'Best of Enemies' is a terrific documentary about the Vidal-Buckley debates
The documentary looks at the televised debates between Gore Vidal and William F. Buckley and the acrimonious relationship between the two.
'Best of Enemies' stars William F. Buckley (l.) and Gore Vidal (r.).
Magnolia Pictures
As a teenager, I remember watching the 1968 televised debates between聽Gore Vidal and William F. Buckley during the two national political聽conventions and thinking that they were way more entertaining than any of聽the TV dramas that were popular at the time. Those debates,聽unaccountably unavailable for the most part since then, have been聽resurrected as the centerpiece of the terrific documentary 鈥淏est of聽Enemies,鈥� directed by Morgan Neville and Robert Gordon. The film聽positions those debates as a harbinger of the ideological sword-crossing聽that has become a staple of TV news. Except what we have now, as聽opposed to the Vidal-Buckley confrontations, is a lot more yammery than聽eloquent.
Eloquence, however, doesn鈥檛 really describe the one outburst from the聽debates that made headlines. In the ninth of the 10 debates, this one聽during the unruly Chicago Democratic convention,聽Vidal called Buckley a聽鈥渃rypto-Nazi鈥� and Buckley shot back, 鈥淣ow listen, you queer,聽stop calling me a crypto-Nazi...鈥� and threatened to "sock" him.
Although Buckley subsequently apologized for the 鈥渜ueer鈥� remark, the聽two men engaged in protracted lawsuits for decades. Their acrimony was聽not a put-up job for TV ratings (although ABC, dead last at that time, did聽very well by these men). As Christopher Hitchens, one of many smart聽talking heads in the film, says, 鈥淭hey really did despise one another.鈥�
I wish 鈥淏est of Enemies鈥� featured more footage of the various debates,聽which began during the Republican convention in Miami. I also wonder if聽the film鈥檚 central thesis 鈥� that the debates kicked off the subjective TV聽news slant we have today 鈥� is a bit oversold. If these debates had never聽happened, I think we would very likely still have exactly what we have聽today. Partisan hollering sells.
One wish: Although Vidal, who was predeceased by Buckley, was聽interviewed by the filmmakers not long before he died, the decision was聽made not to include this footage in the final film. I hope the eventual聽extended cut DVD includes it as an extra. Grade:聽A (Rated R for some sexual content/nudity and language.)