Review

Best of Enemies

William F. Buckley Jr.’s and Gore Vidal’s mutual distaste for each other is explored in the documentary "Best of Enemies."
William F. Buckley Jr.’s and Gore Vidal’s mutual distaste for each other is explored in the documentary "Best of Enemies."

We were different people not so long ago. Our attention spans could accommodate in our popular culture the likes of John Cheever, Norman Mailer and Dick Cavett. Instead of the oblivious and partisan bloviations of otter-sleek, made-for-teevee mannequins shouting past each other on the issues of the day, we had Gore Vidal and William F. Buckley clashing on ABC.

photo

ABC via Getty Images

William F. Buckley animatedly gives Gore Vidal the benefit of his thinking in "Best of Enemies."

Never mind that they didn't seem to listen to each other any more than their vulgarian inheritors seem to, Vidal and Buckley argued with style and a genuine enmity toward each other. They were so alike in their patrician condescension and accents, so convinced of the rightness of their thought. In 1968, ABC -- the perennial third network -- desperate to make a splash and too poor to, like CBS and NBC, cover the Democratic and Republican presidential nomination conventions gavel-to-gavel, hit upon the idea of bringing these two men into one another's proximity. During the conventions, the network decided to air a series of debates between them.

Best of Enemies

87 Cast: Documentary with archival footage of William F. Buckley and Gore Vidal, voices of Kelsey Grammer and John Lithgow, Reid Buckley, Sam Tanenhaus, Matt Tyrnauer, Dick Cavett, Brooke Gladstone

Directors: Robert Gordon, Morgan Neville

Rating: R, for some sexual content/nudity and language

Running time: 87 minutes

Those debates, and their dubious legacy, are the subject of Robert Gordon and Morgan Neville's Best of Enemies, a documentary which is more measured and less fun than the encounters between Buckley and Vidal. That's not the film's fault -- the live events were charged with a suspenseful energy, the sense that real violence could break out at any moment, that simply can't be re-created retrospectively. There were 10 debates, but the penultimate one is the one that everyone remembers. That was when Buckley, reacting to Vidal's characterization of him as "a pro- or crypto-Nazi," snarled a homophobic slur and threatened to sock his opponent in the face.

"You'll stay plastered," Buckley shouted.

Nearly 50 years later, the exchange remains riveting -- Vidal's smug satisfaction in drawing out his opponent's ugly side is apparent. Although it led most people to believe that Vidal won the debate, the truth is that neither man really left much of a mark on the other. Each found in the other an opponent worthy of obliteration, yet neither had the power to vanquish the other. They were giants in those days, I suppose, or at least genuine heavyweights, and time enough for arguments that extended beyond 140 characters or a three-second soundbite.

The filmmakers don't belabor the obvious point that the Buckley-Vidal debates opened a Pandora's box -- all the shrillness and ad hominem attacks that fill up our airwaves can be traced back to this series. It wasn't really a battle between the political right and left. Buckley defined a certain kind of conservatism, but Vidal wasn't a typical liberal; he was more nostalgic for the Roman grandeur or, as he described himself, "a dedicated anti-anti-communist." Buckley wanted a return to old values. Vidal sensed that the American Experiment had already curdled.

Best of Enemies is a smart, breezy movie that relies a lot on archival footage, but also employs actors -- Kelsey Grammer (Buckley) and John Lithgow (Vidal) -- to give voice to the writers' words. If there's a fault, it's that the film is cluttered with too many talking heads -- Buckley biographer Sam Tanenhaus, the late essayist Christopher Hitchens, and journalist Matt Tyrnauer all show up to contribute little that isn't better received from the mouths of the principals.

MovieStyle on 08/28/2015

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