Buckley vs. Vidal. Two men. Ten debates. Television would never be the same.
In the summer of 1968 television news changed forever. Dead last in the ratings, ABC hired two towering public intellectuals to debate each other during the Democratic and Republican national conventions. William F. Buckley Jr. was a leading light of the new conservative movement. A Democrat and cousin to Jackie Onassis, Gore Vidal was a leftist novelist and polemicist. Armed with deep-seated distrust and enmity, Vidal and Buckley believed each other’s political ideologies were dangerous for America. Like rounds in a heavyweight battle, they pummeled out policy and personal insult—their explosive exchanges devolving into vitriolic name-calling. Live and unscripted, they kept viewers riveted. Ratings for ABC News skyrocketed. And a new era in public discourse was born.
Directed with consummate skill by filmmakers Robert Gordon and Academy Award-winning Sundance Film Festival alum Morgan Neville (“Twenty Feet From Stardom”), “Best of Enemies” unleashes a highbrow blood sport that marked the dawn of pundit television as we know it today.
“Superbly entertaining!” raves New York Magazine. The Hollywood reporter says “There could scarcely be any documentary more enticing, scintillating and downright fascinating than ‘Best of Enemies’!” The New York Post calls the film “wickedly entertaining!” New York Magazine calls it “a riveting gabfest”!
“Fascinating, supremely well-judged and unexpectedly touching!” says Time Out New York. And Newsweek calls it “Riveting! A delicious spectacle!”