Best of Enemies

Movie

2015

1h 27m

English

Documentary, History

User Score:

7.7

Critic Score:

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Best of Enemies

Movie

2015

1h 27m

English

Documentary, History

Play Trailer

Watch on Hoopla

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?"

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Cast

Full Cast & Crew

Gore Vidal

Self

William F. Buckley Jr.

Self

Self

Self

Self

Self

Self

Directed By: Morgan Neville, Robert Gordon

Written By: Morgan Neville, Robert Gordon

Featured Comments/Tips

harshk9 says...

4 years ago

I watched because Hitch was featured in this documentary. He mentioned Vidal a lot when he gave public speeches. Before seeing the documentary I did a little research on Vidal and Buckley. I found Buckley's views on Vietnam war and Civil rights movement despicable. At the end of the docu I just felt sad for both men. Both ventured to make political careers for themselves, both failed. Both spent a considerable time in the libel lawsuit against one another. Both are now forgotten. Quite sad really.

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moviemankev79 says...

8 years ago

Fascinating Doc on two bitter rivals

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Featured User Reviews

rsanek

3 years ago

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 belli More

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drqshadow

8/10 4 years ago

Turn back the clocks fifty years and we find the birthplace of today's angry, confrontational news programming. In the late sixties, standard operating procedure for network television reporting was straight, impartial, monotone and almost entirely fact-driven. ABC, at the time a very distant th More

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