Tag Archives: henry fonda

Feb 07

The Best Man

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Now that the presidential campaigns are thinning out, set your TiVos on Monday to tape “The Best Man,” a great 1964 movie (in the waning days of black and white) starring Henry Fonda and Cliff Robertson as competing presidential candidates heading into the convention. Obviously, it takes place back when the conventions played a role in deciding the nominee, as opposed to just coronating the nominee. It’s relevant this year because the whole point of it is the tension between positive and negative campaigns. Both men have to weigh how nasty they are willing to get in pursuit of the nomination. Well written and well-acted, as if “well-acted” needed to be said given the talent involved.

By the way, IMDb’s trivia page says that Ronald Reagan was turned down for a part because a studio executive didn’t think he looked presidential enough!

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Oct 10

The Lady Eve

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Those of you in and around Nashville really need to head to the Belcourt next weekend for one of my favorite movies, “The Lady Eve”, as part of its series “Family Weekend Classics.”

It’s directed by Preston Sturges — which ought to be enough, right there — and stars Henry Fonda and Barbara Stanwyck in a screwball comedy. (Because when you think “Henry Fonda,” you automatically think “screwball comedy.”) Fonda is the straight-arrow, nerdy, science-minded heir to a brewing fortune (“The ale that won for Yale”) and Stanwyck is a con artist trying to take him for as much as possible. Hollywood being Hollywood, romance ensues, but Sturges is never going to take you directly from point A to point B without a hilarious side trip through points C, D and E.

If you’ve never seen it, it’s not to be missed.

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