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Best of Enemies
Directed by
Morgan Neville
and
Robert Gordon
2015
87m
R
Documentary
,
History
,
Biography
7.6
93%
86%
Add to Watchlist
A documentary on the series of televised debates in 1968 between liberal Gore Vidal and conservative William F. Buckley.
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Buy $9.99
Rent $2.99
+5 more
Cast of Best of Enemies
Gore Vidal
Self
William F. Buckley Jr.
Self
Kelsey Grammer
Self
John Lithgow
Self
Dick Cavett
Self
Christopher Hitchens
Self
Noam Chomsky
Self
Best of Enemies Reviews
Arizona Republic
Bill Goodykoontz
There is something about the siren call of the TV camera that can turn even big thinkers into brawlers. It was true then and it's true now, and "Best of Enemies" serves as a thoroughly enjoyable reminder.
Philadelphia Inquirer
Steven Rea
Best of Enemies offers a bracing view of a pivotal time in our recent history, as Vietnam and race riots scarred a nation's soul, and as the Establishment and the Counter Culture exchanged epithets and blows.
Detroit News
Tom Long
Did anyone win? Most say Vidal, since Buckley descended to physical threats. But really, has anyone won in any of this endless bickering?
Chicago Reader
J. R. Jones
New documentary explores the public intellectuals' televised spats.
San Diego Reader
Matthew Lickona
What followed [in the debates] was not so much a clash of well-articulated ideas as a clash of highly articulate persons who regarded ideas as ammunition.
Seattle Times
Moira MacDonald
For better or for worse, we'll never again see television quite like that documented in the compelling "Best of Enemies" ...
Washington Post
Mark Jenkins
It's great television, but it has been available on YouTube for some time now.
TheWrap
Inkoo Kang
A timely but unsatisfying exploration of a series of exchanges between conservative Buckley and liberal Vidal makes its case too little and too late.
Christian Science Monitor
Peter Rainer
The film positions those debates as a harbinger of the ideological sword-crossing that has become a staple of TV news. Except what we have now, as opposed to the Vidal-Buckley confrontations, is a lot more yammery than eloquent.
Austin Chronicle
Marjorie Baumgarten
The details of what went down are fascinating, but the ultimate focus of Best of Enemies is television and this demonstration that it can be both eminently viewable and illuminating.
Baltimore Magazine
Max Weiss
Almost obscenely entertaining.
Vox
Alissa Wilkinson
The result is exciting but also chilling - an origin story for a long national nightmare.
Flavorwire
Jason Bailey
If even these two witty, well-educated, well-mannered men of letters couldn't keep their on-air interactions from degenerating into cheap shots and name-calling, who could?
BuzzFeed News
Alison Willmore
This doc about the 10-night series, directed by Robert Gordon and Morgan Neville (who won an Oscar last year for Twenty Feet From Stardom), provides an entertaining and, ultimately, depressing peek into TV at a pivotal moment.
Boston Globe
Mark Feeney
Like its two subjects, "Best of Enemies" is lively and smart. Unlike them, it's even-handed.
New Yorker
Anthony Lane
Vidal vs. Buckley-or, as I prefer to think of it, Alien vs. Predator-has not improved with age. Which combatant you cleave to is beside the point, since both of them teeter on the brink of the insufferable.
New York Magazine/Vulture
Bilge Ebiri
Best of Enemies leaves you with an overwhelming sense of despair. It's not just a great documentary, it's a vital one.
NPR
Ella Taylor
Best of Enemies bowls along smartly, with clips from the tapes spiced with intelligently snarky asides from friends and adversaries of the two men, and spliced with archival footage of the tumultuous times they addressed.
RogerEbert.com
Godfrey Cheshire
"The Best of Enemies" provides a rich, extraordinarily fascinating account that's sure to have many viewers' minds constantly shuttling between then and now ...
Los Angeles Times
Robert Abele
Fleet, brutally funny and ultimately mournful for the lost art of informed public intellectuals brandishing wounding insights, the film is a fizzy bath of expertly organized archival footage and commentary ...
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