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The Best Man (1964)
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Overview
User Rating:
Release Date:
5 April 1964 (USA) moreTagline:
Does The Best Man Always Get To The White House?Plot:
The other party is in disarray. Five men vie for the party nomination for president. No one has a majority... more | full synopsisAwards:
Nominated for Oscar. Another 1 win & 3 nominations moreNewsDesk:
On DVD: "Please Vote for Me," "Primo Levi's Journey"(From IFC. 26 August 2008, 6:40 AM, PDT)
User Comments:
great film moreCast
(Cast overview, first billed only)| Henry Fonda | ... | William Russell | |
| Cliff Robertson | ... | Joe Cantwell | |
| Edie Adams | ... | Mabel Cantwell | |
| Margaret Leighton | ... | Alice Russell | |
| Shelley Berman | ... | Sheldon Bascomb | |
| Lee Tracy | ... | President Art Hockstader | |
| Ann Sothern | ... | Sue Ellen Gamadge | |
| Gene Raymond | ... | Don Cantwell | |
| Kevin McCarthy | ... | Dick Jensen | |
| Mahalia Jackson | ... | Herself | |
| Howard K. Smith | ... | Himself | |
| John Henry Faulk | ... | Gov. T.T. Claypoole | |
| Richard Arlen | ... | Sen. Oscar Anderson | |
| Penny Singleton | ... | Mrs. Claypoole (scenes deleted) | |
| George Kirgo | ... | Speechwriter |
Additional Details
Parents Guide:
Add content advisory for parentsRuntime:
102 minCountry:
USALanguage:
EnglishColor:
Black and WhiteAspect Ratio:
1.66 : 1 moreSound Mix:
Mono (RCA Sound Recording)Fun Stuff
Trivia:
Adapted from a stage production that opened on Mar. 31, 1960 at the Morosco Theatre in New York and ran for 520 performances. Lee Tracy repeated the role that he created on Broadway and was nominated for the 1960 Tony Award for Best Actor for his performance. Melvyn Douglas originally played William Russell in the play, the Henry Fonda role in the film. The play also won the 1960 Tony Award for Best Play, written by Gore Vidal who also penned the screenplay for the movie version. moreGoofs:
Continuity: Several times, stock footage of actual political rally doesn't match scenes shot especially for movie. In several shots, no one is sitting in upper seats of auditorium that are nonetheless packed in newsreel footage of same alleged event. moreFAQ
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A great political drama from the man who also directed The Planet Of The Apes and Patton. This was first a play created by Gore Vidal in 1960 and was also the same year he ran for congress and lost. Henry Fonda and Cliff Robertson are the two leading candidates for their parties nomination and they can't stand each other. Fonda plays a former Secretary of State and an intellectual whose character is based on Adlai Stevenson. Robertson plays a senator whose character is a cross between McCarthy and Nixon. Lee Tracy plays the former president is who dying and they are both trying to get his support. What isn't clear is that Fonda clearly is a liberal and Robertson is a conservative so why are they fighting for the nomination in the same party, which you never learn anyway. It's a great political drama and it's unfortunate that Vidal didn't create any more plays like this.