Bulworth (feat. Vinson Cunningham)
Unclear and Present Danger
Jamelle Bouie
4.7 • 660 Ratings
🗓️ 27 May 2026
⏱️ 69 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On this week’s episode of Unclear and Present Danger, Jamelle and John are joined by Vinson Cunningham of the New Yorker to discuss Bulworth, the 1998 black comedy (no pun intended) written, directed by and starring Warren Beatty.
After working through their initial shock at the sheer weirdness of the film, Jamelle, John and Vinson explore its politics, its vision of American society, its critique of American media and the fact that the character of Bulworth is, himself, highly prescient. They also explore the strange racial politics of the film, as well as the extent to which it stands as a kind of modern parable.
This is a strange film folks! And we had a great time discussing it.
On our next episode, we will discuss Roland Emmerich’s 1998 disaster thriller Godzilla, something of a misbegotten attempt to Americanize the storied franchise. But there is a lot to talk about and we are looking forward to doing so.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | In 1996, Bob Dole and President Clinton had locked up their party's presidential nominations. |
| 0:06.0 | And while California approached its primary with little fanfare or attention, |
| 0:10.0 | Democratic Senator Jay Billington Bullworth embarked upon the final weekend of his re-election campaign. |
| 0:18.0 | You promised us federal funding to rebuild our community. |
| 0:21.6 | What happened? |
| 0:22.6 | Well, you haven't really contributed any money to my campaign, have you? |
| 0:28.6 | What do you say? |
| 0:29.6 | Are you saying that the Democratic Party don't care about the African-American community? |
| 0:33.6 | Isn't that obvious? |
| 0:34.6 | I mean, you don't put down that malt liquor and chicken winks |
| 0:38.3 | and get behind somebody other than a running back who stabs his wife, |
| 0:41.3 | you're never going to get rid of somebody like me. |
| 0:44.3 | That was really good. |
| 0:48.3 | Yo. |
| 0:49.3 | Yo, yo, yo to you. |
| 0:51.3 | Later. |
| 0:52.3 | I was hoping for sooner. Senator, what is this news platy? |
| 0:56.0 | Just tell me a little bit. |
| 1:00.0 | Senator Bullwork. |
| 1:01.0 | Excuse me, Senator. |
| 1:02.0 | Do you think it's wise to seek the support of the entertainment industry when you have such low opinion of our product? |
| 1:08.0 | My guys are not stupid. They always put the big Jews on my schedule. |
... |
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