THE BEST MAN (1964) B/W widescreen 102m dir: Franklin J. Schaffner

w/Henry Fonda, Cliff Robertson, Edie Adams, Margaret Leighton, Shelley Berman, Lee Tracy, Ann Sothern, Gene Raymond, Kevin McCarthy, Mahalia Jackson

From The Movie Guide: "[Playwright and adapter Gore] Vidal's outspoken political hornet's nest. Idealist Fonda and hypocrite Robertson do battle for their party's Presidential nomination. Fonda's wife Leighton has held off getting a divorce so as not to hurt her husband's political chances. Lee Tracy is the dying President who hasn't put his support behind either man on the eve of the convention. Robertson has a dossier on Fonda's emotional instability and uses it to get what he wants. Then we learn that Robertson had a rendezvous with another man some years earlier. Will Fonda retaliate? You can see Stevenson in Fonda, McCarthy or Nixon in Robertson, and a bit of Truman in outstanding, [Supporting Actor] Oscar-nominated Tracy, who died before making another film. Gore Vidal's dialogue is razor-sharp as is Haskell Wexler's photography."