The connection between film narrative and political campaigns is all but inescapable. The only real issue is what film (or filmmaker) you relate to. Is George Bush the high-flying “Mission Accomplished” hero of Tony Scott’s Top Gun? Or does Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove more often come to mind? To me, recent political events, namely the nomination of Sarah Palin, seem right out of a Preston Sturges movie. Indeed you could see the whole comedy kick off with Levi Johnston, Briston Palin’s unexpected husband-to-be, being woken up in the middle of the night, tripping over his grizzly-bear floor rug, to get a phone call telling him to get on a plane to Minneapolis-Saint Paul tout de suite.

Clearly I was not alone in this sentiment. Jim Emerson, the founding editor of RogerEbert.com, recently demonstrated Sturges’ financial acumen in selected scenes from his 1937-scripted comedy (directed by Mitchell Leisen) Easy Living on “Scannners::blog”.