At the 1973 Academy Awards, Jack Lemmon took to the stage to deliver two Oscars. One was for Best Adapted Screenplay, and the other was for Best Original Screenplay – they went by different names back then, but that’s not important right now. What is important is who took home these two awards. The first went to Mario Puzo and Francis Ford Coppola for a little film called The Godfather, and the other went to Jeremy Larner for The Candidate, starring Robert Redford. Interestingly, when Coppola took the stage to accept his award, he graciously called out legendary screenwriter Robert Towne for his contributions to the famous garden scene in the film between Al Pacino and Marlon Brando. Larner would also publicly credit Towne, noting that, without his contributions to The Candidate, the screenplay never would have been finished.
I mention these two films for one reason only. Without question, The Godfather has cemented itself as one of the greatest cinematic achievements in the history of the medium. The Candidate, on the other hand, has somewhat been forgotten, a relic of the time it was made – but it shouldn’t be. This sharp-witted political satire starring Redford in the central role as a major senatorial candidate is not only a timeless film, but also features its star wearing an equally timeless Rolex diver – one that’s proven to be the cinematic cheap Rolex replica watches of the ’70s.
Why We’re Watching
This week marks three years since I have been writing this Watching Movies column here on Hodinkee. And while 2023 may not have been quite as prolific a year for the series, I never pass up an opportunity to celebrate an anniversary. And if you know me, you know Redford is one my favorite actors, that All The President’s Men (1976) is my favorite film, and that there is really only one man and one high quality Rolex fake watches worth marking this occasion. And so today I have chosen to turn to the first film in what I’m calling the “Redford Red Sub Trilogy”: The Candidate (1972); the second film is the aforementioned 1976 Watergate re-telling; and the third is 1979’s The Electric Horseman, which I will get to eventually.
But today we will focus on a cornerstone of satirical cinema, a film that cemented Redford as a power player in Hollywood, as someone more than just an actor. With this film, he showed the sort of influence he had, and the capability to bring the right crew together to make a film with meaning and to make it the right way. The Candidate tracks the underbelly of the American political machine and shows how nominees are created from almost complete artifice. Redford plays public interest lawyer Bill McKay (son of California Governor John J. McKay), who has been chosen to run for Senator in a race he has no chance to win – and that’s the point. This poignant movie shows what it’s like to be a nominee in the spotlight – the scandals, the hypocrisy, and the absolute suffocating lack of privacy. Without spoiling, the film ends famously – and fittingly – with the line “What do we do now?”
And while I would highly recommend anyone to watch this film, for both its tack-sharp writing, documentary-style cinematography, and understated acting by Redford, I am equally obsessed with this movie because of the watch on Redford’s wrist. The US 1:1 replica Rolex Submariner ref. 1680 watches – the Red Sub – is probably my favorite vintage watch of all time and much of that has to do with its ties to Redford in both this film and All the President’s Men. In these films, he doesn’t just wear the watch. It almost feels as if the luxury Rolex copy watches is a character all its own on the screen. As I have noted in previous stories, this was his own personal Submariner, and it speaks volumes about his connection to it that he would want to have it on his wrist on the silver screen in multiple films. It also says something about his role as producer on both of these films, because they both had a real meaning to him to the point that he wanted the truest version of himself to appear in the roles he played.
The perfect replica Rolex Submariner ref. 1680 watches was the very first Submariner to feature a date complication. When it first debuted, it featured the Submariner text in a red color making the date version distinctive from its non-date counterparts. This iteration of the ref. 1680 would have a rather short life and was in production from 1969-1975, at which point the Submariner text would return to its signature white format. Redford’s Sub has the original clasp that came with this watch, with a single enclosure system, as well what looks to be a riveted bracelet.
I have done my fair share of Internet sleuthing, and archival photo research, and as best I can tell, Redford sprung for his Red Sub as a celebratory watch following the success of the smash hit Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid (1969). He was handpicked for his role as The Sundance Kid by Paul Newman (with some real help from his wife Joanne Woodward), and it served as the undisputed springboard for his meteoric rise to stardom. We know Newman and the Rolex Daytona as the combination when it comes to star and watch. But the more I revisit Redford’s films and see him throughout the 1970s and even into the 1980s wearing his top Rolex Submariner fake watches, I think it deserves just as much attention. It helps that the two were lifelong friends.
In any event, The Candidate holds a sentimental place in my movie-loving life and I really think that the wholesale super clone Rolex Red Submariner watches transcends being a mere prop, adding a layer of authenticity that a prop watch selected by the crew just wouldn’t have communicated. And just like in All the President’s Men, this movie gives us plenty of time to admire it up on the screen.
When We’re Watching
About midway through the film, McKay is deep into his purposefully ill-fated bid for senator. He’s been put through the wringer with a team of media experts on his case to create television spots designed to make him more relatable and put him in a position to defeat the incumbent, Crocker Jarmon. McKay isn’t feeling great about how things are going and finds himself positively exhausted with the whole process when his campaign head (played by Peter Boyle) walks in. As McKay lifts himself up from lying on the sofa [00:42:44], he puts his hands to his face, giving way to the China online replica Rolex Red Submariner watches on his wrist.
Towards the end of the movie, we find Redford’s McKay arriving to shoot a segment for a television news program. What’s particularly funny about this scene is that – in what I imagine is a complete coincidence, given the fact that Rolex fake watches for men does not do product placement and the fact the movie was shot in a documentary style – he is sitting at a desk with the word Rolex plastered right in front of it. In this scene, McKay descends into a laughing fit, unable to contain himself and finish the segment, all the while you can see the Red Sub on his wrist [01:33:43] resting on the desk.