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.