I don't think this particular movie had political ambitions, but that's not always the case. I think some of our current nuclear power policy could be traced to the movie "China Syndrome," especially after it was folded into the Three Mile Island incident.

If a movie depicts a particular minority group badly, you hear about it, and people object. Nobody stands up and says, "this is only a movie, and it has no bearing on reality." They know damn well that something people see in a movie can have an effect on their thinking, especially if it's presented that way over and over again by a Hollywood with a particular political view, consciously or not.

Exercise for the student: Find a major motion picture where a big businessman is presented as anything but a crook. Last one I saw was "Robots," and it was a cartoon.