Rating: NR
Genre:
Drama
Release Date: 05/10/2005
SubTitles: English/French/Espanol
Dubbed: English
Sound: DD1
Run Time: 138 Minutes
Flags: Questionable for Children
Distributor/Studio: Warner Home Video
The first of Allen Drury "all names changed to protect the guilty" political novels,
Advise and Consent was brought to the screen by producer/director
Otto Preminger. The film hinges upon the appointment of Robert Leffingwell (
Henry Fonda) to Secretary of State. Leffingwell has been hand-picked by the President (
Franchot Tone), meaning that there'll be a battle on the Senate floor between adherents of and opponents to the current administration. Among the participants are veteran Dixiecrat
Charles Laughton, freshman Senator
Don Murray and powerseeker
George Grizzard.
Burgess Meredith also shows up as a man who is brought into the Senate to "prove" that Leffingwell is a communist. To neutralize
Murray,
Grizzard threatens to dredge up a homosexual incident in
Murray's past, which results in the latter's suicide.
Advise and Consent is a slow and old-fashioned film, coming to life only when
Laughton and
Grizzard are on screen--and in the climax, in which the fate of Leffingwell's appointment is left in the hands of acting President
Lew Ayres.
~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
;)
