THE BEST MAN 🤩

Great political movies are few and far between. They tend to be put on the back burner until the times echo what is currently happening in the latest news cycle. Most go to theaters to escape the noise level in Washington, D.C. Cinema gems replicating presidential hopefuls are also rare. Tuning into the National Conventions is more than enough to witness every four years. “Talk, talk, talk, bicker, bicker, bicker.” How can a director make the backroom fighting and backstabbing entertaining while keeping it authentic? 

Luckily, I found a film that shares “being in the room where it happens.” The conversations feel almost palatable in their honest moments of wheeling and dealing. Name-calling, posturing, and threats, along with earnest, hard-core stares and glares, make every second of convention delegate counting stand out. It makes me wonder if this still goes on. I secretly hope a hidden camera will record all the dirt for posterity. “May THE BEST MAN win” is a fairly common phrase, and in 1964, the prolific writer Gore Vidal gave audiences what they wanted to see and hear as two front-running, controversial presidential candidates and one plausible, handsome, dark horse came together on screen. It was all make-believe. 

THE BEST MAN is an intense journey of how to grab your party’s nomination for President. Two polar opposite men vie for the title when it becomes apparent it will take more than one ballot to secure the nomination. Henry Fonda plays the smart, experienced, moral, contender, William Russell. He is the type of man who thinks before he speaks and always weighs his options for the best results. The problem is his opponent, Joe Cantwell, played by Cliff Robertson, who dug up some dirt about  Russell’s mental health years ago and threatened to use it to his advantage. Joe is a hothead who spews whatever comes out of his mouth. Their ‘discussions’ border on major heated, shouting matches. Of course, this is all behind the scenes. The back-and-forth bickering reminds me of a match at Wimbledon. These two are gifted, extremely talented, finely tuned actors. Their exchanges are exciting, with fabulous breaths and pauses. It is obvious who should win and who might in the end. It reminded me of our most recent election with all the bombastic, cut-throat comments. The funny thing is Cantwell was written to resemble a Nixon character, and Russell was supposed to resemble Adlai Stevenson. Crazy. History just keeps on repeating itself no matter what we do. Politics make such strange bedfellows, especially when the wealthy get involved. 

THE BEST MAN was originally a Broadway play with over 500 performances before Vidal recreated his script into a movie. Vidal always said, “People have more fear of a stupid man than an intelligent one.” What year is it today??? Hmm. 

The supporting cast of THE BEST MAN was equally phenomenal. Edie Adams, Margaret Leighton, Lee Tracy, and especially Shelley Berman surrounded the two male leads with empathy and strength. Together, they brought this intriguing film to an extraordinary and unexpected ending. 

THE BEST MAN is not a well-known classic, but it packs a powerful punch into our political system. It forces audiences to use their noggin to think and consider the true facts of the campaigns. It does not back off nor take the easy solution. Wouldn’t it be great if real life was more innovative and inventive to solve stale-mate dilemmas? Wouldn’t it be amazing if all politicians finally put the country before the party? Big sigh… well, one can always dream. 

THE BEST MAN is available on TCM.