The Best Man (1964)

President Art Hockstader: Major Bascomb... do I understand, by the way you are slowly beating around the bush, that Joe Cantwell is what we used to call a dee-generate?
Sheldon Bascomb: Yes, sir. That's just what I'm saying.
William Russell: I don't believe it. No man with that awful wife and those ugly children could be anything but normal.

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President Art Hockstader: In those days we poured God over everything like ketchup.

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President Art Hockstader: You're not crazy, are you?
William Russell: Any man that wants to be President is crazy.

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Gore Vidal cheerfully admitted that he meant the character of William Russell to remind people of Adlai Stevenson and that Joe Cantwell was based on Richard Nixon. Stevenson and Nixon were, of course, in different parties. Similarly, the character of the former President played by Lee Tracy bore resemblances to both the Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower and the Democrat Harry Truman.
One of the filming locations is the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. In 1968, Robert Kennedy was assassinated here during his campaign to win the Democratic Party's nomination for president.
Adapted from a stage production that opened on Mar. 31, 1960 at the Morosco Theatre in New York and ran for 520 performances. Lee Tracy repeated the role that he created on Broadway and was nominated for the 1960 Tony Award for Best Actor for his performance. Melvyn Douglas originally played William Russell in the play, the Henry Fonda role in the film. The play also won the 1960 Tony Award for Best Play, written by Gore Vidal who also penned the screenplay for the movie version.
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