Best of Enemies: Buckley vs. Vidal (2015)

A documentary on the series of televised debates in 1968 between liberal Gore Vidal and conservative William F. Buckley.

Directors:

Robert Gordon, Morgan Neville

Writers:

Robert Gordon (co-writer), Tom Graves (co-writer)

Stars:

Gore Vidal, William F. Buckley, Dick Cavett

6 wins & 27 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Gore Vidal	...	Self - Debater (archive footage)
William F. Buckley	...	Self - Debater (archive footage)
Todd Gitlin	...	Self - Media Studies, Columbia University
Brooke Gladstone	...	Self - Host, NPR's On the Media
Richard Wald	...	Self - Former President, NBC News
William Sheehan	...	Self - Former President, ABC News
Frank Rich	...	Self - Writer, New York Magazine
Sam Tanenhaus	...	Self - Biographer, William F. Buckley Jr.
Patricia Buckley	...	Self - Buckley's Wife (archive footage)
Lee Edwards	...	Self - Historian, The Heritage Foundation
Reid Buckley	...	Self - Buckley's Brother
Linda Bridges	...	Self - Buckley's Personal Assistant
Fred Kaplan	...	Self - Author, Gore Vidal: A Biography
Matt Tyrnauer	...	Self - Vidal's Editor & Friend
Sam Donaldson	...	Self - Correspondent, ABC News (archive footage)

Storyline

'Best of Enemies' is a documentary about the legendary series of nationally televised debates in 1968 between two great public intellectuals, the liberal Gore Vidal and the conservative William F. Buckley Jr. Intended as commentary on the issues of their day, these vitriolic and explosive encounters came to define the modern era of public discourse in the media, marking the big bang moment of our contemporary media landscape when spectacle trumped content and argument replaced substance. 'Best of Enemies' delves into the entangled biographies of these two great thinkers and luxuriates in the language and the theater of their debates, begging the question, 'What has television done to the way we discuss politics in our democracy today?'

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Plot Keywords:

year 1968 | debate | intellectual | politics | television | 

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Taglines:

Buckley vs. Vidal. 2 Men. 10 Debates. Television Would Never Be The Same.

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Genres:

Documentary | Biography | History

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for some sexual content/nudity and language

Did You Know?

Trivia

The film-makers shot an interview with Gore Vidal, but ultimately decided not to use it, so he only appears in archive footage.

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Quotes

William F. Buckley: [to Vidal] Now, listen, you queer, stop calling me a crypto-Nazi, or I'll sock you in the goddamn face and you'll stay plastered.

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Crazy Credits

There is a short scene after the credits showing footage of an interview with Buckley.

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Connections

Features Myra Breckinridge (1970)

User Reviews

That was a time that lingers until today

The legacy of William F. Buckley, Jr. is not necessarily his 'National Review'; it isn't his devotion to the Buckley pere's hatred of FDR's New Deal, an act deemed a patrician's treachery to his class; it is the implosion of what his brother Reid concretes him as a revolutionary who ushered in the conservative revolution that we see in the impossible array of 17 candidates for the 2016 Republican nomination for the American presidency and the rise of Donald Trump. But, in 'Best of Enemies' trans-political make over is a glint in Buckley's eye as he faced the talented Gore Vidal as they 'commented' on the 1968 Republican convention in Miami and then the Democratic convention in Daley's Chicago. Who has read Buckley's apologia pro sua vita as spy for the FBI 'God and Man at Yale' today? Brilliant, effete, an amateur of the harpsicord,a seasoned sailor, he thought of himself the American heir to the little read GK Chesterton, in his affected speech. He could demolish in high disdain the arguments of his guests on 'Firing Line', guests like Norman Mailer, Allan Ginsberg and the like. Buckley was a man of the right--God, Country, Law and Order, who fought those critics of his values not necessarily in the name of freedom and humanity but in defense of older medieval values by attacking contemporary secular culture. And the embodiment of his distaste was the writer, playwright and commentator on things cultural and political Gore Vidal. ABC pitted these two 'aristocrats' of polished English as a wedge in the wall-to-wall coverage of the conventions by rivals CBS and NBC, at a time nightly television news was accepted more or less straight by the American people. From the get go, it was obvious that these two mavens of the Verb mutually loathed one another. Buckley shucking and sliding verbally, eyes popping, a supercilious grin on his lip as he flung mud at Vidal, not so much on what he said about the convention but for what he stood for. Remember, Gore Vidal had broken taboos for his 'Myra Breckenridge', about a transgendered man, light years ahead of the much admired Caitlin Jenner, a Republican. To Buckley, the writer of note was an enemy of God and patrician values and yes even to an elite education which Gore Vidal didn't pursue--he was a drop out who joined the Army during WW2, serving in Alaska where he wrote his much praised 'Williwaw'. Vidal was a 'revolutionary' in his own way; he published 'The City and the Pillar', which had a homosexual theme, that so exasperated the Old Grey Lady, the New York Times, which boycotted reviewing any of his books till decades later when they couldn't ignore his obvious talent. And in Gore, Buckley met more than his equal, so much so that until his death he wouldn't pronounce the V word. Buckley and Vidal were bellwethers; each had a finger on the rage and discontent of the times. And according to the talking heads, their 10 debates radically changed political discourse that now plagues our own day. 'Best of Enemies' is more than nostalgia, it is a palimpsest for the soul of the American soul. Buckley was an admirer of authoritarianism that Vidal was not. And it was to Vidal's credit that he pierced the supercilious armor of Buckley that, despite the adulation of his peers, rendered a life of hobnobbing with the rich and famous, the anti-Semites and racists, made him lose his 'cool' and restful nights of sleep. Even though he called Vidal a 'queer' (which wasn't a slur a half-century ago), Vidal suspected that he was a closet case, going as far as saying he was an incarnation of Myron Breckenridge. (For those who want to read about the conventions in Miami and bloody Chicago,Norman Mailer's 'Miami and the Siege of Chicago' is not a bad place to begin.

Details

Official Sites:

Tremolo Productions [United States]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

31 July 2015 (USA)

Also Known As:

Best of Enemies

Box Office

Budget:

$1,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$50,378, 2 August 2015

Gross USA:

$892,802

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$892,802

Company Credits

Production Co:

Media Ranch, Motto Pictures, Tremolo Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

87 min

Color:

Color