Review of Best of Enemies (2015) by Walter M — 17 Sep 2015

With no televised debates between the presidential candidates in 1968, it was left to ABC who was desperately seeking an audience or any kind of attention really to make up for that by having Gore Vidal and William F. Buckley debate opposing viewpoints in the studio during the two political conventions that year. What the illuminating and snappy documentary "Best of Enemies" does well is provide behind the scenes information. The most surprising snippets involve fresh angles on the Chicago Democratic Convention which had already been so exhaustively covered and here go beyond just mentioning Gore Vidal, Arthur Miller and Paul Newman sharing a car.(I feel there should be a punchline there...).

With a documentary just last year about Gore Vidal, the more revelatory parts in "Best of Enemies" involve William F. Buckley who in archival footage seems polite and eager to listen to different points of view on his television show, and at least until he is pushed too far in the debates with Vidal. At the same time, I do have certain bones to pick, not the least of which is the accusation that Vidal had ulterior motives for saying something unkind about Robert Kennedy. For Buckley, the documentary probably overstates his influence on the Republican Party when in fact he was might have just been in agreement with the more conservative Republicans in power.