Here’s another great movie from the same period. This 1979 dark comedy, starring Peter Sellers as a mercurial man who ascends, somewhat mysteriously, to power in Washington, D.C., was on TV recently. And, once again, I recommended it, and watched it all over again, and “lost” another few hours being charmed by the performances, the direction, the music (yay, Deodato!), and Jerzy Kosinski’s amazingly poignant yet moralistic fable. Shirley MacLaine, Melvyn Douglas, and Jack Warden, in support, are terrific. And Sellers? It may well be the finest, most nuanced performance of his entire amazing career, and I haven’t forgotten about Lolita or Dr. Strangelove.