The Best Man

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Abraham R Dec 31, 2018 Gore Vidal's Tony-nominated play focused on the battle for a party's presidential nomination is brought to the screen by Franklin J. Schaffner (with Vidal's own screenplay). It's a behind-the-scenes look at the tactics used by ruthless conservative populist Joe Cantwell (Cliff Robertson) and intellectual but indecisive liberal William Russell (Henry Fonda) who are vying to get the most votes at the (unnamed) party's convention in Los Angeles. Cantwell has dirt on Russell (a prior nervous breakdown) and plans to use it to swing things his way; Russell's people also find dirt on Cantwell but will the candidate use it or stand by his principles? We've seen these candidates in the US before (and I fear that the tide has turned to Cantwell's brand of politics of late) and contemporary audiences would have been thinking of Adlai Stevenson and Richard Nixon. But fifty plus years later nothing here can shock or even surprise the modern viewer. Still, there is some suspense built and Lee Tracy has a great turn as the folksy ex-president with advice for both candidates. Frank and authentic or cynical as hell - you be the judge. See more

George S Sep 7, 2018 Henry Fonda and Cliff Robertson are the two leading candidates for the Presidential nomination for an unspecified political party. Fonda is the more intellectual of the two. Robertson is the scrapper. They are both hoping to get the endorsement of the sitting President. Each ends up digging up dirt on the other and battle ensues. It's funny ... political dramas usually center around what current audiences think of as the thin end of the wedge, and decades later, they just seem kind of normal. This adaptation of Gore Vidal's stage play just doesn't have the impact that it would have in 1964, though students of political history can enjoy picking out who this characters are really an amalgam of. It's a beautifully made film with Haskell Wexler behind the camera and Hal Ashby editing. See more

George L Feb 23, 2018 In the best era ever of political thrillers (1962-1965) this one is a superbly underrated film. Fond and Robertson are both superb and the winding action with twists and turns kept me on the edge of my seat. Only the incomparable Gore Vidal could have dreamed up such a great plot with every contemporary and historical political angle possible . Superb. See more

Ron P Feb 15, 2008 After seeing a documentary about Gore Vidal and reading one book in his Narratives of Empire series I read this stage play. I think the play itself is 5 stars with thought-provoking writing about politics. The play was nominated for multiple Tonys in 1960. Vidal adapted the screenplay himself for this 1964 picture. The director Franklin Schaffner had already worked directing in the early years of television and I really enjoy the innovations later in the original Planet of the Apes, but here I don't think he did much to elevate the words with striking visuals. Yes, you believe you are watching television coverage of a political convention of the era. Schaffner was known for getting the camera moving rather than keeping it stationary in TV and he even has Haskell Wexler working for him. It was early in Wexler's career. Visually it is not terrible at all, but the realism of the setting becomes a bit dull. And the smear campaign at the center loses its edge at the same time that it hits too close to real events then and in our current political climate. It is intriguing that Vidal never specifies the political party. He has poisoned darts to shoot into both parties. I wish I knew more about politics of this decade to better recognize Vidal's references. From IMDb trivia I learned Henry Fonda's Russell is based on Adlai Stevenson. Cliff Robertson's Cantwell is based on Richard Nixon (with a bit of Joseph McCarthy, and the two Kennedy brothers). While Lee Tracy's former president Hockstader combined parts of Eisenhower and Truman. As the two front runners along with their wives compete and determine how dirty the fight will be, it seemed clear that one is more conservative while the other is more liberal. The conceit is that they are competing within the same party, but that doesn't really hold up with the way it is acted and presented here. See more

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The Best Man

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