Best of Enemies

Best of Enemies

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

2015 · 87 min · ★ 7.2 · Documentary, History

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?"

Directed by Morgan Neville · Written by Morgan Neville

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Cast

Gore Vidal Self
William F. Buckley Jr. Self
Kelsey Grammer Voice of William F. Buckley
John Lithgow Voice of Gore Vidal
Dick Cavett Self
Christopher Hitchens Self
Noam Chomsky Self (archival)
Reid Buckley Self
Andrew Sullivan Self
Todd Gitlin Self
Brooke Gladstone Self
Paul Newman Self (archival)

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Best of Enemies

Won't You Be My Neighbor?

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