Burgess Meredith, Charles Laughton, Don Murray

Otto Preminger expanded his vision in the 1960s with a whole series of ambitious, expansive dramas with huge casts and big themes. Advise and Consent, an examination of deal making, party polit...( read more  read more... )ics, and congressional diplomacy in Washington's legislative halls (based on the novel by Allen Drury), is one of his best. Preminger broke the blacklist with his previous film, Exodus, and it rings through in this drama about a controversial nominee for secretary of state (a confident, stately Henry Fonda) accused of being a Communist. The nomination process becomes the center ring of the political circus, with fidgety accuser Burgess Meredith in the spotlight; devious, silver-tongued Charles Laughton cracking the whip as a southern senator with a grudge against Fonda; and party whip Walter Pidgeon lining up votes behind the scenes. Arm twisting and diplomatic hardball turns to perjury and blackmail, and a melodramatic twist gives this lesson in party politics a salacious soap opera dimension. Preminger's style has been hailed as "objective," but it's really a matter of attentiveness: he gives all the character their due and their say, eschewing heroes and villains for an exploration of people clashing over opposing goals. In fact, the weakest elements of the film are the unscrupulous populist senator played by George Grizzard and the badly dated caricatures that populate a notorious underground club. The video preserves the handsome widescreen black-and-white photography, keeping Preminger's careful and measured editing intact. --Sean Axmaker

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87% liked it

255 ratings

Critics

80% liked it

10 critics

Unrated, 138 min.

Directed by: Otto Preminger

Release Date: June 6, 1962

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DVD Release Date: May 10, 2005

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Flixster Reviews (80)


  • October 29, 2009
    Plus je vois de films de Preminger, plus grande est mon admiration de son art. Ses films sont toujours réalisés avec maîtrise, son style est simple et percutant, ses distributions toujours cinq étoiles... et c'est exactement le cas avec "Advise and Consent", son thriller politiqu...( read more)e coup de poing de 1962.

    Encore une fois, et ce quelques années seulement après le controversé "Anatomy of a Murder", Preminger s'attaque à des sujets qui risquent de faire des flammèches; la corruption, l'homosexualité, rien pour plaire à la censure. Mais c'est tellement élégant comme film, tellement peu aguicheur que ça ne donne pas l'impression de vouloir choquer qui que ce soit. Un solide film politique, et du grand Preminger.
  • June 29, 2009
    killer political thriller
  • February 19, 2009
    Decent acting with a superb performance by Laughton but the last 45 minutes or so are too predictable.
  • February 17, 2008
    Excellent political drama with top flight cast, obviously some dated attitudes but that aside a very interesting film. And Betty White even pops up as the senator from Kansas!!
  • June 28, 2007
    Preminger wanted to take on both Washington and Hollywood -- the first for its politics and the latter for its outdated code. We are the winners with this dark and all too real film... and what a cast! Significant also for the 1st depiction of an unequivocally gay bar in a film ...( read more)(albeit an odd and sinister one)
  • April 28, 2007
    Maybe the greatest movie on the inner workings of DC ever made. Charles Laughton just grooves through this movie.

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