Product Description

During the 1988 presidential campaign, Democratic hopefuls spiritedly canvass the country, jostle for their party’s nomination and the honor of opposing Republican Vice President George Bush, when Senator Jack Tanner suddenly emerges from the shadows of a lengthy political hiatus to challenge candidates such as Al Gore, Jesse Jackson, Gary Hart, and Michael Dukakis. Filmmaker Robert Altman and Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Garry Trudeau created this mock-documentary television miniseries, which brought a fictitious presidential candidate out on the campaign trail and shed a revelatory light on America’s political process and landscape. The Criterion Collection is proud to present Tanner '88 in its entirety, from New Hampshire to the convention... and beyond.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #50653 in DVD
• Brand: ALTMAN,ROBERT
• Released on: 2004-10-05
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 2
• Dimensions: .38 pounds
• Running time: 353 minutes

Amazon.com
It still looks like one of the most adventurous projects ever undertaken for television: to concoct a fictional presidential candidate and follow him as he mingles (often improvising) amongst the real-life candidates on the campaign trail. Tanner '88 was the brainchild of director Robert Altman and "Doonesbury" cartoonist Garry Trudeau, who executed this on-the-fly series for HBO during the 1988 primary season. Thus we get "former Michigan congressman" Jack Tanner (Altman regular Michael Murphy) sorting out his messy professional and personal life as he hobnobs with the likes of Bob Dole, Pat Robertson, Kitty Dukakis, and real-life journalists. Some of these meta-fictional encounters are cameos, but some are remarkable full-blown sequences, such as Tanner's heart-to-heart with Bruce Babbitt as they stroll beneath Washington's cherry trees. (But then you always knew politicians were basically actors.) The deft supporting cast includes Pamela Reed and Cynthia Nixon. For fans of satire, Tanner is smart and sometimes mind-bending; for fans of Altman, it's the director at the top of his characteristic game: a multi-layered, many-sided ensemble picture that happens to be all about America. --Robert Horton

DVD features
New episode introductions, shot for a re-broadcast in 2004, update us on some of the characters (and even suggest a new storyline in the making), with some of the actors--Murphy, Reed, Nixon--looking older but not wiser. A terrific 20-minute conversation between creators Robert Altman and Garry Trudeau gives a good overview of the origins of the project, its on-the-fly production methods, and how much it obviously meant to them. --Robert Horton

Customer Reviews

Robert Altman's Mockumentary MASTERPIECE
This is one of the most important things Alman's done. Which is probably why it's one of his favorites along with MASH and NASHVILLE and SHORT CUTS. It is a political satire set in the '88 presidential election. It has everything and more, even a sequal, Tanner On Tanner. Very smart and sophisticated. CHECH IT OUT NOW!!!!!!

Tanner is for real
Tanner is an odd bird, it hasn't aged quite as well as i thought it would...yet it remains interesting and sometimes fascinating. The performances are all over the place, sometimes great (Micheal Murphy especially) and sometimes alomst cartoonish...this could be a result of the writing...Trudeau is a cartoonist after all. Being taped on video gives it an odd look as well. Still i watched the whole thing in one sitting and wanted more...so it gets 4 stars. (the interview with Altman and Trudeau is a nice plus)

Cool mini-series
This review is for the Criterion Collection DVD edition of the series.

Tanner 88 is a TV miniseries which aired on HBO during the 1988 election year. It portrays the campaign a fictional presidential candidate by the name of Jack Tanner.

He is ultra liberal and nominates Ralph Nader for Commerce secratary, Gloria Steinem for Health secratary and other actvists for cabinet positions.

The film has a cast of many famous people playing themselves, including the late country singer, Waylon Jennings, Bob Dole, Pat Robertson, Gary Hart, and many others.

The show ran for 11 episodes starting with the beginning of his campaign to his loss of the nomination to Michael Dukakis.

I found it to be interesting and had some interesting humor in it also. Also since the show aired on HBO it contains language and scenes not shown on regular television. It would get a TV MA for language and sensuality if aired today.

The Criterion DVD includes new interviews with the show's creators Garry Trudeau and Robert Altman. It also has cast members reprising their roles for introductory 'interviews' for each episode. These were first shown during the airing of the series on the Sundance Channel in 2004

This overall was an interesting change of pace from the normal issuing of films on Criterion and I think it is more than a coincidence that it was released less than a month before the real 2004 presidential election.