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Best of Enemies

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7.2/10 • 134

2015-07-311h 27m

DocumentaryHistory

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

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?"

Directors
Robert Gordon, Morgan Neville
Writters
Robert Gordon, Morgan Neville
Editors
Robert Gordon, Morgan Neville, Eileen Meyer

Top Billed Cast

View Credits
  1. Gore Vidal

    Gore Vidal

    Self

  2. William F. Buckley Jr.

    William F. Buckley Jr.

    Self

  3. Kelsey Grammer

    Kelsey Grammer

    Self

  4. John Lithgow

    John Lithgow

    Self

  5. Dick Cavett

    Dick Cavett

    Self

  6. Christopher Hitchens

    Christopher Hitchens

    Self

  7. Noam Chomsky

    Noam Chomsky

    Self

Reviews1

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rsanek Avatar

rsanek

Apr 11, 2021

7/10

Interesting watch. Vidal's name was recognizable to me but I had never really known how successful he was as a author (and playwright!). It is interesting to see how profit-seeking capitalism in media (in this case TV, but now also on social media platforms) really incentivizes content that is belligerent and argumentative. I have a hard time believing that anyone would say that this is the ideal stuff to be consuming, and yet nothing is done to change the status quo. The last part of the film was perhaps the most enjoyable for me, where we watch as Buckley wrestles with a statement he made in the debates for seemingly the rest of his life.

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Status
Released
Original Language
English
Budget
$1,000,000.00
Revenue
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Keywords
chicago, illinoismiami, floridapoliticsintellectualauthordebatearchive footagetelevision network1960s