor who was involved in the kickback becomes very nervous. The NSA Chief, Colonel Paul Tanner (Everett McGill), arranges to assassinate the contractor. White House officials then take both former Presidents on Marine One, and tell them that Haney wants to see them at Camp David. Some way in to the flight, it turns out the helicopter is heading south, to what would later be revealed as North Carolina. Douglas realizes something is very wrong, then he and Kramer force the pilots to land the helicopter. They leave just before the helicopter explodes.
Kramer and Douglas are left in the middle of nowhere. They decide to go to Kramer's Library in Ohio to obtain a record the penny-pinching Kramer kept of all meals served during his time in the White House, which will prove Haney was present at a key meeting with the contractor. During a series of misadventures, the two ex-Presidents meet a variety of ordinary Americans and see the effects their terms in office have had.
After several close encounters with NSA agents, they arrive in Ohio and discover there is no evidence. Douglas and Kramer then kidnap Witnaur and take him to Hollis' home, where he reveals the full plot to blame Kramer for ''Olympia''. But Witnaur knows nothing about the assassination of the contractor, and the attempts to kill the Presidents, which was all Tanner's doing. Hollis arranges for Douglas and Kramer to meet with a journalist to tell their story, but they decide to go straight to the White House to confront Haney directly.
Colonel Tanner knows the two ex-Presidents will be coming to the White House and imposes strict security. Douglas and Kramer slip through with the help of a cook (Esther Rolle). They make it through to the Oval Office only to discover Haney is giving a press conference in the gardens, and the story of their deaths in a helicopter crash has been released to the press. The NSA has them trapped, which was Tanner's plan. However, they use a secret tunnel to exit the White House. They hijack and ride police horses through the grounds to get to Haney, pursued by the NSA, police and security. The two are finally saved when a Secret Service sniper decides to disobey orders to shoot them, and instead shoots Tanner, who is himself about to shoot the ex-Presidents.
Arriving in the middle of the president's speech, Kramer and Douglas are reluctantly welcomed by Haney, and tell him they need to talk. Back in the Oval office, they play him a tape of his Chief of Staff's confession. Haney agrees to resign, whilst Douglas and Kramer are introduced to the sniper who saved them, who turns out to be a gay man who they had encountered earlier in the film. As Haney delivers his resignation speech, Kramer and Douglas muse on Matthews' elevation to the post. They realise that the only way he could have become President was if something like this had happened. When they confront him, he admits the truth, thinking he's now safe and explaining that his apparent stupidity was really just a "fakade" [sic]. But Kramer and Douglas have the last laugh, recording his admission for later release to the press. This lands Matthews in a Federal Prison.
The film ends nine months later, with Matthews being sent to prison and Douglas and Kramer, running on the same ticket as independents in the Presidential election, arguing which of them is nominee for President. Douglas first takes the podium when he throws a dollar to distract Kramer. We assume he announces himself later to be the nominee, but that is uncertain.

Timeline

First scenario:

The year is not mentioned but Kramer's wife states that when Kramer fakes not drinking liquor, she says "Russell don't do that, it's so George Bush" indicating that Kramer might have been President after Bush and won the Republican nomination from him in 1992 and losing in 1996 to Douglas. In turn Douglas won the 1996 election and lost the 2000 election to Haney. Haney resigned in 2003 and Matthews served from 2003-2004.

★ Russell P Kramer 1992-1996

★ Matthew Douglas 1996-2000

★ Bill Haney 2000-2003

★ Ted Matthews 2003-2004
Second scenario:

The second scenario is that still keeping George Bush in the timeline, Ronald Reagan served one term and chose not to run and Bush was President after. So Kramer won the nomination in 1989 and served until 1993. Douglas served from 1993 to 1997 and Haney was 1997-2000. Matthews must have been 2000 to 2001

★ Russell P Kramer 1989-1993

★ Matthew Douglas 1993-1997

★ Bill Haney 1997-2000

★ Ted Matthews 2000-2001
However, it is worth noting that the Macarena is heard at a couple of different points during the Presidents' trip to Ohio, indicating that the action is meant to be taking place about the actual time of the film's release at the height of the Macarena's popularity.

Filming

Most of the principal filming for the movie was done in the mountains of Western North Carolina including scenes in: Dillsboro, along the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad; Waynesville, where a giant clown sign crashes through their windshield as they try to flee; and in Asheville, where they meet the "Marching Dorothys" (from the Wizard of Oz, played by members of the Western Carolina University marching band) at a gay pride parade.

Quotes

★ "Our dreams are like our children . . ." - Kramer's catch phrase

★ Kramer: When you were in the White House, who was the person you were most excited to meet?

Douglas: Nelson Mandela.

Kramer: I'm not a reporter.

Douglas: Ella Fitzgerald.

★ Kramer: You could spit into a petri dish and create a whole new civilization

★ ''Last lines of the movie.''

(Douglas and Kramer argue over who runs for president)
Douglas: My fellow Americans.

Kramer: You son of a . . .


★ Douglas after licking the lid of Kramers coffee: Decaf, you pussy.

External link

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