Best of Enemies

Morgan Neville
2015-07-31

Buckley vs. Vidal. 2 Men. 10 Debates. Television Would Never Be the Same.
7.2
87 min

A documentary about the legendary series of nationally televised debates in 1968 between two great public intellectuals, the liberal Gore Vidal and the conservative William F. Buckley Jr. Intended as commentary on the issues of their day, these vitriolic and explosive encounters came to define the modern era of public discourse in the media, marking the big bang moment of our contemporary media landscape when spectacle trumped content and argument replaced substance. Best of Enemies delves into the entangled biographies of these two great thinkers, and luxuriates in the language and the theater of their debates, begging the question, "What has television done to the way we discuss politics in our democracy today?"

Cast

Name Character Team
Gore Vidal Self Unowned
William F. Buckley Jr. Self Unowned
Kelsey Grammer Self Unowned
John Lithgow Self Zac E. Chan
Dick Cavett Self Unowned
Christopher Hitchens Self Unowned
Noam Chomsky Self Unowned