Henry Fonda for President

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Henry Fonda for President

2025

3h 4m

Drama

Documentary

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Popcornmeter

85%

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13 Reviews

Popcornmeter

Fewer than 50 Ratings

A personal essay about the United States, viewed through the life and work of a movie actor. Henry Fonda and the roles he played merge into a dazzling and conflicted figure. A very private man who thought he had "no good answers to anything" becomes the unlikely motor of a parallel history. His voice, recorded during his last interview in 1981, and his onscreen avatars guide us through America's past and present -- on a road trip from the village of Fonda, NY, across the Midwest to the Pacific; from 1651 to the 1980s and the presidency of another movie actor. It takes many places and times and characters to imagine an invisible republic -- the United States of Fonda.

Kat Sachs

Chicago Reader

Sep 23

Formidable.

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Glenn Kenny

New York Times

Apr 3

The movie convincingly posits that Fonda was, cinematically, the embodiment of America itself.

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Brad Hanford

Slant Magazine

03/30/2025

3.5/4

If Fonda was an avatar of American liberalism’s tolerance and self-scrutiny, the film suggests, so, too, does he represent its complicity in the nation’s sins and its failure to change its course in the direction of justice.

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Calum Baker

Radio Times

2d

4/5

Pointedly contrasting the liberal Fonda with Hollywood colleague and conservative standard-bearer Ronald Reagan, it's a smart, searching look at America via its secular gods.

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Stephen Silver

The SS Ben Hecht

Dec 25

The clips are well-chosen, but I don’t know, this exercise is a bit too overlong and chin-stroking for my taste.

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Clotilde Chinnici

Loud and Clear Reviews

May 18

2/5

Overall, Henry Fonda for President adds very little to whatever niche of documentary filmmaking it wants to contribute to. It also quickly becomes too repetitive and predictable to actually justify 3 hours of runtime.

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Alexander Horwath

Director

Robert De Niro

Actor

Henry Fonda

Actor

Jane Fonda

Actor

Alexander Horwath

Screenwriter

Ralph Wieser

Producer

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Synopsis

A personal essay about the United States, viewed through the life and work of a movie actor. Henry Fonda and the roles he played merge into a dazzling and conflicted figure. A very private man who thought he had "no good answers to anything" becomes the unlikely motor of a parallel history. His voice, recorded during his last interview in 1981, and his onscreen avatars guide us through America's past and present -- on a road trip from the village of Fonda, NY, across the Midwest to the Pacific; from 1651 to the 1980s and the presidency of another movie actor. It takes many places and times and characters to imagine an invisible republic -- the United States of Fonda.

Director: Alexander Horwath
Producer: Ralph Wieser, Irene Höfer, Andreas Schroth
Screenwriter: Alexander Horwath
Distributor: The Film Desk
Production Co: Medea Film Factory
Genre: Drama, Documentary
Original Language: German
Release Date (Theaters): Apr 3, 2025, Limited
Runtime: 3h 4m