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Advise & Consent (1962)
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Overview
User Rating:
Your Rating:
Director:
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Release Date:
6 June 1962 (USA)
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Tagline:
Are the men and women of Washington really like this?
Plot:
Senate investigation into the President's newly nominated Secretary of State, gives light to a secret from the past, which may not only ruin the candidate, but the President's character as well. Full summary » | Full synopsis »
Plot Keywords:
Awards:
Nominated for BAFTA Film Award.
Another 1 win
&
1 nomination
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User Reviews:
A stately, dry, involving film--with some edgy social issues for the day
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Cast
(Cast overview, first billed only)| Franchot Tone | ... | The President | |
| Lew Ayres | ... | The Vice President | |
| Henry Fonda | ... | Robert Leffingwell | |
| Walter Pidgeon | ... | Senate Majority Leader | |
| Charles Laughton | ... | Senator Seabright Cooley | |
| Don Murray | ... | Senator Brigham Anderson | |
| Peter Lawford | ... | Senator Lafe Smith | |
| Gene Tierney | ... | Dolly Harrison | |
| Burgess Meredith | ... | Herbert Gelman | |
| Eddie Hodges | ... | Johnny Leffingwell | |
| Paul Ford | ... | Senator Stanley Danta | |
| George Grizzard | ... | Senator Fred Van Ackerman | |
| Inga Swenson | ... | Ellen Anderson | |
| Paul McGrath | ... | Hardiman Fletcher | |
| Will Geer | ... | Senate Minority Leader |
Additional Details
Also Known As:
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Parents Guide:
Runtime:
139 min
Country:
Language:
Color:
Aspect Ratio:
2.35 : 1 See more »
Sound Mix:
Mono (Westrex Recording System)
Certification:
UK:PG (TV rating) | UK:X (original rating) | West Germany:12 (f) | Singapore:PG | UK:PG (video rating) (1998) | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | Australia:M | USA:Approved (PCA #20078)
Filming Locations:
Company:
Fun Stuff
Trivia:
The blackmail attempt is based on the case of Wyoming Senator Lester C. Hunt, who was blackmailed by members of the Republican Party. Hunt was told by Sen. Styles Bridges that if he ran for re-election that November, the details of his son's arrest (for soliciting prostitution from a male undercover officer) would end up "in every mailbox in Wyoming". Hunt eventually agreed to step down, but eleven days later committed suicide in the Capitol.See more »
Goofs:
Factual errors: Until his elevation to the Presidency, Vice President Hudson is not shown traveling with Secret Service protection. Since 1954, such protection was provided unless specifically declined. Also highly unlikely that a sitting Veep would be traveling alone on public conveyances such as commercial airliners and taxicabs, as shown in the movie.See more »
Quotes:
[first lines]
[a boy is selling newspapers outside the U.S. Capitol, with the headline "Leffingwell Picked for Secretary of State"]
Paperboy:[to a customer] Thank you.
Stanley Danta:Morning, son.
Paperboy:[taking change from Danta] Good morning, senator... thank you.
[Danta gets into a taxicab]
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[a boy is selling newspapers outside the U.S. Capitol, with the headline "Leffingwell Picked for Secretary of State"]
Paperboy:[to a customer] Thank you.
Stanley Danta:Morning, son.
Paperboy:[taking change from Danta] Good morning, senator... thank you.
[Danta gets into a taxicab]
See more »
Movie Connections:
Referenced in "Will & Grace: Advise and Resent (#2.15)" (2000)See more »
Soundtrack:
The Song from Advise and ConsentSee more »
FAQ
This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.See more (40 total) »
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Advise and Consent (1962)
A moving look at a fictional moment in American politics. We see the dirty deals behind the scenes, but also that dignity and wisdom is preserved by some of the men (and one woman, shown). And we see the power of the system, the value of begrudging respect for those with opposite views, and plain old simplicity of being on the Senate floor and making points, orally, in front of a bunch of others, some of them actually listening.
Reminds me of my classrooms, and that brings government down to a level of believability. That's the secret to the movie, overall, it's ability to make the people real, including a host of really great actors like Charles Laughton and Walter Pidgeon, and of course Henry Fonda, who has a smaller role. Franchot Tone makes a believable ailing president, and it's great to see Gene Tierney in 1962, perfectly cast as a cool, smiley Senator's wife.
Otto Preminger is one of those revered directors who was always tweaking the moral edges of Hollywood, and therefore of America, and the spectacular thread that rises as the movie goes along, of a homosexual subculture existing at all in 1962, and arising from the activity of soldiers, and penetrating the Senate directly, was weirdly controversial stuff. Of course, it's almost ridiculous now, but it wasn't then, and to hear the central senator refer to another senator's gay military experience as a "tired old sin" is hard stuff for those of use who have grown up thinking "each to their own," or even "don't ask don't tell."
Preminger also irked a few anti-Communists by using a couple of left-wing actors, including Burgess Meredith, who has a small but memorable role. And the whole notion of a potential Secretary of State once having been superficially involved in a "Communist cell block" is interesting here partly because it shows how silly accusations can be, attacking things you do when you're twenty and have fully rejected or outgrown. Fonda is that figure of utter respectability for the good reason that he represents utter morality and patriotism, without become a cardboard flag-waver.
Though released to a public well into the Kennedy era, it feels like an Eisenhower world, with a couple younger senators easily looking like the Kennedy type, but still not President. The belligerent Old South conservative is, tellingly, a Democrat, back in the days when the South was pretty much conservative democratic. There are no parties mentioned, actually, but the leading voices seem to be liberal in their foreign policy, more like the Kennedy tone (or from the 50s, the tone of Adlai Stevenson, who lost the nomination bid to Kennedy in 1960). The book that led to the movie, by Allen Drury, was finished in 1959, and Drury was a bit of a right-winger, critical of the media he was part of, and openly anti-Communist. The events in the story (book and movie both) take one notable liberty: the Senator with a "homosexual scandal" in his past was Lester Hunt of Wyoming, whose son was a homosexual. That was enough to make the father a blackmail target, leading to Hunt's suicide.
That none of this matters is tribute to the movie, which really captures 1950s style American politics in a bright, Hollywood way. I mean that positively. It's not a gritty documentary, and it doesn't make scandal out of everything. But the air is familiar, the tone, the looks, the clothes. And it is supremely well done, from the dignified camera-work (nothing film noir here) to the solid editing and storytelling, to of course the acting itself. Not exciting, but very involving and interesting.