2024 the best man 1964 review
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(as of Nov 20, 2024 03:37:15 UTC - Details)
Italy released, PAL/Region 0 DVD: it WILL NOT play on standard US DVD player. You need multi-region PAL/NTSC DVD player to view it in USA/Canada: LANGUAGES: English ( Dolby Digital 2.0 ), Italian ( Dolby Digital 2.0 ), Italian ( Subtitles ), WIDESCREEN (1.66:1), SPECIAL FEATURES: Interactive Menu, Photo Gallery, Scene Access, Trailer(s), SYNOPSIS: It's convention time and front runner Secretary of State William Russell (Henry Fonda) finds himself pitted against Senator Joe Cantwell (Cliff Robertson).Russell is a man of conviction and hopes to elevate politics beyond the personal attack. Cantwell is a political street fighter who practices a 'means justifies the ends' strategy, willing to crush any opponent.For ex-president Hockstader it's Russell's inability to act that's his flaw. Russell, a man of conscience, sees too many sides to issues, he is paralyzed by analysis. Hockstader, a practical man, is ready to endorse Cantwell.In the end both candidates make discoveries about themselves, one accepts his weakness, one is defeated by his strengths and in the end The Best Man wins.Watch this film and see how little has changed in the 40 years since its production. Especially note the 'role' of women! SCREENED/AWARDED AT: Golden Globes, Oscar Academy Awards, ...The Best Man (1964) ( Gore Vidal's The Best Man )
Aspect Ratio : 16:9
MPAA rating : Unrated (Not Rated)
Package Dimensions : 7.52 x 5.35 x 0.67 inches; 3.53 ounces
Director : Franklin J. Schaffner
Media Format : Import, Widescreen, PAL
Run time : 98 minutes
Actors : Henry Fonda, Cliff Robertson, Edie Adams, Margaret Leighton, Shelley Berman
Subtitles: : Italian
Producers : The Best Man (1964) ( Gore Vidal's The Best Man ), The Best Man (1964), Gore Vidal's The Best Man
Language : Italian (Dolby Digital 2.0), English (Dolby Digital 2.0)
Studio : Univideo
ASIN : B00PHO5QG2
Number of discs : 1
Reviewer: George
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Winner's row
Review: Superb on all levels. Great cast. Hit Broadway play. Fine performances. A totally absorbing story and theme. Two candidates are running for thePresidency of the United States. One is honorable. The other is not . Anything to grab the solid-gold ring! A behind-the-scenes look at politicalnational politics and the people who will say and do anything to bring the grand prize home to their nest. Henry Fonda is the good guy. Cliff Robertson is the man in black. Fine performances by Lee Tracy as the sitting president of The United States. Margaret Leighton as Fonda'sestranged wife and Ann Sothern as an influential women's activist are near-perfect and excel throughout. Good supporting cast which includes Kevin McCarthy, Gene Raymond and Shelley Berman. Watch this one. It's a winner! Who wins the election? Watch it and find out. Hint. It's anunexpected surprise but most fitting. Incidently, Lee Tracy was oscar nominated for his portrayal of the president.
Reviewer: D
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Itâs about politics.
Review: Cliff Robertson is perfect for his role.Good ending.
Reviewer: Enclavesilverspring Com
Rating: 1.0 out of 5 stars
Title: The Best man
Review: Video was sent in another language, I ordered English
Reviewer: Dennis P. Harrington
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: dvdr plays well!
Review: This is a fine, suspenseful, well-acted film about the long-lost time when political conventions had stances to decide and candidates to choose. I don't do reviews, but this is necessary information.I bought this film in the spring of 2010. It stalled half-way through, and nothing could make it play beyond that point. I complained, and Amazon sent me another. They never checked it out. Same problem exactly.Having seen recent reviews indicating that the problem had been corrected, I ordered a third copy in January 2011 (I really like this movie). I just watched it. All the way through. Pristine print. It was worth all the trouble.I have no way of knowing whether all copies are now playable, but there's a good chance they are.
Reviewer: david brown
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: THE BEST MAN--ONCE AGAIN HENRY FONDA
Review: The Best Man, if nothing else, reminds us that politics was hard ball 50 plus years ago just as it is now, regardless of what you hear on cable TV political programs today. The only difference is that these 2 candidates go to the convention without either having a majority of delegates for the nomination which is a rarity lately. In this tale of a Presidential nomination at a convention, we are met with a battle between a ruthless Cliff Robertson and a more honorable Fonda. Blackmail threats aplenty between the two with winning the endorsement of the sitting POTUS also being coveted by both Fonda and Robertson. If you're into political, behind the scenes, sausage making this is good stuff. Also look for Ann Sothern in an Oscar nominated supporting role as a Party insider and gossip. She steals every scene she's in. Try The Best Man, if for no other reason than to see Shelley Bermann in a rare dramatic role.
Reviewer: Christiana R. Mollin
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: The Best Man -- Who Is It?
Review: Extraordinarily well-put-together movie, with writing by Gore Vidal. Every performance is great. Henry Fonda is terrific as the man who may have too much conscience to be an able politician, and Cliff Robertson as the consummate politician. Lee Tracy as the old war-horse former U.S. President, Edie Adams as Robertson's rattle-brained but loyal wife, and Margaret Leighton as the elegant and intelligent estranged wife of Henry Fonda -- aw, heck, they're all great. It's close to being a perfect movie, with a meaty philosophical issue. See it!
Reviewer: Ann Sherry
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Inside a Nasty Presidential Convention
Review: Besides having several beloved but now gone actors (Henry Fonda, Ann Sothern, Cliff Robertson), "The Best Man" takes you behind the scenes of a Presidential convention that gets low down and dirty. You don't have to like politics to enjoy this movie. The dialogue is so interesting, it keeps you watching. Prior to my purchase of this, if I came across it on tv (not often any more) I found it hard to resist watching many times.
Reviewer: Ronald Adams
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: STILL RELEVANT TODAY
Review: With an election year close at hand, it's time to rediscover this political gem about a Kennedy-esque candidate who goes up against a more worthy presidential-preferred candidate for the presidency. The film is still relevant today as everyone is into mudslinging and backbiting one-upmanship. You'll need a good cleanser to clean up the grime this one leaves. What it leaves is a flavor in the viewer's mouth that isn't cotton candy, Joey.
Reviewer: johnny
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: very good movie showing what a man can do ,wright or wrong,to gain power
Reviewer: errol
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: good movie
Reviewer: Mark Pack
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Until I read about The Best Man in a positive review from a friend, this political thriller has completely passed me by, yet it is one of the best of the genre I have seen. Written by Gore Vidal it unsurprisingly takes a caustic view of politics, but also takes a realistic one. Unlike the cartoon character villans or heroes usually used to depict politicians in fiction, the characters in this film are rounded, subtle, believable and behave like real politicians.The story is of a National Presidential Convention in 1964 for an unnamed party which has yet to choose between an Adlai Stevenson / John F Kennedy type candidate (William Russell, played by Henry Fonda) and a Richard Nixon type candidate (Joe Cantwell, played by Cliff Robertson). It is good dramatic stuff, with Russell sufficiently flawed that there is no simple good guy to cheer to victory and genuine tension until the very end as to who is going to win.As you might expect from a Gore Vidal film, it treats themes such as segregation, the role of women in politics and homosexuality in a more modern and liberal way than many of the time. Even so, the portrayal of a key gay character is at times uncomfortably caricatured to contemporary eyes.Yet much of the dialogue is waspish and benefits from close listening, having the sort of pacy intelligence which the West Wing had at its best. Two comments in particular, from the ex-President being courted by Russell and Cantwell, stuck in my mind. Both were directed at Russell:"The people like your sort. They figure since you've got so much money of your own, you won't go stealing theirs.""You've got such a good mind that sometimes you get so busy thinking how complex everything is, that important problems don't get solved."Great fun to watch.
Reviewer: H. Dumpty
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: The Best Man could be said to form the centrepiece of a fine trio of films that examine the conflicting claims of idealism and cynical opportunism in the jungle of Washington politics. Mr Smith Goes to Washington (1939) has an idealistic young senator discovering the realities of career advancement, and nearly 40 years later All The President's Men (1976) chronicles in absorbing detail the chilling extent to which criminal corruption has taken hold under Nixon.The Best Man (1964) is set just as an unnamed political party is holding its convention to choose its presidential election candidate from 5 hopefuls (ie not quite as per the present Democrat/Republican procedure). The two front runners, Henry Fonda (liberal, principled) and Cliff Robertson (right-wing populist, ready to get as down and dirty as it takes) are slugging it out while Lee Tracy's ex-President (mysteriously already having stepped down in a departure from present practice) debates whom to endorse. The movie follows the see-sawing of advantage as both battle to grab Tracy's favour while having to make decisions about how far to jettison morality in pursuit of the Big Plum.This is a classy production in every sense, both gripping and thoughtful, and never too talky which is an easy pitfall for this type of film to take. The stand-out feature is Gore Vidal's script, taken by him from his Broadway play, which is urgent, literate and economical in display of the characters' personalities and viewpoints. It never trivialises the competing pull of ambition and jettisoning of belief. The direction by Franklin Schaffner (Patton, Planet of the Apes, Papillon) is brisk in its movement from the domestic to the public, and though the whole thing is studio-set it never feels cramped or limited in scope. There's clever integration of library pictures of political conventions into the action.Henry Fonda once again plays the liberal at war with his conscience; despite his screen presence, I thought he's here less interesting than Cliff Robertson who gets a long way down into the character of the self-made, driven, unscrupulous yet strangely sympathetic contender. The support acting is lively - Lee Tracy (of whom we learn that "he had a voracious appetite for high living") as the ex-President makes an Oscar-winning turn as a self-proclaimed folksy, simple man of politics, and Ann Sothern (excellent in Letter to Three Wives from 1949) is a fast-talking, demanding party mover-and-shaker.Top-notch political satire, cynical but with a heart.
Reviewer: The CinemaScope Cat
Rating: 3.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Set during the convention of an unspecified political party which will elect its presidential candidate, two different candidates face off for the party's nomination. A cerebral pundit (Henry Fonda) and a "man of the people" (Cliff Robertson). They loathe each other and each has something they can use against the other in order to get the presidential bid. Directed by Oscar winner Franklin Schaffner (PATTON) with a screenplay by Gore Vidal (based on his play), the plot is contrived with each character a straw man for Vidal's agenda rather than any recognizable human being. They stand and they prattle on, pontificating on this and that. That being said, fifty years later and it still stings with truth, politics as dirty now as it was then. The performances vary. Cliff Robertson, Edie Adams are very good and Lee Tracy (in an Oscar nominated performance) something more than that. Alas Fonda is dull as usual, poor Margaret Leighton as his wife hasn't much to do but Shelley Berman as a snitch from Robertson's past is appallingly awful. His performance is shocking in its ineptitude. With Ann Sothern, Kevin McCarthy, Gene Raymond, Richard Arlen and Anne Newman.The Optimum Classics import from Great Britain is a solid B&W transfer in its original 1.66 aspect ratio.