Basic Film Information

• Release Date: June 6, 1962
• Director: Otto Preminger
• Writers: Wendell Mayes, Allen Drury
• Actors: Franchot Tone, Lew Ayres, Henry Fonda

Synopsis

The President of the United States makes a questionable nomination for Secretary of State, creating ties between the leaders of the country and the communist party. Deep investigations into the nominee’s past lead to corrupt acts by both sides in the case. Advise and Consent follows the Senate nomination process and hearings, as well as the corruption that is exposed throughout the legislative and executive branches.

Contemporary Reviews

• Advise and Consent recieved a very critical review from the New York Times, that criticized its dramatic scandals and the prevalence of corruption within the film:

• Rotten Tomatoes, known for its very harsh reviews, did not offer a critical analysis of the film, instead, it presented Advise and Consent with a review of an 82% and an audience score of 90%

Background and Interesting Facts

• The role of a Southern senator was offered to Martin Luther King Jr., but he respectfully declined.
• The film is modeled after a novel by Allen Drury, whose characters are based on real Aerican political figures, such as Robert A. Taft, John F. Kennedy, Joseph McCarthy, and Franklin D. Roosevelt.
• The same senate set used in Advise and Consent was used in the renowned film, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.
• Advise and Consent was the first mainstream film to feature scenesinside a gay bar.

Analysis

In the 1962 film, Advise and Consent, viewers watch the process of confirming executive appointments. The film follows the events after the President appoints Robert A. Leffingwell to the position of Secretary of State as his dying wish. Unfortunately, there is quite a bit of opposition in the Senate, causing dramatic arguments between the Senate committee and the corruption of many senators to be revealed. The political games played by both sides of the Senate lead to a senator’s suicide and Leffingwell’s rejection by the Senate. In Advise and Consent, the viewers can see how politics and personal agendas can lead to a corrupt governmental system.

Corruption in Congress is no new idea, but Advise and Consent openly displays how the corrupt acts of government officials can alter major decisions. At the start of the film, Senator Van Ackerman, who later leads the blackmail scandal against Senator Anderson, says “You can’t hold down a Senate seat by kissing babies and shaking hands, you know?” foreshadowing the level of corruption that is later revealed in the film. One interesting event in the main plot dealing with corruption was the situation between Leffingwell and Hardiman Fletcher. Leffingwell, after realizing during the confirmation process that others knew the truth about his past ideas of communism, went to meet with his old friend Fletcher, who also used to be communist. Leffingwell wanted to tell the truth about everything, regardless of how it will damage their reputations. Fletcher, on the other hand, sees no problem with continuing to hide the truth and tells Leffingwell: “I know you’re a man of principle, and I admire you for it, but this is no time to go by the books”. Although Leffingwell wanted to be honest and remain so under oath, Fletcher encouraged him to follow the path of corruption in order to save their reputations.

One could say that Advise and Consent somewhat offered a conclusion to the spread of corruption throughout the government. When the Majority Leader, Bob Munson, and the Majority Whip, Stanley Danta, find out that Van Ackerman blackmailed Anderson to the point where he killed himself, they condemn his acts. Munson claims that they have dealt with various types of corruption, but would not tolerate what he did. The Senate leadership decides not to turn Van Ackerman in to authorities, preventing him from receiving the discipline he deserves. Because they decide against turning Van Ackerman in, along with the accepting nature of lying in the Senate, the viewers are led to no conclusion regarding the subject of corruption. Although Van Ackerman is condemned by the leadership of his own party for his particularly heinous acts, the movie does not further address the issues of corruption within the characters. Throughout the film, the members of both Congress and the executive branch constantly lie to one another to promote their personal agendas. Though Advise and Consent is a decent film depicting the process of confirming executive appointments in the United States Senate and the politics surrounding them, it does little to condemn the corruption seen within the process.

Bibliography

Bass, Saul. Advise and Consent Poster. Advertisement. Columbia Pictures. 1962. Web.

Crowther, Bosley. The New York Times. 7 June 1962. Web Article. 16 November 2016.

IMDb. Advise & Consent (1962). 2016. Web Article. 16 November 2016.

Rotten Tomatoes- Fandango. Advise and Consent (1962). 2016. Web Article. 16 November 2016.