The Best Man (1964)

User Rating:

7.9/10   

Director:

Franklin J. Schaffner

Writers:

Gore Vidal (play)
Gore Vidal (screenplay)

Release Date:

5 April 1964 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Tagline:

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...

Plot Keywords:

Slip | Smear | Atheist | Cancer | Homosexuality

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 1 win & 3 nominations

Cast

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

Also Known As:

Gore Vidal's The Best Man (USA) (complete title)

Runtime:

102 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Certification:

Canada:PG (Ontario) | USA:Approved | Australia:PG | Finland:S | West Germany:16 (f)

Filming Locations:

Ambassador Hotel - 3400 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Millar/Turman Productions

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.

Goofs:

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.

Quotes:

William Russell: T.T. Claypoole has all the characteristics of a dog except loyalty.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "What's My Line?: (1964-04-12)" (1964)

great film

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.