Console best movie i've ever seen.

Stoutor It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

ThrillMessage There are better movies of two hours length. I loved the actress'performance.

Taha Avalos The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

blissfilm I write this review to complain of the easy and simple comparisons of Cantwell to Nixon. This doesn't fully hold up, as the two competing candidates in the film are from the same party (evidently the Democrats, judging by the other characters). Rather, Cantwell bears several stunning resemblances to Bobby Kennedy, whom Vidal had particularly disparaged in an Esquire article, in which he criticized the Kennedy family in general and Bobby in particular. Vidal was related to President John Kennedy's wife, Jackie. In another article (a review of a book by William Manchester, "Death of a President"), Vidal had called the Kennedys "ruthless and not very lovable after all." The character Cantwell has a very openly cozy and loving relationship with his wife (reminding us of Ethel) and in the film is also known for his several children. More of a clue, he's a former Attorney General who was known for going after the mob and communists, and also a Senator. People forget that Joseph McCarthy was close to the Kennedy family, and had hired Bobby as counsel for his investigative committee (Bobby later resigned due to clashes with McCarthy and Roy Cohn). The characters are clearly composites, but Vidal didn't leave out his antipathy for real politicians, and for RFK in particular. It's not surprising there would also be comparisons to Nixon; Vidal was an equal opportunity critic of politicians and that certainly included Richard Nixon as well.

Putzberger "The Best Man" is the kind of verbally rich, visually spare docudrama that was released every few years in the late 1950s and early 1960s, most of them signaling their intellectual seriousness with black-and-white cinematography and Henry Fonda. (See "Twelve Angry Men" and "Fail Safe" for other entries in this genre.) And here is Henry again, barely disguised as Adlai Stevenson -- he's a brainy former Secretary of State running for President. As a classic Hollywood leading man, Henry had an honorable career playing various versions of himself. In "The Best Man" he is Flawed But Decent Henry, a charming but depressive liberal stuck in a bad marriage, and he's even more convincing than usual, since this version might be closer to the real man than many of the nobler characters he played. Henry's foil is a wild-eyed, perfectly coiffed Cliff Robertson as a ruthless Senator who is vying for the nomination at the nominating convention of the unnamed party to which they belong. The stars do just fine, but the best performance is given by Lee Tracy (whoever the hell he was) as a dying former president whose folksy, Truman-esque (as in Harry, not Capote) demeanor masks a devious insight into men's characters and psychology. The women in the movie are mainly decorative, as befits a movie called "The Best Man" -- they all wear ridiculous blonde bouffants and dutifully step aside when it's time to talk politics. At least Margaret Leighton, as Fonda's estranged wife, is allowed to some depth, although she's a bit of a stereotypical mid-century neurotic housewife, albeit one with a fairly soft edge.Gore Vidal wrote "The Best Man," and as a film, it's okay . . . genuinely suspenseful, and there's a nice contrast of dialogue between Fonda's glib eloquence, Tracy's homespun sophistry and Robertson's clipped aggressiveness. However, the camera work is bland and the use of stock footage and music is awkward to the point of jarring. As an analysis of American politics in 1964, it's pretty decent . . . Vidal has spent his life around this stuff, so he efficiently but effectively portrays the horse-trading and hypocrisy endemic to the profession. But "The Best Man" is most moving as an elegy. The kind of divided convention depicted in "The Best Man" is impossible today thanks to the Primary system. Also, Vidal is eulogizing the kind of public intellectual that Stevenson epitomized -- the cancer-stricken old President is named "Hockstader" in an apparent homage to the great American political writer Richard Hofstadter, and Henry's closest adviser, played by Kevin McCarthy, sports the bow tie and blazer that symbolize Ivy League credentials. Robertson's simian Senator seems to be the bastard child of John F. Kennedy and Richard M. Nixon, a handsome but unscrupulous Red-baiter with a beautiful but stupid wife (Vidal was no fan of Jackie Kennedy, to whom he was related). "The Best Man" captures the brief moment in American politics when it seemed possible that intellect would triumph over populism, a possibility that Vidal realized is unlikely since he's smarter than Aaron Sorkin.

sddavis63 As a party goes into convention to nominate its presidential candidate, two potential nominees with very different approaches go toe to toe, trying to force the other out of the race and claim the prize for himself. Joe Cantwell (played by Cliff Robertson) is a tough as nails senator who's quite willing to get down and dirty and do whatever he has to do to get the nomination. William Russell (played by Henry Fonda) is the Secretary of State; an idealist who hates the rough and tumble of politics and wants to concentrate on issues alone. Cantwell has a medical report identifying Russell as a manic depressive that he's quite willing to release to the delegates. In the meantime, Russell's campaign stumbles upon an accusation that Cantwell is a homosexual but Russell doesn't want to use it. As we watch the political manoeuvring going on, it really isn't clear how this is going to turn out. In the mix is a performance by Lee Tracy as the former president, whose endorsement is considered crucial, who doesn't particularly like Cantwell but who also sees Russell as weak and indecisive.The movie is believable - the backroom feel of the convention seemingly quite authentic. The tension of the political realist vs. the political idealist is also well portrayed, and the ending comes as a surprise. I had thought of various ways the thing could turn out, but the actual result did not come into my mind - perhaps because it didn't strike me as believable once I saw it! Robertson was good in his role, although a bit tame perhaps by modern political standards. Fonda's role was a typical Fonda role - the liberal good guy. (I say that with no disdain at all; it's just stating a fact.) Both characters, though, were more complex than mere caricatures. It was noteworthy that Russell also in his own way represented the hypocrisy so many see in the political game of personal attack - he sells himself as the good guy, and yet his marriage is falling apart because (as the movie implies) of his own infidelities. Meanwhile, Cantwell (the down and dirty political operator) seems to have a solid marriage to which he's faithful. So while - for all his political idealism - Russell is the public good guy, Cantwell - as willing as he is to climb into the political gutter - is the private good guy. These men are more complex than you might think at first glance.In the end I found the resolution to the problem unrealistic. Maybe this is my cynicism about the political process coming out, but it didn't strike me as believable that political idealism could triumph. Yes - it didn't triumph in the expected way, but it still triumphed. Still, it's an interesting movie with a definite feel of authenticity to it.

theowinthrop Although dated because Gore Vidal placed too much emphasis on the importance of a convention, THE BEST MAN is one of those movies that should be shown the week just before a Presidential primary, convention, debate, or election is held. It is an important statement on what the public really deserves from its leaders, and also what the public frequently ends up getting.The date of the events would be roughly 1968 or possibly 1972, as Joe Cantwell (Clift Robertson's character) served in World War II. The World War II Presidents lasted from General Eisenhower to George H. W. Bush, but the youth of Cantwell limits his having a run after 1972. Cantwell (as was pointed out in another review) is based on Joe McCarthy, although the candidates seem to be Democrats, not Republicans. To be fair he is an amalgam of several figures: Huey Long (with Gene Raymond as a brother Earl - although Earl is made the older brother), and Estes Kefauver, the Tennessee Democratic Senator who fought the Mafia and ended up Stevenson's rival in 1956, and then his Vice Presidential running-mate. Cantwell has made a hard-hitting reputation against communists and mobsters. But he does not care what methods he uses to achieve his goals. At one point one sees him strong-arming delegates through blackmail.As was pointed out his rival, William Russell, is based on two time candidate and loser Adlai Stevenson. Russell actually has an even earlier lineage. His name is the same as Lord William Russell, a 17th Century Whig "liberal" nobleman, and political writer, who was executed for treason in a questionable trial in 1683 in what was called "the Rye House Plot" (supposedly against the life of King Charles II and his brother the Duke of York). Gore Vidal obviously chose the name to suggest a hopelessness in the man's ambitions from the start.Russell also turns out to have had a nervous breakdown of a quasi-violent nature that was covered up by the then President Art Hochstedter (Lee Tracy). This is based on the tragedy (in the Truman Administration) of our first Secretary of Defence, the brilliant James Forresthal, who killed killed himself (threw himself out of a window) from a hospital he was being treated at in 1949. Russell (in Vidal's fiction) was Hochstedter's Secretary of State at the time of his breakdown.Cantwell has massive appeal to the group that Nixon would label "the silent majority". He is one of them, and he knows that they think the way he does. To achieve what they want they will do anything. He has a contempt for effete, liberals like Russell. Russell, who has written a book on his views of the world (similar to Democrat - turned Republican - Wendell Wilkie), loathes Cantwell and his strong arm methods. Russell is married (his wife is played by Margaret Leighton). She resents his womanizing, but like Eleanor Roosevelt admires the man - and will support him if he will refrain from humiliating her in the White House. Cantwell is a family man with children (his wife is played by Edie Adams). He does compartmentalize home-life and political being, but Adams also understands this.Cantwell is ready to spring the report his brother acquired of the nervous breakdown of Russell. But Russell's assistant (Kevin McCarthy) has found evidence of a nasty rumor about Cantwell in the army. A fellow soldier stationed with Cantwell (Shelley Berman) is ready to expose that Cantwell had a homosexual episode while in the service.Both candidates hope to get ex-President Hochstedter's blessing for the nomination. But though he likes Russell, Hochstedter doubts Russell's fighting ability and decisiveness. Hochstedter hates Cantwell (who openly despises him as well), but he knows Cantwell can fight. But he is aware that Cantwell (to win his point) can overkill ridiculously. He also is aware that for himself time may be running out.Other figures are on the sidelines: A southern governor who wants to put a stop to this nonsense about integration (played by blacklist hero John Henry Faulk), an outspoken "Pearl Mesta" type of Washington hostess, giving social tips to the potential first ladies (Ann Southern). And other favorite son candidates, including Richard Arlen.Gore Vidal's family has been involved in American politics for many decades, his grandfather being Senator Thomas Gore of Oklahoma. Distantly he is related to our former Vice Presient Al Gore. So he has made his fable of politics very rich and thought provoking. Who indeed should our political fates be in the hands of? His conclusion is as clever as his viewpoints are wise.