The Candidate

The Candidate (1972) is an American political comedy-drama you can watch online on iFILM, directed by Michael Ritchie. Robert Redford plays Bill McKay, a California idealist who agrees to run for Senate on one condition — he gets to say what he actually believes.

With no realistic shot at winning, McKay starts the campaign honest. Then the numbers move. Peter Boyle plays his calculating campaign manager, Melvin Douglas his politically weathered father — both watching as the man who spoke freely becomes something else. Jeremy Larner's screenplay picked up the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, and it has aged sharply: the mechanics it describes have not changed much. Stream The Candidate (1972) online on iFILM.