Political Film Festival

The Best Man

Guest Speaker: Rep. Steve Israel

35mm Screening!

Presidential politics may loom larger and darker since Watergate, but this disenchanted peek behind the scenes of an American election still bites and remains relevant, thanks to a Gore Vidal script (based on his own play) which dissects with gleeful cynicism the machinery of tub-thumping, image-building and chicanery that goes into motion as rival presidential candidates Henry Fonda and Cliff Robertson fight to cut each other's throats. Russell (Fonda) is a Harvard man, an intellectual, and Secretary of State. Unlike most people around him he has principles: he wants to wage a scrupulously honest campaign for the nomination. But Cantwell (Robertson), Russell's opponent, plays dirty, and Russell must decide whether he should use Cantwell's own methods to fight back. The personal battle is played against the noise and glitter of a wide-open convention, done up for the screen with superb realism. Vidal weaves in memorable lines galore, like the Southern senator's all-purpose reply to awkward questions about how many integrated schools there are in his state (“None, thank God, but we're making remarkable progress”), and the film features a whole string of brilliant performances from Ann Sothern, Edie Adams, and Shelly Berman, along with Lee Tracy, in his recreation of his Broadway role of the dying, crusty ex-President whose endorsement is sought by both candidates.

Tickets: $16 Public | $10 Members

Buy Tickets