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Best of Enemies

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

  • Movie
  • 2015
  • 1h 27m

Directed by Robert Gordon and Morgan Neville

7.2

TMDB audience rating
7.2 out of 10 from 152 votes

Where to watch Trailer

Overview

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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Trailer

Play trailer: Best Of Enemies - Official Trailer

Official video hosted on YouTube. The player loads only when you press play.

Cast and crew

  • Gore Vidal

    Gore VidalSelf

  • William F. Buckley Jr.

    William F. Buckley Jr.Self

  • Kelsey Grammer

    Kelsey GrammerVoice of William F. Buckley

  • John Lithgow

    John LithgowVoice of Gore Vidal

  • Dick Cavett

    Dick CavettSelf

  • Christopher Hitchens

    Christopher HitchensSelf

  • Noam Chomsky

    Noam ChomskySelf (archival)

  • Reid BuckleySelf

  • Andrew Sullivan

    Andrew SullivanSelf

  • Todd GitlinSelf

  • Brooke GladstoneSelf

  • Paul Newman

    Paul NewmanSelf (archival)

  • Arthur Miller

    Arthur MillerSelf (archival)

  • Muhammad Ali

    Muhammad AliSelf (archival)

  • Sam Donaldson

    Sam DonaldsonSelf (archival)

  • Norman Mailer

    Norman MailerSelf (archival)

  • Matt Tyrnauer

    Matt TyrnauerSelf

  • Godfrey Cambridge

    Godfrey CambridgeSelf (archival)

Director
Robert Gordon and Morgan Neville
Writer
Robert Gordon and Morgan Neville
Music
Jonathan Kirkscey
Cinematography
David Leonard, Mark Schwartzbard and Graham Willoughby