Advise & Consent (1962)

Sometimes, all it takes to get me to put off viewing a popular movie is an off-putting title. Such dry, stilted language, adapted to awkward verb form from the Constitution. I can enjoy legal dramas -- 12 Angry Men, Judgment at Nuremberg, and Otto Preminger's other great Anatomy of a Murder are among my favorite dramas in any subgenre -- but not so much when they focus on the more seemingly esoteric aspects of law. Was that the case here?

Not really, but it is a little tricky to follow. Initially, the most focal character is Robert Leffingwell (Henry Fonda), whom the curiously unnamed U.S. president (Franchot Tone) nominates for Secretary of State. It's not clear when the story takes place -- the novel was written three years earlier -- but apparently the Red Scare still has some steam, because opponents present evidence that Leffingwell has been moving in the wrong circles, if you will. By the second half, focus shifts to the hearing committee chair, Sen. Brigham Anderson (Don Murray), faced with a scandal of his own....

That may not sound like a challenging plot, but I actually saw fit to review a full synopsis afterward. Even then, I found myself rereading paragraphs. Part of the problem was my divided attention: For all the intensity of the situation, scenes do get kind of boring. Another factor pertained to a subject that a 1962 film couldn't address very directly. (Mild hint: Author Allen Drury drew inspiration from RL scandals.)

Things do get more exciting in time. You might even call it melodramatic, I'm afraid. Let's just say the ending isn't happy.

Unsurprisingly, the actor I consider most fun to watch is Charles Laughton as a smug, sinister Senate president pro tem. Other significant cast members include Lew Ayres as the vice president, Walter Pidgeon as the majority leader, Paul Ford as the majority whip, Will Geer as the minority leader, Peter Lawford as a womanizing senator on Leffingwell's side, Gene Tierney as a society hostess, Burgess Meredith as a witness, and Inga Swenson as Anderson's wife. Oh, and a 40-year-old Betty White in her feature film debut as a less central senator.

No wonder critics like A&C better for acting than for the script. I don't know; maybe I'll see it again someday and get more out of it. I'd certainly pay better attention to the nuances of character. As it stands, however, I don't feel as though I should have tried it years ago.