Ad-man extraordinaire Hal Riney created this polished GOP political film for the Re-elect Ronald Reagan campaign. America, like Rip Van Winkle, is depicted as having been asleep and is awakened by Reagan's 1981 inaugural ceremony. RR is packaged as a kind of political, frontier hero - an active force who has arrived from outside to help right previous wrongs and get the country moving again. The message is clear: if Americans want the final chapter of this heroic tale to be written, then they needed to cast their vote in November to re-elect Reagan as their president. In terms of imagery, this is widely considered one of the most effective presidential campaign ads ever produced. Originally entitled: "Prouder, Stronger, Better."
