Best Of Enemies (2015)
90%RT Audience Score: 85%
Awards & Nominations: 5 nominations
Smart, fascinating, and funny, Best of Enemies takes a penetrating — and wildly entertaining — look back at the dawn of pundit politics.
Best of Enemies” is a documentary that tells the story of the infamous debates between William F. Buckley Jr. and Gore Vidal during the 1968 presidential election. Critics have called it everything from “exciting but chilling” to “obscenely entertaining.” Personally, I found it to be a hilarious and fascinating look at two men who hated each other’s guts and weren’t afraid to show it on live television. It’s like watching a political version of a rap battle, but with more insults and less rhyming. If you’re a fan of politics, history, or just good old-fashioned drama, then “Best of Enemies” is definitely worth a watch.
Production Company(ies)
Produzioni Europee Associate, Arturo González Producciones Cinematográficas, Constantin Film
Distributor
Magnolia Pictures
Release Type
Streaming, Theatrical, Theatrical (Limited)
Filming Location(s)
Macon, Georgia, USA
MPAA / Certificate
Rated PG-13 for thematic material, racial epithets, some violence and a suggestive reference
Year of Release
2019
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Color:Color
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Sound mix:Dolby
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Aspect ratio:2.35 : 1
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Runtime:1h 28m
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Language(s):English
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Country of origin:United States
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Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Jul 31, 2015 Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Nov 3, 2015
Genre(s)
Documentary/Biography
Keyword(s)
documentary, biography, William F Buckley Jr., Gore Vidal, directed by Morgan Neville, Robert Gordon, written by Robert Gordon, Tom Graves, Morgan Neville, produced by Robert Gordon, Morgan Neville, genre, box office performance, budget, reviewed by Alissa Wilkinson, Max Weiss, Jason Bailey, Alison Willmore, Philippa Hawker, Matthew Lickona, Michael J Casey, David Bax, Rocco T Thompson, Debbie Lynn Elias, C.J Prince, Morgan Rojas, MPAA rating, Magnolia Pictures, Brooke Gladstone, Frank Rich, Matt Tyrnauer, Dick Cavett, Christopher Hitchens, James Wolcott
Worldwide gross: $10,209,813
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $11,796,975
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 1,910
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 1,286,475
US/Canada gross: $10,205,616
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): $11,792,125
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 1,569
US/Canada opening weekend: $4,446,190
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $5,137,370
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 1,097
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): $10,000,000
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): $11,554,545
Production budget ranking: 1,610
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): $6,222,123
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): -$5,979,693
ROI to date (est.): -34%
ROI ranking: 1,589
Frank Rich – Self
Matt Tyrnauer – Self
Dick Cavett – Host
Christopher Hitchens – Self
James Wolcott – Self
Director(s)
Morgan Neville, Robert Gordon
Writer(s)
Robert Gordon, Tom Graves, Morgan Neville
Producer(s)
Robert Gordon, Morgan Neville
Film Festivals
Sundance, South by Southwest
Awards & Nominations
5 nominations
Academy Awards
All Critics (122) | Top Critics (46) | Fresh (114) | Rotten (8)
The result is exciting but also chilling – an origin story for a long national nightmare.
August 20, 2020
Alissa Wilkinson
Vox
TOP CRITIC
Almost obscenely entertaining.
June 12, 2016 | Rating: 3.5/4
Max Weiss
Baltimore Magazine
TOP CRITIC
If even these two witty, well-educated, well-mannered men of letters couldn’t keep their on-air interactions from degenerating into cheap shots and name-calling, who could?
May 27, 2016
Jason Bailey
Flavorwire
TOP CRITIC
This doc about the 10-night series, directed by Robert Gordon and Morgan Neville (who won an Oscar last year for Twenty Feet From Stardom), provides an entertaining and, ultimately, depressing peek into TV at a pivotal moment.
December 4, 2015
Alison Willmore
BuzzFeed News
TOP CRITIC
A smart, engrossing documentary about a political and media moment in the United States in the 1960s; a moment whose resonance is topical and whose reverberations have been enduring.
August 27, 2015 | Rating: 3.5/5
Philippa Hawker
The Age (Australia)
TOP CRITIC
What followed [in the debates] was not so much a clash of well-articulated ideas as a clash of highly articulate persons who regarded ideas as ammunition.
August 21, 2015 | Rating: 2/5
Matthew Lickona
San Diego Reader
TOP CRITIC
It is how the success of these debates that makes ‘Best of Enemies’ all the more relevant.
August 29, 2021 | Rating: 3.5/5
Michael J. Casey
Michael J. Cinema
As fun as Best of Enemies is – and it is a lot of fun – it leaves us with a bittersweet feeling about those ten nights…
January 14, 2021
David Bax
Battleship Pretension
As entertaining as it is essential, Robert Gordon and Morgan Neville’s film depicts the birth of punditry in real-time and shows how its all but drowning out non-biased, exhaustively sourced, good ole fashioned news media.
June 22, 2020
Rocco T. Thompson
Screen Rant
[A] fascinating look not only into this chapter of history but into the driving forces behind Buckley and Vidal and their disdain for each other.
December 8, 2019
Debbie Lynn Elias
Behind The Lens
There can’t be a clearer sign of bad documentary filmmaking than reducing the most substantive part of your film to nothing more than an afterthought.
June 5, 2019
C.J. Prince
Way Too Indie
[Director Morgan] Neville and [Robert] Gordon have managed to make politics funny and interesting for the audience at large.
November 9, 2018
Morgan Rojas
Cinemacy…
Plot
Civil rights activist Ann Atwater faces off against C.P. Ellis, Exalted Cyclops of the Ku Klux Klan, in 1971 Durham, North Carolina over the issue of school integration.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
The documentary features intellectual heavyweights William F. Buckley Jr. and Gore Vidal engaging in a heated and memorable exchange.
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