Movie About Clinton To Premier In Little Rock

Whether you`re a Republican or Democrat, most people would agree that former President Bill Clinton`s years in the White House were riddled with scandal. Tuesday evening, the movie blaming those scandals on a right-wing campaign to destroy Bill Clinton, makes its world premiere, right here in Little Rock. Creators of the movie, "The Hunting of the President," say the film isn`t just about those scandals, like Whitewater, Paula Jones, and Monica Lewinsky, but also about the mistakes Clinton made, and even more, the mistakes the press made. The book`s co-author Gene Lyons says at least some of the accusations against Clinton were phony, but taken too far by a press easily manipulated by political operatives. "Tricksters who fooled them into investing all of their energy and prestige into Whitewater, a fraudulent story," Lyons said. And movie-makers pared what they call a 10-year conspiracy down to 90 minutes. "The big culprit in our films is not Republicans, it`s the press," said filmmaker, Harry Thomason. "Now that`s not to say he wasn`t guilty of some things or didn`t help his enemies, because he did." Thomason adds, that no matter which side of party lines you stand on, you`ll still find an interesting story out of the Clinton White House. "The main thing it will do, it will show there`s away in this country, for very small, well-organized groups to affect public thinking," Thomason said. The world premiere screening of the documentary is tomorrow at the Statehouse Convention Center. A question and answer period with the filmmakers, book authors and some of the people in the movie will follow. The movie opens at Market Street Cinema this Friday.