FemaleFirst.co.uk: DVD: Best Man [DVD] [1964]

Best Man [DVD] [1964]
enlarge	Director: Franklin J. Schaffner Actors: Henry Fonda, Mahalia Jackson, Cliff Robertson, Lee Tracy, Edie Adams Studio: Optimum Home Entertainment Category: DVD List Price: ~~£12.99~~ Buy New: £3.21 as of 25/11/2009 22:47 GMT details You Save: £9.78 (75%) New (10) from £3.21 Seller: gzoop Rating: 2 reviews Sales Rank: 28318 Format: PAL Rating: Parental Guidance Region: 2 Number Of Discs: 1 Running Time: 98 Minutes Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2 Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6 EAN: 5055201804457 ASIN: B001AOHPOE Theatrical Release Date: 1964 Release Date: October 20, 2008 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days


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Customer Reviews: A gem! November 4, 2008 nedley (london) 3 out of 8 found this review helpful 44 years old and frighteningly relevant in 2008... br / br /Marvel at Gore Vidal's script and take note as he forecasts a black president... "Nice thing about you, Joe, is that you can sound like a liberal, but at heart you're an American" August 16, 2009 Humpty Dumpty (Wall St, Upton Snodsbury) 6 out of 7 found this review helpful 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. br / br /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. br / br /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. br / br /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. br / br /Top-notch political satire, cynical but with a heart. br /

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