Advise & Consent (1962)

That was an excellent one.

Purely Joyful Movie!

Plot so thin, it passes unnoticed.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

All your old and familiar faces in this one giving us great performances without effort thus the mark of professionalism at work. Good story and inside showings of what goes on in Washington at the upper levels. Of course the movie is dated with dress, landlines, cars and especially air travel but the dialog holds well. You will get a kick of how Senators were treated back then, what they discussed and of course all the game-playing too. Memorable scene of the homosexual world and all that comes with it about 60 years ago.

Otto Preminger directed this(at the time)controversial political drama that stars Henry Fonda as a Secretary of State nominee who faces a difficult senate confirmation hearing led by young senator Brigham Anderson(played by Don Murray) who dislikes the nominee because of his rumored communist past, but after that is put to rest, another issue arises that could derail his chances, but a secret from the senator's own past may destroy him as well. Franchot Tone, Walter Pidgeon, Peter Lawford, Lew Ayres. Burgess Meredith, Gene Tierney, and Charles Laughton costar. Reasonably interesting film has a fine cast though is too talky and too long, though the story is certainly daring for its time, and still sad.

This movie is a classic piece of Otto Preminger schlock. It entertains as pure fiction only and only in those places where it is not overwhelmed by its excessive overplayed melodrama. Real and thoughtful political history buffs and serious (I emphasize, SERIOUS) contemporary political junkies will find little realistic here to consider. If what you want is realism, on the other hand, on his current PBS television program veteran political reporter and former White House staffer Bill Moyers recently seemed to recommend THE DISTINGUISHED GENTLEMAN with Eddie Murphy in spite of its panning by the critics and public alike at the time of its release many years ago. ADVISE AND CONSENT is mostly a soap opera and just plain silly as commentary on the American political system, however much its makers peppered it with superficial likenesses to actual political figures of the time in again-typical Preminger form (just look what he did with IN HARM'S WAY (1965), as well).

Soon to be celebrating its 50th Anniversary, this political drama of senatorial disputes over the President's choice of a replacement for the recently deceased Secretary of State is right on the money in the sense of its closeness to the current political climate, both statewide and nationwide. In an era when people are losing faith in the people they've elected to government office, this film is almost serio-comic in its look at the political squabbling still going on today. (Just watch C-Span after viewing this to compare!) The movie is overstuffed with stars, both old and new, and it is hard sometimes to keep track of who is on what side and pay close attention to each performance. Henry Fonda plays the chosen Secretary of State replacement, but he isn't the focus. That responsibility goes to another legend, Walter Pidgeon, as the Senate Majority Leader, and young Don Murray as the head of the committee questioning Fonda. In his last film role, Charles Laughton gives an almost haunting performance as the senior senator opposing Pidgeon's support of Fonda as SOS. It is difficult to tell whether it is his performance or his obvious health issues that makes his quiet performance so mesmerizing. Burgess Meredith, a veteran of several Otto Preminger films, underacts unlike his overly hammy performance in the camp classic "Hurry Sundown" and others.The lovely Gene Tierney, who was Preminger's heroine in the classic film noir "Laura", is wasted here as a Washington hostess. She is still lovely, but the role lacks any real meat. Betty White adds a humorous touch in her brief role as the only female Senator shown on screen, one of the few film roles she would do before her iconic TV roles on "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" and "Golden Girls". A few other actors later popular on TV include Will Geer ("The Waltons") as the Senate Minority Leader and Broadway musical veteran Inga Swenson ("Benson"), who is totally unrecognizable.There's only a limited amount of domestic drama to offset all of the political intrigue, mostly surrounding Don Murray's character who faces a shocking blackmail attempt involving a homosexual encounter he had years ago. Preminger takes the cameras into a Washington DC gay bar where Murray goes to confront his old lover and is disgusted by what he sees. Preminger doesn't take a stance for or against the gay lifestyle, but simply presents it "as is" long before Stonewall where the "fringe of society" could not be out in the open. His direction is never boring, and the camera shots of the underground tram system (previously seen in MGM's "Washington Story") is quite interesting as well.It is also interesting to see Senators walking around Washington DC as if they could never be recognized, something which could never happen today. As both a historical and unchanged view of what man's disagreements politically can do to their effectiveness on the job, "Advise and Consent" is both ironic and frightening over the power we give the people we elect.