2000 – A Year Filled With Drama
In 2000, Elliott departed a bit from his Western roles in order to delve into dramatic political thrillers. One of these was the movie The Contender. The plot is that a candidate to the Vice-Presidency faces scandalous claims about her past during her confirmation process. Sam, once again, was able to show more versatility in his character.
The second thriller of the year for Elliott was the movie Fail Safe. Sam probably received a good paycheck for this one. However, what attracted him more to it must have been the opportunity to do something slightly different. Here, he played a Congressman during a Cold War crisis.