Competing for their party's presidential nomination, two popular United States politicians consider using underhanded slander tactics to gain an advantage in this scathing look at the American political process. The presidential hopefuls are played by Henry Fonda and Cliff Robertson respectively, however, the best performance in the film comes from Lee Tracy who received an Oscar nomination for his role as the cynical, terminally ill incumbent president who cannot decide whether the unadventurous Fonda or the spineless Robertson is better to endorse. Full of moralistic dialogue, the film feels a little preachy at times and Fonda and Robertson are painted a little too much like polar opposites for credibility, but either way, the film offers a memorable insight into dirty politics and the systems in place that breed dirty politics. There is great irony in how Fonda and Robertson spend more time working out whether or not to take down one another than they do on debating issues and policies at hand. There is also much to consider with Tracy equating Fonda making a decision on whether to take down Robertson at the same level of making a political decision in the best interest of the nation. The film has curious time capsule status too these days, or at least in terms of the tactic proposed in order to take Robertson down. Times have certainly changed, but have politics changed that much?
Review of The Best Man
