The Best Man

Watching the 1964 political drama, "The Best Man," my immediate thought was "the more things change, the more they remain the same." The film is very much a drama of its own time, both in terms of technology (the characters use oversized walkie-talkies to communicate and carry 3 x 5 cards with information about the delegates) and issues. However, in terms of the sliminess of politics and the importance of character, it's as relevant as ever.The film centers around the nominating convention in Los Angeles of a major political party that's patterned after the Democrats. The convention is pretty much deadlocked among the two front runners, Secretary of State William Russell (Henry Fonda) and Senator Joe Cantwell (Cliff Robertson), although several minor candidates have enough delegates to prevent either front runner from winning on the first ballot. Their task is to persuade the lesser candidates to endorse them or to woo delegates away from each other. Since it's briefly mentioned that the other party is in disarray, the nominee is highly likely to become President.Russell, who's patterned after Adlai Stevenson (although there are some similarties to the character Fonda played in the earlier political drama "Advise and Consent"), is witty, charming, highly intellectual, and a rakish womanizer who maintains his appeal with the ladies. Unfortunately, he's also seen as indecisive. His opponent, Cantwell, is a "man of the people," down to earth, with a reputation of being a tough guy (he became famous for heading a televised Senate hearing investigating the ties between the Mafia and communism). He's also completely ruthless, willing to lie and blackmail his way into the Presidency, a more charismatic version of Richard Nixon and Joe McCarthy. The third major character in the film is the folksy former President Art Hockstader (Lee Tracy, who received the film's and his only Oscar nomination for the role), whose endorsement both candidates desperately want.Despite their highly different personalities, both candidates ironically share something in common. They each have heretofore hidden information about the other that could destroy the opponent's chances of winning the election. Cantwell has proof that Russell was hospitalized several years earlier for a nervous breakdown, while, during the convention itself, a former military acquaintance (Shelley Berman) of Cantwell's reveals to Russell that Cantwell had been outed as being gay during their service in World War II, an incident that the Army had kept under wraps. In one indication of the conventions of the era, the word "homosexuality" is never used, although Hockstader at one point asks whether Cantwell is what is referred to as a "degenerate."At the heart of "The Best Man" is the question of just what will a candidate do to win an election. In Cantwell's case, the answer is clear. Even though Hockstader had intended to endorse him, he instead tells the former President he'll make the medical information he has on Russell public if needed. He's also more than willing to blackmail or bribe delegates to get their support. Russell is willing to do some good old fashioned politicking (one of the best sequences in the film shows the front runners wheeling and dealing with the minor candidates, promising cabinet spots or support on key issues in exchange for endorsements), but he just can't bring himself to stoop to Cantwell's level of mud slinging, even though he's losing support hour after hour."The Best Man" was written by Gore Vidal, based on his play, and it's clear his sympathies lie with Russell, but it's easier to depict a sinner than a saint, so Russell's character isn't nearly as well developed as that of Cantwell. Ironically, viewer reactions to Russell are based more on their feelings about the typical onscreen persona of Henry Fonda than to the way Russell is portrayed in the film. We should feel his growing dilemma more strongly than we do. On the other hand, Cantwell (who's not a total villain... he's a devoted husband, as was Nixon) and Hockstader are very entertaining, well defined characters. The acting is first rate across the board, with one powerful confrontation after another. The best scene occurs when Cantwell confronts his military accuser, a weaselly little man, and pretty much cuts him to shreds in a couple of minutes.Of course, viewers watching the movie in 2014 will immediately note that allegations of treatment for mental illness or homosexuality aren't the career enders they were in 1964, especially in the Democratic party. However, it's clear that other such issues have arisen over the years and will doubtless continue to arise in 2016 and beyond (in 1972, the Democrats' first choice for Vice-president, Thomas Eagleton, pulled out after evidence of his own treatment for mental illness surfaced). It's not the issues themselves that are important; it's how the candidates react to them, as well as their inner character, that mattered in 1964 and matter equally, if not more, today."The Best Man" is a fast paced, witty, generally engrossing drama that was largely ignored on its initial release (in the wake of the Kennedy assassination, people didn't want to dwell on dirty politics) and has been largely forgotten since. However, it's still good drama and an excellent thought provoking political piece. In almost every election today, the candidates piously proclaim that character matters and then proceed to do whatever they think will work. "The Best Man" has a surprising ending that shows, at least in Gore Vidal's mind, whether character actually does matter.

Superb on all levels. Great cast. Hit Broadway play. Fine performances. A totally absorbing story and theme. Two candidates are running for thePresidency of the United States. One is honorable. The other is not . Anything to grab the solid-gold ring! A behind-the-scenes look at politicalnational politics and the people who will say and do anything to bring the grand prize home to their nest. Henry Fonda is the good guy. Cliff Robertson is the man in black. Fine performances by Lee Tracy as the sitting president of The United States. Margaret Leighton as Fonda'sestranged wife and Ann Sothern as an influential women's activist are near-perfect and excel throughout. Good supporting cast which includes Kevin McCarthy, Gene Raymond and Shelley Berman. Watch this one. It's a winner! Who wins the election? Watch it and find out. Hint. It's anunexpected surprise but most fitting. Incidently, Lee Tracy was oscar nominated for his portrayal of the president.

This is a fine, suspenseful, well-acted film about the long-lost time when political conventions had stances to decide and candidates to choose. I don't do reviews, but this is necessary information.I bought this film in the spring of 2010. It stalled half-way through, and nothing could make it play beyond that point. I complained, and Amazon sent me another. They never checked it out. Same problem exactly.Having seen recent reviews indicating that the problem had been corrected, I ordered a third copy in January 2011 (I really like this movie). I just watched it. All the way through. Pristine print. It was worth all the trouble.I have no way of knowing whether all copies are now playable, but there's a good chance they are.

The Best Man, if nothing else, reminds us that politics was hard ball 50 plus years ago just as it is now, regardless of what you hear on cable TV political programs today. The only difference is that these 2 candidates go to the convention without either having a majority of delegates for the nomination which is a rarity lately. In this tale of a Presidential nomination at a convention, we are met with a battle between a ruthless Cliff Robertson and a more honorable Fonda. Blackmail threats aplenty between the two with winning the endorsement of the sitting POTUS also being coveted by both Fonda and Robertson. If you're into political, behind the scenes, sausage making this is good stuff. Also look for Ann Sothern in an Oscar nominated supporting role as a Party insider and gossip. She steals every scene she's in. Try The Best Man, if for no other reason than to see Shelley Bermann in a rare dramatic role.

Extraordinarily well-put-together movie, with writing by Gore Vidal. Every performance is great. Henry Fonda is terrific as the man who may have too much conscience to be an able politician, and Cliff Robertson as the consummate politician. Lee Tracy as the old war-horse former U.S. President, Edie Adams as Robertson's rattle-brained but loyal wife, and Margaret Leighton as the elegant and intelligent estranged wife of Henry Fonda -- aw, heck, they're all great. It's close to being a perfect movie, with a meaty philosophical issue. See it!

The cast were wonderful. The movie was set in the mid 60's but it still resonated today. Politics are Politics.Henry Fonda is always Great.

Besides having several beloved but now gone actors (Henry Fonda, Ann Sothern, Cliff Robertson), "The Best Man" takes you behind the scenes of a Presidential convention that gets low down and dirty. You don't have to like politics to enjoy this movie. The dialogue is so interesting, it keeps you watching. Prior to my purchase of this, if I came across it on tv (not often any more) I found it hard to resist watching many times.

Until I read about The Best Man in a positive review from a friend, this political thriller has completely passed me by, yet it is one of the best of the genre I have seen. Written by Gore Vidal it unsurprisingly takes a caustic view of politics, but also takes a realistic one. Unlike the cartoon character villans or heroes usually used to depict politicians in fiction, the characters in this film are rounded, subtle, believable and behave like real politicians.The story is of a National Presidential Convention in 1964 for an unnamed party which has yet to choose between an Adlai Stevenson / John F Kennedy type candidate (William Russell, played by Henry Fonda) and a Richard Nixon type candidate (Joe Cantwell, played by Cliff Robertson). It is good dramatic stuff, with Russell sufficiently flawed that there is no simple good guy to cheer to victory and genuine tension until the very end as to who is going to win.As you might expect from a Gore Vidal film, it treats themes such as segregation, the role of women in politics and homosexuality in a more modern and liberal way than many of the time. Even so, the portrayal of a key gay character is at times uncomfortably caricatured to contemporary eyes.Yet much of the dialogue is waspish and benefits from close listening, having the sort of pacy intelligence which the West Wing had at its best. Two comments in particular, from the ex-President being courted by Russell and Cantwell, stuck in my mind. Both were directed at Russell:"The people like your sort. They figure since you've got so much money of your own, you won't go stealing theirs.""You've got such a good mind that sometimes you get so busy thinking how complex everything is, that important problems don't get solved."Great fun to watch.

The Best Man could be said to form the centrepiece of a fine trio of films that examine the conflicting claims of idealism and cynical opportunism in the jungle of Washington politics. Mr Smith Goes to Washington (1939) has an idealistic young senator discovering the realities of career advancement, and nearly 40 years later All The President's Men (1976) chronicles in absorbing detail the chilling extent to which criminal corruption has taken hold under Nixon.The Best Man (1964) is set just as an unnamed political party is holding its convention to choose its presidential election candidate from 5 hopefuls (ie not quite as per the present Democrat/Republican procedure). The two front runners, Henry Fonda (liberal, principled) and Cliff Robertson (right-wing populist, ready to get as down and dirty as it takes) are slugging it out while Lee Tracy's ex-President (mysteriously already having stepped down in a departure from present practice) debates whom to endorse. The movie follows the see-sawing of advantage as both battle to grab Tracy's favour while having to make decisions about how far to jettison morality in pursuit of the Big Plum.This is a classy production in every sense, both gripping and thoughtful, and never too talky which is an easy pitfall for this type of film to take. The stand-out feature is Gore Vidal's script, taken by him from his Broadway play, which is urgent, literate and economical in display of the characters' personalities and viewpoints. It never trivialises the competing pull of ambition and jettisoning of belief. The direction by Franklin Schaffner (Patton, Planet of the Apes, Papillon) is brisk in its movement from the domestic to the public, and though the whole thing is studio-set it never feels cramped or limited in scope. There's clever integration of library pictures of political conventions into the action.Henry Fonda once again plays the liberal at war with his conscience; despite his screen presence, I thought he's here less interesting than Cliff Robertson who gets a long way down into the character of the self-made, driven, unscrupulous yet strangely sympathetic contender. The support acting is lively - Lee Tracy (of whom we learn that "he had a voracious appetite for high living") as the ex-President makes an Oscar-winning turn as a self-proclaimed folksy, simple man of politics, and Ann Sothern (excellent in Letter to Three Wives from 1949) is a fast-talking, demanding party mover-and-shaker.Top-notch political satire, cynical but with a heart.

This is a terrific movie, very clever and funny and true, but this DVD version is incomplete. The film ought to begin with a brief scene-setting. Howard K. Smith, the famous political commentator, appears straight after the credits, looking directly at the camera as if we were his usual television audience, and tells us that the (un-named) political party the film centres on is so far ahead in the polls that whoever gets its Presidential nomination at the convention just starting at San Francisco's Cow Palace (which is just behind him) is almost certain to be inaugurated as President next January. That's more or less it, maybe thirty seconds of film, but now it's gone. The scene had gone the last time I saw the movie on TV, too; that was probably 25 years ago, so it may not exist any more, although Smith's name is still on the credits (he appears briefly, unannounced, in a few other scenes). What's the point of these minuscule shortenings, which occur with DVD releases more often than you'd think? In this case, it doesn't ruin the film, it's just annoying. See the film anyway.

A political drama that has resonance - not least in the recent past. Good quality visuals and productionwith a stellar cast. Only quibble - the low audio level that even the highest output of my audiocontrol only just made it to a barely satisfactory level. This seems a not infrequent problem in DVDproduction of films of a certain vintage. Pity.

A solid film which does not reach the highs of “Advise & Consent” but is enjoyable enough. Excellent audio and video on this recommended release.