Forgotten Gem: Advise & Consent

Advise & Consent is a highly intelligent political drama with an iconic star and highly respected director and writers, but I doubt you've heard of it.  It's a mystery as to why some movies become "classics" while others of the same era, pedigree, and quality fade into obscurity, but Advise and Consent certainly falls under that latter category.

The story, based (rather closely, or so I've read) on the best-selling, Pulitzer-Prize-winning novel of the same title, is set in motion when the (fictional) President of the United States decides to replace his secretary of state, and nominates the controversial Robert A. Leffingwell (Henry Fonda) for the position.  Intriguingly, we never learn why Robert Leffingwell is controversial, only that his nomination is sure to spark an intense debate in the resulting confirmation hearing in the Senate.  As the first several scenes dealt with the Majority Leader's efforts to get the necessary votes to approve Leffingwell's confirmation, I settled in for what seemed like what would be a West Wing -style political drama -- but here I refer not to all the witty Aaron Sorkin dialogue and lovable characters, but the boring "one vote up, two votes down" stuff.

And yes, this is how Advise and Consent plays out -- at first.  Despite top billing, Fonda plays a backseat to the ensemble cast of character actors, and Walter Pidgeon takes front stage as Majority Leader Robert "Bob" Munson, who is intensely loyal to the President and thus does all he can to get the Senate to confirm the President's choice for Secretary of State.

But then things get interesting.  Controversies erupt.  Deals are struck. Loyalties are tested.  Political blunders are made. Secrets are hinted at.  The "good guys" make the wrong moral choices as often as the right ones.  And characters who at first seem secondary take center stage as the plot twists even further.  This is a movie that really keeps you guessing, that keeps surprising you.  I whole-heartedly urge you not to look this movie up, as websites like Wikipedia foolishly give away key plot points.

The writing, by novelist Allen Drury and adapted by screenwriter Wendell Mayes, is top-notch when things get going.  And the cast is made up of winners, even if most of the actors have either been forgotten by modern audiences or were more or less unknown even at the time of release.  Charles Laughton, as Senator Seabright Cooley, the leader of the senators opposing Leffingwell's nomination, doesn't bother with moral ambiguity, and instead paints his character as an out-and-out villain, chewing the scenery with such delight that if Cooley had a mustache, you know Laughton would be twirling it. Henry Fonda, as the enigmatic man at the center of it all, gets to portray a morally ambiguous man who nevertheless does what Fonda does best, give heart-felt speeches about integrity.  Cameos include a disappointingly under-used, but highly welcome Burgess Meredith, as a witness who may or may not have been bribed or coached with his testimony, and Betty White, so young as to be unrecognizable, save for her distinctive mannerisms and voice.  I especially liked Don Murray as the committee chairman who surprisingly gets intricately involved in the story and Lew Ayres as the Vice-President, who, in the midst of all the scandal and squalor, is honest, humble, and unambitious enough to tell people up-front that he doesn't think he's strong-willed enough to make a good President.

I think that's really the key to what makes this such a good movie; like The West Wing, it's not just about politics, it's about the people, it explores the characters to their surprising depths.  I won't lie to you, Advise and Consent is slow-going at first.  But after those first couple of scenes (which aren't bad, just slow), this turns into a really good movie that should be remembered as one of the all-time classics.

movie review: Alan Partridge

When The Hangover was released in 2009, I remember not only enjoying it, but also admiring it; many comedies are funny, but extremely few are so relentlessly hilarious as The Hangover, in which nearly every line generates a laugh.  I haven't laughed that much since -- but Alan Partridge came pretty damn close.  Even during those rare moments when Alan Partridge didn't have me laughing, I was usually smiling in amused awe at the writers' wit.

As an American largely ignorant of even the most prevalent of British culture, I myself have never heard of Alan Partridge before seeing ads for this movie, although I have since learned that Steve Coogan has been playing the character on and off (mostly on) since 1991, playing Partridge on both radio and television as a fictional talk-show host.

Here, Coogan (who not only stars in the title role, but also helped write the script) re-invents the character as a Norfolk radio disc jockey.  The story is set into motion when Alan's radio station is bought by a media conglomerate, and lay-offs are immediately rumored.  Colm Meaney co-stars as Partridge's co-worker and friend, Pat Farrell, who fears for his job and talks Alan into defending Pat's job to a meeting of the new board of directors.  Initially sincere in his defense of Pat, Alan immediately reverses gears when he learns that the board has already decided that they will keep either Partridge or Farrell, but not both.  He convinces the board to fire Pat, and feels only a glimmer of guilt when his unaware friend thanks him for sticking up for him.

Armed with a shotgun, Pat takes the radio station staff hostage, and demands that Alan act as negotiator between him and the police.  Much of the storyline deals with the fact that Alan finds, to his delight, that his role as both hostage and negotiator has sent his popularity soaring with the general public.  The central issue soon becomes, how much can Partridge milk the situation without endangering the lives of himself and the other hostages?

I don't know if there is a direct influence, but there's a definite element of Billy Wilder's classic dark satire Ace in the Hole, in which that main character, like Alan Partridge here, repeatedly risks both his life and the lives of others in order to turn an honest crisis into a media circus in the hopes of furthering his own career.

This is a very, very funny movie, and as depicted by actor/ writer Coogan, the main character is a brilliant creation.  Alan Partridge is alternately awkward and charming, cowardly and brave, foolish and clever, selfish and selfless -- and yet, ingeniously, despite all of these contradictions, the character never seems inconsistent.  That's because the key to understanding Partridge is that he tries too hard at putting his best foot forward, and so he fails as often as he succeeds.  He and the title character of Henry's Crime (recently reviewed by yours truly, the Movie Man) are the two most interesting, original movie characters I've seen in years.

One final note:  My earlier comparison to The Hangover was meant merely to express the fact that these two are the funniest movies I've seen in many a year.  But note that their comic styles are completely different, and just because you enjoy one doesn't necessarily mean you'll enjoy the other.  Whereas most of The Hangover's humor depends on slapstick and over-the-top manic energy, Alan Partridge largely depends on brilliant word-play and character development.  What both movies have in common is a love of taking their stories in unexpected directions, repeatedly applying a twisted but undeniably clear logic to increasingly absurd situations.  I really, really enjoyed this movie.  I hear a sequel (tentatively titled Who is Alan Partridge?) is already in the works.  Sweet.