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Advise & Consent
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Advise & Consent (1962) More at IMDbPro »

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Overview

User Rating:
7.9/10   2,032 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
No change in popularity this week. See rank & trends on IMDbPro.
Director:
Otto Preminger
Writers:
Allen Drury (novel)
Wendell Mayes (screenplay)
Contact:
View company contact information for Advise & Consent on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
6 June 1962 (USA) more
Genre:
Drama more
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
Awards:
Nominated for BAFTA Film Award. Another 1 win & 1 nomination more
User Comments:
A Good Job With Some Challenging Material more

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Henry Fonda ... Robert Leffingwell

Charles Laughton ... Senator Seabright Cooley

Don Murray ... Senator Brigham Anderson
Walter Pidgeon ... Senate Majority Leader
Peter Lawford ... Senator Lafe Smith

Gene Tierney ... Dolly Harrison

Franchot Tone ... The President
Lew Ayres ... The Vice President
Burgess Meredith ... Herbert Gelman
Eddie Hodges ... Johnny Leffingwell
Paul Ford ... Senator Stanley Danta
George Grizzard ... Senator Fred Van Ackerman
Inga Swenson ... Ellen Anderson

Frank Sinatra ... Himself (voice)
Edward Andrews ... Senator Orrin Knox
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Additional Details

Runtime:
139 min
Country:
USA
Language:
English
Aspect Ratio:
2.35 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Mono (Westrex Recording System)
Certification:
UK:PG (TV rating) | UK:U (original rating) | West Germany:12 (f) | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | UK:12 | Australia:M | USA:Approved (PCA #20078)

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
Average Shot Length (ASL) = 18 seconds more
Goofs:
Revealing mistakes: As the security guard enters Senator Anderson's office the telephone is ringing. The rings (apparently added in post-production) each echo around the office, but the final ring stops abruptly and there is no echo. Even if the caller had hung up in mid-ring, that ring, like the others, would still have briefly reverberated around the room. more
Quotes:
Robert Leffingwell: Son, this is a Washington, D.C. kind of lie. It's when the other person knows you're lying and also knows you know he knows. more
Movie Connections:
Referenced in "Home Improvement: Advise and Repent (#5.5)" (1995) more
Soundtrack:
The Song from Advise and Consent more

FAQ

This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.
17 out of 34 people found the following comment useful:-
A Good Job With Some Challenging Material, 22 November 2005
Author: Snow Leopard from Ohio

The complex story, numerous characters, and sensitive themes would seem to make Allen Drury's "Advise & Consent" a challenging story to film. This is a good adaptation that succeeds in most respects, and it gets about as much out of the material as you could hope for in a couple of hours or so worth of screen time. Otto Preminger seems to have had a good appreciation for the dramatic possibilities, and the fine cast brings the main characters to life believably.

The movie version (more so than the novel) is as much or more about the practicalities of politics than it is about ideology. Some of the political issues themselves were hotly debated topics in the movie's own era, and a couple of them are still topical now, but even they are often secondary to the harsh and often unseemly realities of political power. All of the major characters have their flaws and make mistakes, yet all but a couple of them have some worthwhile characteristics. On its best level, the story is not about winning and losing so much as it is about the ways that political battles affect individual lives and personal character.

There are numerous good performances and some fine casting. Charles Laughton personifies the old-time Senator Cooley, Walter Pigeon (the spell-checker refuses to accept it spelled properly) could not have been better chosen as the Majority Leader, and Henry Fonda is perfect in a challenging role that calls for him to maintain a difficult balance. Even most of the supporting roles are filled well by fine actors like Lew Ayres, Franchot Tone, and Burgess Meredith (who uses his brief screen time very effectively, in a role that must have been quite ironic for him personally).

Naturally, some of the characters and events from the novel had to be omitted or streamlined, but there is still plenty of meat left, even once you discount the Cold War era ideological issues. The personal lives and personal agendas of the characters, the tension between their lives as individuals and their responsibilities as public servants, and the contrast between what they do and what the public sees, all give the movie some extra depth that makes it worthwhile and that gives it meaning that goes well beyond the political issues on the surface.

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Message Boards

Discuss this movie with other users on IMDb message board for Advise & Consent (1962)
Recent Posts (updated daily)User
Are those mini-trains still in use? Deusvolt
constitutional question roundater
Great Laughton from Yorkshire to S.Carolina??? forzaparis53
Notes on ADVISE AND CONSENT JSlack3
Great political movie that hasn't dated at all... GrigoryGirl
SEE THIS MOVIE. saintnick-1
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