The conservatives dredge up a witness, played by Burgess
Meredith, who maintains that Leffingwell
was involved with the Communist Party in the past and the plot
is thickened when one of Leffingwell's chief detractors, Senator,
played by Don Murray, becomes concerned that a homosexual incident
in his past may ruin his marriage and his political reputation.
Leffingwell is able to deflect Meredith charges by showing
that he had mental problems but subsequently it is revealed that
Leffingwell's testimony was not squeaky clean.
With the exception of George Grizzard, who plays a young Senator
named Fred Van Ackerman so ungry
for
publicity
that he won't heed the advice of his senior, the acting in this
film is superb. Grizzard is convincingly obnoxious, so much
so that it is hard to believe that he could be a Senator ten years
or so after the McCarthy era had run its shabby, dishonorable
course.
Franchot Tone plays an ill President deeply committed to having
his legacy carried on by Leffinwell and he is very forceful and
convincing in his role. Similarly, Lew Ayres performance
as Vice President Harley M. Hudson is extremely dignified and
edifying. Gene Tierney plays a Washington socialite/hostess,
apparently modeled somewhat on Pamela Harriman, who happens to
be the mistress of Senator Munson.
She
is better looking in this film than she was in the title role
of Laura several years before and her imperious grace and savoir
faire far outweigh her less than perfect beauty. Peter Lawford plays Senator
Lafe Smith, a character some observers have said was based on Senator
John F. Kennedy, who was his brother-in-law in real life.
Don Murray's role
as Senator Brigham Anderson
who is chosen to chair the nomination
committee is perhaps the most sensitive and difficult for the
sexual revolution
had not yet exploded fully in the United States and homosexuality
was not a popular subject and Hollywood had not yet developed
a sense of humor about it. His performance is quite nuanced
and he conveys the painfulness of his dilemma very skillfully
and compassionately. He is portrayed as a young, ambitious,
Kennedyesque handsome and vigorous politician who ostensibly is
All-American in every good cereal-box sense. A measure of
how good his performance is how much sympathy he is able to generate
for his blackmailed character, especially given Hollywood's censors.
"Preminger's
masterpiece," observed Martin Bradley in
his 2006 comments on the film at imdb.com, "and one of the
greatest of all American films and yet critical opinion is strongly
divided on this one. Some people believe that the melodramatic
elements of the plot, (homosexuality, blackmail, suicide), denigrates
the film's authenticity and takes away from it as drama but the
characters are so beautifully drawn, (and the performances of
such a uniformly high standard), that the mechanics of the plot
seem startlingly real. By being overt about homosexuality in 1962
the film broke new ground, though the gay characters, briefly
seen, are cringe-worthy stereotypes.What makes the film a masterpiece
is Preminger's extraordinary mise-en-scene and possibly the best
use of the widescreen for dramatic effect in any American movie.
By keeping some characters on the periphery of the screen while
the main characters in the scene interact in the foreground Preminger
creates tensions and psychological relationships between them
that cutting would only dissipate."
While this movie
does not have the epic qualities of Citizen Kane (see The City Review article) or the
bravura of Andy Griffith's performance in "A Face in the Crowd" or the
twists and turns of "All the President's Men," it has a narrow focus
that is precise and unerring and still very pertinent and extremely
sophisticated and professional.
Click here to order the DVD from Amazon.com for 30
percent off its $19.90 list price
This film
is
ranked 87th in Carter B. Horsley's Top 500 Sound Films
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