--- ---  # The Gary Hart Biopic _The Front Runner_ Is a Real Winner  by [Stephanie Zacharek](https://time.com/author/stephanie-zacharek/)  ## Stephanie Zacharek Film Critic Nov 1, 2018 10:56 AM UTC  Should a politician’s private life be tabloid fodder? Should a politician’s private life be tabloid fodder?Sony Pictures  by [Stephanie Zacharek](https://time.com/author/stephanie-zacharek/)  ## Stephanie Zacharek Film Critic Nov 1, 2018 10:56 AM UTC Nearly 30 years before the _Access Hollywood_ tape revealed Donald Trump’s crass misogyny, only to be met with a resounding “So what?” by much of the public, an articulate and serious-minded presidential candidate was forced out of the 1988 race over his suspected marital infidelity. The accompanying visual was striking: a photograph of a former Senator from Colorado, Gary Hart, sitting on a dock in Bimini, with a woman in a white dress–a sometime pharmaceutical rep and actor named Donna Rice–perched on his knee. That photo emerged more than two weeks after Hart left the race. The truly destructive force had swept through earlier: political reporters from several major newspapers dogged Hart with questions about his “womanizing,” feeling it was their duty to uncover every detail of his personal life. The last weeks and days of Hart’s campaign are the subject of Jason Reitman’s astute and painfully relevant political comedy _The Front Runner,_ adapted from Matt Bai’s book _All the Truth Is Out: The Week Politics Went Tabloid_, and starring Hugh Jackman as the ill-fated Hart. If Hart’s private life held some not-ready-for-prime-time secrets, the behavior of the press covering him was arguably worse: in the movie’s centerpiece, a duo of Miami _Herald_ reporters (Steve Zissis and Bill Burr) stake out Hart’s Washington townhouse, hoping to uncover dirt, later confronting him in the house’s alleyway. Hart stands his ground–Jackman is terrific, channeling Henry Fonda in John Ford’s _Young Mr. Lincoln_–but he can’t survive the onslaught. The scenes between Hart and his wife Lee (played with no-nonsense fortitude by Vera Farmiga) are among the film’s best, exploring what can happen when the private dynamics of a marriage fall under public scrutiny. (The Harts, incidentally, are still married.) Hart’s story marked a shift in the way the press scrutinizes the personal lives of political figures–though as we’ve seen, unethical behavior doesn’t always work against politicians, or even Presidents. Whether you’ve been following politics for three years or 30, you’ll learn something from _The Front Runner_–but buckle up, because it’s gonna hurt. The Gary Hart Biopic ‘The Front Runner’ Is a Real Winner ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5441434/gary-hart-biopic-front-runner/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5441434/gary-hart-biopic-front-runner/"},"headline":"The Gary Hart Biopic The Front Runner Is a Real Winner","datePublished":"2018-11-01T10:56:15.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T21:54:14.150Z","description":"'Whether you’ve been following politics for three years or 30, you’ll learn something from The Front Runner'","url":"https://time.com/5441434/gary-hart-biopic-front-runner/","keywords":["movies"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3aa6c26b56915afe/69893df5e76ad2d5d863361f/the-front-runner-gary-hart-hugh-jackman.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Stephanie Zacharek","jobTitle":"Film Critic","url":"https://time.com/author/stephanie-zacharek/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3aa6c26b56915afe/69893df5e76ad2d5d863361f/the-front-runner-gary-hart-hugh-jackman.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"The Front Runner Gary Hart Hugh Jackman","caption":"Should a politician’s private life be tabloid fodder?","creditText":"Sony Pictures","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/movies/","name":"movies"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5441434/gary-hart-biopic-front-runner/","name":"The Gary Hart Biopic The Front Runner Is a Real Winner"}}]}] ```