The Undefeated (2011 film)
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Dan Fleuette
| The Undefeated | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Stephen K. Bannon |
| Written by | Stephen K. Bannon |
| Produced by | Glenn Bracken Evans Dan Fleuette |
| Distributed by | Arc Entertainment |
Release date |
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Running time | 113 minutes[1] |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $1,000,000[2] |
| Box office | $116,381[1] |
The Undefeated is an American political documentary written and directed by Stephen K. Bannon. It focuses on Sarah Palin, who was Governor of Alaska and later the Republican Party nominee for vice president in the 2008 United States presidential election. The Undefeated was released on July 15, 2011.
The film is constructed in three acts. The film opens with a montage and the first act explores Palin's term as mayor of Wasilla. The second act is about Palin's half term as governor of Alaska. The third act, titled "From here, I can see November," revolves around her candidacy for vice-president and her rise to national prominence. It goes into detail how she became the darling of the Tea Party movement. The film ends with clips of the Madison rally where Palin challenged Republicans to: "Fight like a girl." The last shot is of Palin saying into the camera, "Mr. President, game on!"
Production
Stephen K. Bannon wrote and directed The Undefeated, which was independently financed by Victory Film Group. Sarah Palin was familiar with Bannon because of his Tea Party documentary Generation Zero. After the United States elections in November 2010, when the Republican Party increased their seats in Congress, Palin asked her aide, Rebecca Mansour, to contact Bannon about creating a series of videos to explain Palin's stepping down as Governor of Alaska and to "protect her legacy" to set up for a potential campaign for the 2012 United States presidential election. Bannon instead decided to produce a feature film about Sarah Palin and provided $1 million of his own financing. For the documentary, he interviewed Palin's supporters, including Alaskan residents and conservative bloggers like Andrew Breitbart.[3] While Sarah Palin and her team were not part of the production, they gave Bannon's documentary their blessing.[4] Bannon bought audio rights to Palin's book Going Rogue so he could include clips of Palin's voice in the documentary. While he considered titling the documentary Take a Stand after Palin's campaign slogan during the 2006 Alaska gubernatorial election, he chose The Undefeated as a "more triumphant" title.[3]
Release
Arc Entertainment released The Undefeated on July 15, 2011 in AMC theaters in Dallas, Denver, Oklahoma City, Orlando, Atlanta, Orange County, Phoenix, Houston, Indianapolis, and Kansas City. Before the commercial release, the documentary had one-night screenings at select theaters in the states of Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina.[4] On June 17, the movie premiered to attendees of the RightOnline convention in Minneapolis.
There are two versions of the documentary: one version rated PG-13 by the MPAA, and an unedited version featuring anti-Palin clips from Rosie O'Donnell, Matt Damon, Bill Maher, David Letterman, Howard Stern and Louis C.K.[3]
