The film scenes that never get old. Primary Colors - The Price You Pay

Politics is a venal game. There's no one clean involved and even if you go in like a saint you'll always come out stained. Power will corrupt even the most idealistic of us. It's the nature of the beast.

This brutally pessimistic and truthful moment in Mike Nichol's magnificent and seriously underrated 1998 movie Primary Colors shows the endgame of looking the other way.



Henry is idealism personified. The grandson of a 1960's civil rights activist who reluctantly allows himself to be drawn into the orbit of governor Jack Stanton during his bid to be the democratic candidate in the Presidential election. We get to witness Henry's quixotic beliefs being slowly stripped away as Jack sweet talks him with his syrupy Southern charm and the rush of power and success goes to his head. He overlooks little things at first, infidelities, lies and before long he's turning his head when a presidential rival is threatened with destruction over a sex scandal and again to cover up a scandal involving Stanton himself. It's hard to watch his innocence ebbing away. When he finally makes a stand it's a halfhearted one and Stanton knows it. We know it as well and it's a sad moment to see him standing there smiling at the inauguration ball. Corrupt always wins. Stanton has long made his peace with the price he pays to lead and now Henry has too. It's just a perfectly cynical note to end a perfect film on.

Adrian Lester as Henry is good but this is the best John Travolta has ever been. Channeling charming Bill Clinton to a tee. If you haven't seen this it's worth tracking down.