Best of Enemies
movie
Buckley vs. Vidal. 2 Men. 10 Debates. Television Would Never Be the Same.
Released July 31, 2015
Genres:
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?"
Cast
Gore Vidal
as
Self
William F. Buckley Jr.
as
Self
Kelsey Grammer
as
Voice of William F. Buckley
John Lithgow
as
Voice of Gore Vidal
Dick Cavett
as
Self
Christopher Hitchens
as
Self
Noam Chomsky
as
Self (archival)
- no image
Reid Buckley
as
Self
Andrew Sullivan
as
Self
- no image
Todd Gitlin
as
Self
- no image
Brooke Gladstone
as
Self
Paul Newman
as
Self (archival)
Crew
- no image
David Leonard
as
Director of Photography
Robert Gordon
as
Director
Morgan Neville
as
Director
Robert Gordon
as
Writer
Morgan Neville
as
Writer
- no image
Jonathan Kirkscey
as
Original Music Composer
- no image
Aaron Wickenden
as
Editor
Mark Schwartzbard
as
Director of Photography
- no image
Graham Willoughby
as
Director of Photography
Robert Gordon
as
Producer
Morgan Neville
as
Producer
Julie Goldman
as
Executive Producer