Best of Enemies
“Buckley vs. Vidal. 2 Men. 10 Debates. Television Would Never Be the Same.”
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?"
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Cast
26 people
Gore Vidal
Self
Known for
Gattaca
With Honors
William F. Buckley
Himself
William F. Buckley Jr.
Self
Also in
The American President
LateLine
Kelsey Grammer
Voice of William F. Buckley
Known for
Toy Story 2
Trollhunters: Tales of Arcadia
John Lithgow
Voice of Gore Vidal
Known for
Shrek
Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Dick Cavett
Self
Known for
Beetlejuice
Christopher Hitchens
Self
Also in
Where's Elvis This Week?
The Bible: A History
Noam Chomsky
Self (archival)
Known for
America: Imagine the World Without Her
Reid Buckley
Self
Andrew Sullivan
Self
Todd Gitlin
Self
Brooke Gladstone
Self
Morgan Neville Director · Robert Gordon Director Jonathan Kirkscey Composer
Worldwide gross $904K · Budget $1M · United States release July 31, 2015
Box office
Budget
$1,000,000
Worldwide gross
$904,119
Gross vs. budget
0.9×
Production
Tremolo Productions
Production
Media Ranch
Production
Motto Pictures
Production
Magnolia Pictures
Production
Participant
Production
ITVS
Production
Ford Foundation / JustFilms
Production
United States
Produced in
Languages
Original language
English
Spoken on screen
English
Release dates
United States · July 31, 2015
Theatrical
Netherlands
November 9, 2018 · TV · NPO 2
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Some details come from TheTVDB.