Advise and Consent (film)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- For the novel on which the film is based, see Advise and Consent.
| Advise and Consent | |
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.jpg/200px-Advise-&-Consent-(1).jpg) Theatrical poster |
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| Directed by | Otto Preminger |
| Produced by | Otto Preminger |
| Written by | Story: Wendell Mayes Screenplay: Allen Drury |
| Starring | Henry Fonda Charles Laughton Don Murray |
| Music by | Jerry Fielding |
| Cinematography | Sam Leavitt |
| Editing by | Louis R. Loeffler |
| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
| Release date(s) | June 6, 1962 (U.S.A.) |
| Running time | 139 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Advise and Consent is an (1962) American motion picture based on the Pulitzer winning novel of the same name by Allen Drury, published in 1959. The movie was adapted for the screen by Wendell Mayes and was directed by Otto Preminger. The ensemble cast features Henry Fonda, Charles Laughton, Don Murray, Walter Pidgeon, Peter Lawford, Gene Tierney, Paul Ford, Franchot Tone, Lew Ayres, Burgess Meredith, and others.[1]
The film is a fictional behind-the-scenes look at Washington, D.C. The story follows the machinations set into play in the U.S. Senate when a second-term president surprises his political party by nominating a liberal nominee for secretary of state -- and, one with a hidden past.
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[edit] Plot
The film tells the story of the nomination of politically liberal Robert Leffingwell (Henry Fonda) as Secretary of State of the United States. Leffingwell has been hand-picked by second-term President (Franchot Tone).
The Senate, using its advice and consent powers, must either approve or deny the appointment. There is a battle on the Senate floor between supporters and opponents of the president, and it gets quite heated.
The senators fighting it out in the Senate include veteran Dixiecrat-like Senator Seabright Cooley (Charles Laughton), freshman Utah Senator Brigham Anderson (Don Murray), and power seeking Senator Fred Van Ackerman (George Grizzard).
Herbert Gelman (Burgess Meredith) is a witness who testifies that Leffingwell has a communist past. To neutralize Senator Anderson, Senator Van Ackerman threatens to dredge up a homosexual incident in Anderson's past, which results in Senator Anderson's suicide.
[edit] Background
The film's title, like the novel, comes from the United States Constitution's Article II, Sec. 2, cl. 2, which provides that the President of the United States "shall nominate, and by and with the "Advice and Consent" of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consults, Judges of the Supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States...."
It marked the first time a post-WWII American audience saw a gay bar in a movie.[2]
Frank Sinatra was given voice credit in the film for the playing of one of his records in the bar.
Preminger tried but failed to recruit Martin Luther King Jr. to play a black U.S. senator from Georgia.[3] At the time there were no African-Americans in the U.S. Senate.
Betty White makes her film debut in the film.[4]
[edit] Cast
- Henry Fonda as Robert A. Leffingwell
- Charles Laughton as Senator Seabright Cooley
- Don Murray as Senator Brigham Anderson
- Walter Pidgeon as Senate Majority Leader
- Peter Lawford as Senator Lafe Smith
- Gene Tierney as Dolly Harrison
- Franchot Tone as The President
- Lew Ayres as Vice President Harley Hudson
- Burgess Meredith as Herbert Gelman
- Eddie Hodges as Johnny Leffingwell
- Paul Ford as Senator Stanley Danta
- George Grizzard as Senator Fred Van Ackerman
- Inga Swenson as Ellen Anderson
- Edward Andrews as Senator Orrin Knox
- Paul McGrath as Hardiman Fletcher
- Will Geer as Senate Minority Leader Warren Strickland
- Betty White as Senator Bessie Adam
[edit] Critical reception
The staff of Variety magazine liked the acting but believed the screenplay was problematic. They wrote, "As interpreted by producer-director Otto Preminger and scripter Wendell Mayes, Advise and Consent is intermittently well dialogued and too talky, and, strangely, arrested in its development and illogical...Preminger has endowed his production with wholly capable performers...The characterizations come through with fine clarity."[5]
The film critic for The New York Times, Bosley Crowther, did not like the contrived storyline of the script, and he wrote, "Without even giving the appearance of trying to be accurate and fair about the existence of a reasonable balance of good men and rogues in government, Mr. Preminger and Wendell Mayes, his writer, taking their cue from Mr. Drury's book, have loaded their drama with rascals to show the types in Washington." Crowther also was bothered by the use of the "homosexual affair." He wrote, "It is in this latter complication that the nature of the drama is finally exposed for the deliberately scandalous, sensational and caustic thing it is. Mr. Preminger has his character go through a lurid and seamy encounter with his old friend before cutting his throat, an act that seems unrealistic, except as a splashy high point for the film."[6]
[edit] Awards
Wins
- National Board of Review: NBR Award, Best Supporting Actor, Burgess Meredith; 1962.
Nominations
- Cannes Film Festival: Golden Palm, Otto Preminger; 1962.
- British Academy of Film and Television Arts: BAFTA Film Award, Best Foreign Actor, Charles Laughton; 1963.
[edit] See also
- Advise and Consent -- the novel by Allen Drury.
[edit] References
[edit] Notes
- ^ Advice and Consent at the Internet Movie Database.
- ^ Holm, DK, The DVD Journal, 2005.
- ^ Holm, DK, ibid.
- ^ Betty White at the Internet Movie Database.
- ^ Variety film review, June, 1962.
- ^ Crowther, Bosley, The New York Times, film review, June 7, 1962.
[edit] External links
- Advice and Consent at the Internet Movie Database
- Advise and Consent at Allmovie
- Advise and Consent at the TCM Movie Database
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