The Best Man (1964 film)
Encyclopedia
The Best Man is a 1964 film directed by Franklin J. Schaffner with a screenplay by Gore Vidal
Gore Vidal
Gore Vidal is an American author, playwright, essayist, screenwriter, and political activist. His third novel, The City and the Pillar , outraged mainstream critics as one of the first major American novels to feature unambiguous homosexuality...

 based on his play of the same title
The Best Man (play)
The Best Man is a 1960 play by American playwright Gore Vidal. The play premiered on Broadway at the Morosco Theatre on March 31, 1960, and ran for 520 performances before closing on July 8, 1961.Vidal adapted it into a film with the same title in 1964....

. Starring Henry Fonda
Henry Fonda
Henry Jaynes Fonda was an American film and stage actor.Fonda made his mark early as a Broadway actor. He also appeared in 1938 in plays performed in White Plains, New York, with Joan Tompkins...

, Cliff Robertson
Cliff Robertson
Clifford Parker "Cliff" Robertson III was an American actor with a film and television career that spanned half of a century. Robertson portrayed a young John F. Kennedy in the 1963 film PT 109, and won the 1968 Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in the movie Charly...

, and Lee Tracy
Lee Tracy
William Lee Tracy was an American actor.- Early life :Tracy was born in Atlanta, Georgia.After graduating from Western Military Academy in 1918 he studied electrical engineering at Union College, and then served as a 2nd lieutenant in World War I. In the early 1920s he decided to work as an actor...

, the film details the seamy political maneuverings behind the nomination of a presidential candidate. Tracy was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. Since its inception, however, the...

.

Plot

William Russell (Henry Fonda) and Joe Cantwell (Cliff Robertson) are the two leading candidates for the presidential nomination of an unspecified political party. Both have potentially fatal vulnerabilities. Russell is a principled intellectual (believed by many critics and fans to be based on Adlai Stevenson). A sexual indiscretion has alienated his wife Alice (Margaret Leighton). In addition, he has a past nervous breakdown to live down. Cantwell (believed to be based upon John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....

 with some Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...

 and Joseph McCarthy
Joseph McCarthy
Joseph Raymond "Joe" McCarthy was an American politician who served as a Republican U.S. Senator from the state of Wisconsin from 1947 until his death in 1957...

 mixed in) portrays himself as a populist "man of the people", and patriotic anti-communist campaigning to end "the missile gap" (a Kennedy campaign catch-phrase), but is a ruthless opportunist, willing to go to any lengths to get the nomination. Neither man can stand the other; neither believes his rival qualified to be President.

They clash at the nominating convention and lobby for the crucial support of dying former President Art Hockstader (Lee Tracy). The pragmatic Hockstader (a character based on Harry Truman, particularly his comments on "striking a blow for liberty" whenever he drinks a bourbon) prefers Russell, but worries about his indecisiveness and overdedication to principle; he despises Cantwell, but appreciates his toughness and willingness to do what it takes. In fact, Hockstader had intended to publicly support Cantwell, but the candidate blunders badly. When the two speak privately, Cantwell attacks Russell with illegally-obtained psychological reports (obtained by his brother and campaign manager, Don Cantwell, based on Robert F. Kennedy
Robert F. Kennedy
Robert Francis "Bobby" Kennedy , also referred to by his initials RFK, was an American politician, a Democratic senator from New York, and a noted civil rights activist. An icon of modern American liberalism and member of the Kennedy family, he was a younger brother of President John F...

) mistakenly assuming that Hockstader was for the more liberal man. The former president tells Cantwell that he doesn't mind a "bastard", but objects to a stupid one, and switches to Russell. However, in his opening-night speech, he endorses neither.

Cantwell's wife actively campaigns, while Russell's pretends for the time being that everything is fine with their marriage. The candidates go to the convention trying to outmaneuver the other, Russell finding out to his chagrin that Hockstader has offered the vice-presidential spot on the ticket to all three of the other candidates, Oscar Anderson, T.T. Claypoole and John Merwin.

One of Russell's aides digs up Sheldon Bascomb (Shelley Berman
Shelley Berman
Sheldon "Shelley" Berman is an American comedian, actor, writer, teacher, lecturer, and poet.- Early life :Berman was born in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Irene and Nathan Berman.- Career :...

). He served in the military with Cantwell, and is willing to link him to homosexual activity while stationed in Alaska during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

. Hockstader and Russell's closest advisors press Russell to grab the opportunity, but he resists. As the first round of voting begins, he arranges to meet Cantwell privately, to let his rival know what he can do. However, Cantwell confronts Bascomb and refutes his slander. Russell threatens to use the allegation anyway, but though Cantwell does not understand what makes his opponent tick, he knows this much - Russell does not have the stomach for tactics that dirty. In the end, Russell shocks him by throwing his support behind a third candidate, Governor John Merwin, ending both their chances.

Cast

  • Henry Fonda
    Henry Fonda
    Henry Jaynes Fonda was an American film and stage actor.Fonda made his mark early as a Broadway actor. He also appeared in 1938 in plays performed in White Plains, New York, with Joan Tompkins...

     as William Russell, a former Secretary of State
    United States Secretary of State
    The United States Secretary of State is the head of the United States Department of State, concerned with foreign affairs. The Secretary is a member of the Cabinet and the highest-ranking cabinet secretary both in line of succession and order of precedence...

  • Cliff Robertson
    Cliff Robertson
    Clifford Parker "Cliff" Robertson III was an American actor with a film and television career that spanned half of a century. Robertson portrayed a young John F. Kennedy in the 1963 film PT 109, and won the 1968 Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in the movie Charly...

     as Joe Cantwell, a sitting U.S. Senator
  • Lee Tracy
    Lee Tracy
    William Lee Tracy was an American actor.- Early life :Tracy was born in Atlanta, Georgia.After graduating from Western Military Academy in 1918 he studied electrical engineering at Union College, and then served as a 2nd lieutenant in World War I. In the early 1920s he decided to work as an actor...

     as Art Hockstader, the former President of the United States
    President of the United States
    The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....

  • Edie Adams
    Edie Adams
    Edie Adams was an American singer, Broadway, television and film actress and comedienne. Adams, a Tony Award winner, "both embodied and winked at the stereotypes of fetching chanteuse and sexpot blonde." She was well-known for her impersonations of female stars on stage and television, most...

     as Mabel Cantwell
  • Margaret Leighton as Alice Russell
  • Ann Sothern
    Ann Sothern
    Ann Sothern was an American film and television actress whose career spanned six decades.-Early life and career:...

     as Sue Ellen Gamadge, the party's female Vice Chair
  • Shelley Berman
    Shelley Berman
    Sheldon "Shelley" Berman is an American comedian, actor, writer, teacher, lecturer, and poet.- Early life :Berman was born in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Irene and Nathan Berman.- Career :...

     as Sheldon Bascomb, a former Army comrade of Cantwell's
  • Gene Raymond
    Gene Raymond
    Gene Raymond was an American film, television, and stage actor of the 1930s and 1940s. In addition to acting, Raymond was also a composer, writer, director, producer, and decorated military pilot.-Stage and movie career:...

     as Don Cantwell, Joe's brother and campaign manager
  • Kevin McCarthy
    Kevin McCarthy (actor)
    Kevin McCarthy was an American stage, film, and television actor, who appeared in over two hundred television and film roles. For his role in the 1951 film version of Death of a Salesman, he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and won a Golden Globe Award for New Star of...

     as Dick Jensen, Russell's campaign manager
  • John Henry Faulk
    John Henry Faulk
    John Henry Faulk from Austin, Texas was a storyteller and radio show host. His successful lawsuit against blacklisters of the entertainment industry helped to bring an end to the Hollywood blacklist.-Early life:...

     as Governor T.T. Claypoole
  • Richard Arlen
    Richard Arlen
    -Biography:Born Sylvanus Richard Van Mattimore in St. Paul, Minnesota, he attended the University of Pennsylvania. He served as a pilot in the Royal Flying Corps during World War I. His first job after the war was with St. Paul's Athletic Club...

     as Senator Oscar Anderson


Vidal made an uncredited cameo appearance as a convention delegate.

Tracy repeated the role of Hockstader that he had originated on stage. Tracy was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award (but lost to Peter Ustinov in Topkapi).

Faulk was a Texas-based radio personality who was blacklisted during the 1950s and won a lawsuit that helped restore his reputation.

Kevin McCarthy was a cousin of Eugene McCarthy
Eugene McCarthy
Eugene Joseph "Gene" McCarthy was an American politician, poet, and a long-time member of the United States Congress from Minnesota. He served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1949 to 1959 and the U.S. Senate from 1959 to 1971.In the 1968 presidential election, McCarthy was the first...

, who became a presidential contender in 1968.

Bosley Crowther
Bosley Crowther
Bosley Crowther was a journalist and author who was film critic for The New York Times for 27 years. His reviews and articles helped shape the careers of actors, directors and screenwriters, though his reviews, at times, were unnecessarily mean...

's review of the film in the New York Times cited William R. Ebersol in the role of Governor John Merwin as one of those who "stand out in a cast that is notable for its authenticity." It was Ebersol's only film and he does not speak.
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