While violence erupted in the streets during the long hot summer of 1968, two literary giants faced off in an intellectual clash of the titans - with no holds barred. Directors Morgan Neville (the Oscar-winning TWENTY FEET FROM STARDOM) and Robert Gordon take us back to an electrifying moment in history, as the third-place ABC network took a bold step for TV news: take ideologically opposed pundits Gore Vidal and William F. Buckley and allow them to debate the issues every night. Live. Never at ...
While violence erupted in the streets during the long hot summer of 1968, two literary giants faced off in an intellectual clash of the titans - with no holds barred. Directors Morgan Neville (the Oscar-winning TWENTY FEET FROM STARDOM) and Robert Gordon take us back to an electrifying moment in history, as the third-place ABC network took a bold step for TV news: take ideologically opposed pundits Gore Vidal and William F. Buckley and allow them to debate the issues every night. Live. Never at a loss for words, the authors faced off with equal fervor and venom, culminating in the famous exchange in which Vidal labeled Buckley a “crypto-Nazi,” leading Buckley to respond by calling Vidal “queer” on national TV. This captivating Sundance favorite shows us what these legendary combatants had in common - both were intellectuals and failed political candidates from patrician backgrounds - and how their deeply felt disgust for one another culminated into a viciously intimate meeting of the minds. Mixing interviews with their friends and enemies along with Vidal and Buckley’s public and private writings, narrated by John Lithgow and Kelsey Grammer, this breathtaking battleground of a movie takes viewers directly into the line of fire between two of the twentieth century’s most polarizing and intimidating geniuses.
Dir. Morgan Neville, Robert Gordon | 2015, USA, 88 min.
Post screening reception to follow.
Tickets on sale 6/15
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