Advise & Consent (1962)

User Rating:

7.9/10   

Director:

Otto Preminger

Writers:

Allen Drury (novel)
Wendell Mayes (screenplay)

Release Date:

6 June 1962 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

Are the men and women of Washington really like this?

Plot:

Senate investigation into the President's newly nominated Secretary of State, gives light to a secret from the past, which may not only ruin the candidate, but the President's character as well.

Plot Keywords:

Senate | Blackmail | U.S. Vice President | Pulitzer Prize Source | Gay Bar

Awards:

Nominated for BAFTA Film Award. Another 1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Henry Fonda	...	Robert Leffingwell
Charles Laughton	...	Senator Seabright Cooley
Don Murray	...	Senator Brigham Anderson
Walter Pidgeon	...	Senate Majority Leader
Peter Lawford	...	Senator Lafe Smith
Gene Tierney	...	Dolly Harrison
Franchot Tone	...	The President
Lew Ayres	...	The Vice President
Burgess Meredith	...	Herbert Gelman
Eddie Hodges	...	Johnny Leffingwell
Paul Ford	...	Senator Stanley Danta
George Grizzard	...	Senator Fred Van Ackerman
Inga Swenson	...	Ellen Anderson
Frank Sinatra	...	Himself (voice)
Edward Andrews	...	Senator Orrin Knox

Runtime:

139 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

UK:PG (TV rating) | UK:U (original rating) | West Germany:12 (f) | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | UK:12 | Australia:M | USA:Approved (PCA #20078)

Filming Locations:

Caucus Room, United States Capitol - 545 Seventh Street SE, Washington, District of Columbia, USA

Company:

Otto Preminger Films

Trivia:

The film is based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Allen Drury, who was a congressional correspondent for The New York Times during the 1950s, while he was writing the book. Nearly every character is based on a real person (Lafe Smith is based on John F. Kennedy; Orrin Knox is based on Robert A. Taft, Fred Van Ackerman is based on Joseph McCarthy and the president is modeled on Franklin Delano Roosevelt). Even the blackmailing pf Brig Anderson, and how it's resolved, is based on a real incident. And the Leffingwell nomination is based on the House Un-American Activities Committee investigation of Alger Hiss.

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: During the roll call vote on Leffingwell's nomination, as the Majority Leader walks up to the Vice President to tell him the vote will be tied, senators can be heard responding yes or no to the nomination. Although he is not seen in the shot, the name of Senator Strickland (played by actor Will Geer) is called and a voice answers "No". But that voice is clearly not that of Geer, whose voice is heard responding immediately after when the name of Senator Sundberg is called. At that time, a voice which is unmistakably Geer's replies "Nope".

Quotes:

Robert Leffingwell: Son, this is a Washington, D.C. kind of lie. It's when the other person knows you're lying and also knows you know he knows.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Preminger: Anatomy of a Filmmaker (1991)

Soundtrack:

The Song from Advise and Consent

Great Cast in Absorbing Drama

Given the long running time, the film would have benefited from trimming the introductory scenes to a few minutes, as it doesn't really get going until the confirmation hearing starts about twenty minutes in. The cast is excellent, particularly Pidgeon as a senior senator, Murray as the head of the confirmation committee, and Ayers as the Vice President. However, Laughton, in his final role, steals the film as the sly old senator from South Carolina. Although he has the central role of the Secretary of State candidate, Fonda doesn't get much screen time. Tierney has an inconsequential part, the token female character. The finale is rather contrived, but it is an absorbing drama.