State of the Union

IMDb RATING

7.2/10

4.3K

YOUR RATING

Katharine Hepburn, Spencer Tracy, Angela Lansbury, and Van Johnson in State of the Union (1948)

An industrialist is urged to run for President, but this requires uncomfortable compromises on both political and marital levels.

Play trailer2:51

2 Videos

69 Photos

Satire Comedy Drama

An industrialist is urged to run for President, but this requires uncomfortable compromises on both political and marital levels.An industrialist is urged to run for President, but this requires uncomfortable compromises on both political and marital levels.An industrialist is urged to run for President, but this requires uncomfortable compromises on both political and marital levels.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.2/10

4.3K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Videos2

Trailer 2:51

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Clip 0:50

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Photos69

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Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
Claudette Colbert was originally cast to play Mary Matthews. A few days before production began, Producer and Director Frank Capra fired her from this movie because she refused to work into the evening. Capra then hired Katharine Hepburn on Spencer Tracy's suggestion.

Goofs
Katharine Hepburn's name is misspelled in the opening credits as "Katherine". This is the result of the original MGM opening credits (MGM was the original theatrical distributor) being replaced by haphazardly-designed replacement credits when MGM's distribution rights expired.

Quotes
Mary Matthews: Oh, that's silly. No woman could ever run for President. She'd have to admit she's over 35.

Crazy credits
When this film was reissued, new titles and credits were printed. The original end cast listing was retained, so the cast names which are misspelled in the reissue's opening credits are spelled correctly in the closing cast list.

Connections
Featured in MGM: When the Lion Roars (1992)

User reviews46

Review

Featured review

10/10

My favorite Tracy-Hepburn film

This is my favorite Tracy-Hepburn film and one of my favorite Frank Capra films. I recommend reading Capra's out-of-print biography, "The Name Above the Title" for the interesting story of the reaction to this film by official Washington in 1948.

Quite reminiscent of "Meet John Doe," the story tests the character of a man against the political power-brokers who want to use him for their own purposes. Ideals battle pragmatism in ways that still ring true 50+ years later.

Angela Landsbury is a wicked woman (can we call her a fem fa tale?) in an amazing performance foreshadowing her role in 1962's "Manchurian Candidate." Adolphe Menjou's sleazy political boss is about a greasy as they come.

All in all there is nothing like a Capra film to make me what to stick to my principles and listen to the people who really love me. Add to Capra's theme of the inherent wisdom of the people this first rate group of actors and you have two hours of time well spent.