September 30th.
The Best Man
The Best Man, released in 1964 and directed by Franklin J. Schaffner with a screenplay by Gore Vidal, is based on Vidal’s 1960 play of the same name. The movie portrays two flawed presidential candidates: one liberal, William Russell, played by Henry Fonda, and one conservative, Senator Joe Cantwell, played by Cliff Robertson, neither of whom can stand the other. Cantwell attempts to sabotage Russell’s campaign, threatening to release embarrassing details from Russell’s personal life. Russell can retaliate with equally devastating information he has on Cantwell. In the end, the best man steps back from the brink, preserving his personal integrity but in a devastating way for his rival.
It is very easy to view a film like The Best Man as quaint, but the reality is that politics and, perhaps more importantly, politicians, seldom change when it comes to mudslinging and competitiveness.
Jacob deBlecourt, "Anthology of Awful: Political Nostalgia in Film"