Film / The Best Man (1964)

The Best Man is a 1964 film directed by Franklin J. Schaffner, with a screenplay by Gore Vidal, adapted from Vidal's own stage play.

It's a political drama. The setting is Los Angeles and the presidential nominating convention of an unnamed party. Because this is 1964 and contested conventions were still possible, the nomination is still up for grabs as the convention opens. There are five candidates still in the field, but only two real contenders. Former Secretary of State William Russell (Henry Fonda) is seemingly the ideal pick: charming, talented, dignified, liked and respected by all. But he has a couple of vulnerabilities. One, he's a little bit too much of an idealist, and is reluctant to do the hard punching that is sometimes necessary when grasping for the presidency. Two, a worse problem: a history of womanizing. Bill has a long string of girlfriends and mistresses, which has left his wife Alice (Margaret Leighton) on the verge of divorcing him. She's willing to call it off and play ball, however, if she can be First Lady.

The other main contender as the convention opens is Senator Joe Cantwell (Cliff Robertson). Cantwell is a self-made man, more conservative, and more of a populist than the patrician Russell. He also has the killer instinct that Russell lacks, and is willing to do anything at all for the White House. Like leak the information that William Russell had a nervous breakdown not long ago.

Other characters include former President Art Hockstader (Lee Tracy), whose endorsement is seen as crucial, and Sheldon Bascomb (Shelley Berman), an old Army buddy of Joe Cantwell's who knows a secret about Joe.

No relation to 1999 comedy The Best Man.

---

Tropes:

• As You Know: In the opening scene one of the reporters firing questions at Bill says "What about ex-President Hockstader?", thus letting the audience know that the character of Hockstader is a former president of Bill's party.
• Creator Cameo: Gore Vidal can be seen as a conventioneer.
• Dartboard of Hate: At Russell HQ there's a dartboard with Joe Cantwell's face on it.
• Dark Horse Victory: The bitterly contested fight for a party's Presidential nomination ends when Russell withdraws and throws his support behind a previously-ignored third man.
• Extremely Short Timespan: 24 hours or so, from Russell arriving in Los Angeles to the convention balloting the next day.
• The Fettered: William Russell, whose sense of decency and fair play stop him from accusing Cantwell of homosexuality. Rather than do that, he throws his support behind Governor Merwin, one of the minor candidates, securing Merwin the nomination.
• Jerkass: Cantwell, beyond being a political conservative, is personally obnoxious and abrasive. He is so obnoxious and off-putting in his big meeting with Hockstader that Hockstader, who had previously decided to endorse Cantwell, promises to destroy him.
  Hockstader: And just think, I was going to endorse you for President.
  Cantwell: (realizing he's screwed up) I don't believe you.
  Hockstader: You know, it's not that I object to you being a bastard, don't get me wrong there. It's your being such a stupid bastard that I object to.
• Kingmaker Scenario: Inverted in the ending. Fonda's idealist, unwilling to falsely smear Robertson's crooked politico as a homosexual in order to win — yet also unwilling to let Robertson claim victory by twisting some facts related Fonda's medical history — throws his support to the dark horse candidate who has been mired in third place throughout the balloting, who goes on to win.
• Lingerie Scene: Cantwell's curvaceous wife Mabel (Edie Adams) is shown stripping down to a tight slip before putting on a dress. Just because.
• Newscaster Cameo: Howard K. Smith, then a well-known newscaster for ABC, is shown covering the convention.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: Vidal always denied basing his characters off actual people, but most viewers tend to identify Cantwell as Richard Nixon, Russell as Adlai Stevenson II, and Art Hockstader as Harry S. Truman. According to Vidal, when he asked John F. Kennedy to read a draft of the script and offer technical advice, Kennedy was concerned that the womanizing Russell was based on him.
  • The Cantwell/Nixon parallel, at least, is made pretty plain when Russell sees Cantwell on TV and says "You know, I would not buy a used car from that man." "Would you buy a used car from this man?" was an anti-Nixon poster used by the Kennedy campaign in 1960. (It also indirectly named the trope Richard Nixon, the Used Car Salesman.)
  • Former Pres. Hockstader's endorsement is seen as potentially decisive. In 1952, Harry Truman—in what was the last ever party convention that took more than one ballot—intervened decisively to give the nomination to Adlai Stevenson instead of Estes Kefauver.^note Stevenson lost the general election to Eisenhower.
• No Party Given: The party holding a convention is not named. There was enough overlap between the parties in this era that Russell's pro-civil rights stance doesn't signal which one.
• Off-into-the-Distance Ending: Ends with Russell, who has given up a chance at the presidency but patched things up with his wife, riding away in a limo with Alice.
• Pool Scene: A scene with bikini-clad babes sunning themselves at the pool at the hotel where Russell is staying. Seemingly only there for some fanservice, as well as foreshadowing of Russell's womanizing past when the hot babes take notice of him and swarm him in what's nearly a Groupie Brigade.
• Realpolitik: The title is ironic. Cantwell is implied to be the 'best man' because he's more devious, whereas Russell is a well-meaning schnook who can't hold onto power. And, in the end, the nomination — which is widely viewed as tantamount to the election itself — goes to some guy no one knows anything about at all.
• Situational Sexuality: This is the dirt on Cantwell, as delivered by his old Army acquaintance Major Bascomb: that Cantwell, having been stationed in the Aleutians for a year and a half "with all those men...and no women," engaged in homosexual activity.
• Sleazy Politician: A conversed trope. Hockstader is of the opinion that only someone willing to be utterly ruthless is truly qualified to handle the responsibilities of the presidency, while Russell counters that such a person can't be trusted to do what's right if it might be unpopular.
• Stock Footage: Some footage of what seems to be an actual political convention is cleverly spiced in with shots of conventioneers holding Russell banners.
• Title Drop: Cantwell closes a boisterous press conference by saying "May the best man win!" An enraged Russell says the same thing after Cantwell rejects his suggestion that they both refrain from releasing their dirt. Then at the end, after Russell has thrown his support to Merwin and stopped Cantwell, Russell says with relief, "I'm glad the best man won."
• To Be Lawful or Good: Russell faces the dilemma of whether to hold true to his ideals and not release the dirt on Cantwell, which will result in Cantwell winning after he releases his dirt on Russell, or to go ahead and tell what he knows about Cantwell, which will secure Russell the nomination but will be a betrayal of everything he believes in. He decides to Take a Third Option and throw his support to Merwin.
• Video Credits: Of all the main players at the end of the film.
• We Can Rule Together: Near the end Cantwell, ostensibly to end the deadlock, offers Russell the vice-presidency. Russell scornfully refuses.
• Your Days Are Numbered: Hockstader has cancer "of the innards." He says he may live to see the inauguration, but that's about it...so, less than six months.