Absolute Power (film)

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Absolute Power
Promotional poster
Directed by	Clint Eastwood
Produced by	Clint Eastwood Karen Spiegel
Written by	Screenplay: William Goldman Novel: David Baldacci
Starring	Clint Eastwood Gene Hackman Ed Harris Laura Linney Scott Glenn Dennis Haysbert Judy Davis
Music by	Lennie Niehaus
Cinematography	Jack N. Green
Editing by	Joel Cox
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures (later Warner Bros.)
Release date(s)	February 14, 1997
Running time	121 min
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$50 million
IMDb

Absolute Power is a 1997 political thriller directed by and starring Clint Eastwood. The screenplay by William Goldman is based on the 1996 novel of the same name written by David Baldacci.

Featured cast

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Plot

Thief Luther Whitney (Clint Eastwood) breaks into the home of billionaire Walter Sullivan (E.G. Marshall). When Sullivan's younger wife Christy arrives home unexpectedly with the President of the United States, Alan Richmond (Gene Hackman), Luther hides behind a one-way mirror and watches them engage in rough sex. When the President gets too rough, Christy attacks him with a letter opener. The President screams and two Secret Service agents enter and shoot Christy dead. They then clean up the scene of the crime and make it look as if a burglar killed her. Luther is discovered but not before he steals the letter opener with the woman's fingerprints and the President's blood. Luther is forced to go on the run, but when he sees the president on television, side-by-side with his friend Walter Sullivan, he vows to bring the president down and put an end to corruption.

Production

When Clint Eastwood first thought about turning the book into a film, he liked the characters and the basic plot, but disliked the fact that most of what he considered the interesting characters were killed off. When he hired William Goldman to write the script, he requested Goldman make sure that "everyone the audience likes doesn't get killed off."^[1]

Differences between book and film

• The main protagonist in the novel is a young lawyer named Jack Graham, a good friend of Luther's and his daughter Kate's ex-boyfriend. He was completely omitted in the film adaptation.
• The physical features of the characters in the novel are significantly different from that of the film: President Richmond is much younger (described as being in his early 40s), Gloria Russell is younger as well (38 years old), Agent Collin is caucasian as opposed to being African-American in the film, and Walter Sullivan is slightly older in the book than in the film.
• The novel's end is entirely different from that of the film: President Richmond is either impeached or resigns (it is not clearly mentioned in the book) and receives the death penalty, Gloria Russell receives 10 years probation rather than prison time in exchange for testifying against the president in court, Agent Collin is sentenced to 20 years in prison, Agent Burton commits suicide in his home rather than office, Luther is killed 2/3 through the book by Agent Collin, Walter Sullivan is killed halfway through the book by Agent Collin as well, and Kate is not forced over a cliff in her car in the novel, but leaves Washington, D. C. and moves to Atlanta, Georgia.

Reception

• Opening weekend U.S. gross: $16,770,220
• Total U.S. box office gross: $50,068,310

References

External links

• Absolute Power at the Internet Movie Database