Advise & Consent (1962)

User Rating:

7.9/10   

Director:

Otto Preminger

Writers:

Allen Drury (novel)
Wendell Mayes (screenplay)

Release Date:

6 June 1962 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

Are the men and women of Washington really like this?

Plot:

Senate investigation into the President's newly nominated Secretary of State, gives light to a secret from the past, which may not only ruin the candidate, but the President's character as well.

Plot Keywords:

Senate | Blackmail | U.S. Vice President | Pulitzer Prize Source | Gay Bar

Awards:

Nominated for BAFTA Film Award. Another 1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Henry Fonda	...	Robert Leffingwell
Charles Laughton	...	Senator Seabright Cooley
Don Murray	...	Senator Brigham Anderson
Walter Pidgeon	...	Senate Majority Leader
Peter Lawford	...	Senator Lafe Smith
Gene Tierney	...	Dolly Harrison
Franchot Tone	...	The President
Lew Ayres	...	The Vice President
Burgess Meredith	...	Herbert Gelman
Eddie Hodges	...	Johnny Leffingwell
Paul Ford	...	Senator Stanley Danta
George Grizzard	...	Senator Fred Van Ackerman
Inga Swenson	...	Ellen Anderson
Frank Sinatra	...	Himself (voice)
Edward Andrews	...	Senator Orrin Knox

Runtime:

139 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

UK:PG (TV rating) | UK:U (original rating) | West Germany:12 (f) | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | UK:12 | Australia:M | USA:Approved (PCA #20078)

Filming Locations:

Caucus Room, United States Capitol - 545 Seventh Street SE, Washington, District of Columbia, USA

Company:

Otto Preminger Films

Trivia:

Average Shot Length (ASL) = 18 seconds

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: During the roll call vote on Leffingwell's nomination, as the Majority Leader walks up to the Vice President to tell him the vote will be tied, senators can be heard responding yes or no to the nomination. Although he is not seen in the shot, the name of Senator Strickland (played by actor Will Geer) is called and a voice answers "No". But that voice is clearly not that of Geer, whose voice is heard responding immediately after when the name of Senator Sundberg is called. At that time, a voice which is unmistakably Geer's replies "Nope".

Quotes:

Fred Van Ackerman: What I did was for the good of the country.
Bob Munson: Fortunately our country always manages to survive patriots like you.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "HBO First Look: 'The Contender': The Making of a Political Thriller (#7.17)" (2000)

Soundtrack:

The Song from Advise and Consent

The greatest of all American political movies

Preminger's masterpiece and one of the greatest of all American films and yet critical opinion is strongly divided on this one. Some people believe that the melodramatic elements of the plot, (homosexuality, blackmail, suicide), denigrates the film's authenticity and takes away from it as drama but the characters are so beautifully drawn, (and the performances of such a uniformly high standard), that the mechanics of the plot seem startlingly real. By being overt about homosexuality in 1962 the film broke new ground, though the gay characters, briefly seen, are cringe-worthy stereotypes.

What makes the film a masterpiece is Preminger's extraordinary mise-en-scene and possibly the best use of the widescreen for dramatic effect in any American movie. By keeping some characters on the periphery of the screen while the main characters in the scene interact in the foreground Preminger creates tensions and psychological relationships between them that cutting would only dissipate.

The plot centres on a dying President's controversial nomination of a left-wing Secretary of State. On the one hand, there are consequential melodramas inherent in pushing the plot forward, (the President's nomination is opposed; the politicians play dirty), while on the other is the almost documentary-like approach Preminger applies to the political machinations that take place on the floor of the senate and in the offices, houses and hotel-rooms where the characters live and work.

It is also the most entertaining of all political movies. (filmed luminously in black-and-white by Sam Leavitt it feels like a cracking film noir). The cast are matchless and many of them did their finest work here. This is particularly true of Walter Pigeon as the Majority Leader, (he's as decent and as noble as Ghandi), Franchot Tone as the President, Don Murray as the senator who is being blackmailed, (he was never to get a better part), Lew Ayres as the invisible Vice-President and Burgess Meredith as the mentally unstable witness, (it's a great cameo). Charles Laughton, too, gave a career-defining performance as the wily old senator whose opposition is the source of everyone's troubles, (it was his last film).

George Grizzard's character and performance is a mistake. He's the villain of the piece and he's demonic; he goes around spitting fire but he's a necessary evil. And the ending doesn't ring true; it's too convenient, a cop-out even if we are on the edge of our seat. But these are minor quibbles when everything else is so extraordinarily good. The script, by Wendell Mayes, is one of the great adaptations of a book, (even if it does reduce the roles of some characters and leaves out the back-fill). Amazingly, this great film wasn't nominated for a single Oscar. It rose above the brouhaha of the Academy.