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Feb 11, 2017Nursebob rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
Otto Preminger’s searing adaptation of Allen Drury’s politically charged novel is just as pertinent today as it was at the height of the Cold War. Drury based his characters on real politicians (Peter Lawford’s womanizing schemer is a stand-in for JFK while George Grizzard’s unscrupulous senator from Wyoming has Joseph McCarthy written all over him) and many of the events taking place in the novel were loosely based on real life incidents. In Preminger’s capable hands this attention to detail gives rise to an engrossing and wholly believable tale of underhanded deals, misguided patriotism, and the type of self-serving backstabbing that seems to be a Washington mainstay. Anti-communist rhetoric echoes back to the witch hunts of the 1950’s—the recently coined logo “In God We Trust” looms prominently over the senate chamber and Preminger never misses a chance to throw a bit of dirt onto that sentiment whether it’s a prostitute sneaking out of a senator’s hotel room or a rich socialite wining, dining, and screwing her way into the Capitol’s inner circle. Crisp B&W cinematography renders D.C. in all it’s tree-lined glory and a host of stand-out performances give the film the immediacy of a live stage production only slightly marred by a stars ’n stripes ending. Lew Ayres, Walter Pidgeon, Gene Tierney, and Burgess Meredith round out the cast and a very prim Betty White makes her screen debut as a no-nonsense representative from Kansas.