The prescience of Gore Vidal

Filmbrain recently caught up with the hitherto unknown (to him at least) 1964 film The Best Man, directed by Franklin J. "Planet of the Apes" Schaffner. Based on the stage play by Gore Vidal, it's a welcome discovery that seems very current despite it being forty years old. Set entirely during one day of the unnamed party's national convention, it focuses on the two leading candidates and their willingness (or lack thereof) to sling mud in order to win the nomination. Henry Fonda plays William Russell, a liberal who is also an intellectual -- a pairing that makes you suspect in the eyes of the American people, as we recently learned. When asked in interviews if being an intellectual is a strike against him, he freely quotes Bertrand Russell and Oliver Cromwell ("Who?", asks one journalist), and refuses to ever invoke god in any of his speeches. Level headed and charismatic, his one character flaw is a long line of mistresses, though it's no secret to anybody, including his nearly estranged upper-class British wife (Margaret Leighton). His leading opponent is Joe Cantwell, played wonderfully by Cliff Robertson. Clearly leaning to the far right, Cantwell is the younger, good looking, liberal hating, commie chasing, god-fearing, "no-more-taxes-yet-larger-military" conservative that has lied to the point of believing his own bullshit. With his trophy wife at his side (Edie Adams), he's determined to garner the nomination, no matter how dirty he has to play. Each candidate obtains dirt on the other -- Cantwell learns that Russell suffered a nervous breakdown, Russell hears of Cantwell's homosexual relationships during the war -- but only Cantwell is willing to use it. Russell, the idealist, wants the election to be about issues, not gossip. An admirable stance, but futile. Most of the film consists of secret meetings, as well as conversations with a former president (Lee Tracy) who is playing both sides. Fonda is excellent as Russell -- a far more interesting character than the president he played in Failsafe from the same year, and quite easily one of his best performances, at least of that decade. His continued determination to not sling mud is played out in a series of extended scenes between him and those closest to him. Many of the conversations take place in odd locations throughout the hotel (so as to escape the eyes of the press), including a meeting between the two candidates in a pipe-strewn basement. Schaffner creates some claustrophobic tension with this, and it never comes across as simply a filmed stage play. The screenplay is rife with choice Vidal lines -- "The nice thing about you Joe is that you can sound like a liberal, but at heart you're an American" -- but it's hard to watch the film and not think about the recent election. (Though Filmbrain is not about to begin rehashing the mistakes of the democrats.) Robertson's character is like Bush and Rove rolled into one -- he wants that nomination and is willing to do anything (even threatening delegates) but on the outside he's the down to earth, simple, wholesome American boy who is so gosh darn likeable. While The Best Man may have come off as a bit extreme in 1964, it seems tame when compared to the ploys used in recent elections. Another film that's not available on DVD, this one pops up every so often on the Turner Classic Movies channel.

Comments

[cjk]

This is an underated smarter-than-average political film that reminds me of two other smarter-than-average political films from the same era: 1) Robertson's unscupulous McCarthy-like Senator recalls James Gregory's McCarthy-like Senator in THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE (1962). Not to mention Nixon! 2) Fonda's liberal candidate for the presidency recalls his liberal candidate for Secretary of State in Preminger's masterful ADVISE AND CONSENT - which also echoes THE BEST MAN's homo theme.

How I wish that Demme's MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE remake had been this focussed. But it looks like all the real political smarts are in documentaries these days.

[jim]

And Shelley Berman as the stammering witness to Cantwell/Nixon's don't ask don't tell moment is great. Lee Tracy as Hockstader/Eisenhower is great, too.