Advise and Consent

Advise and Consent (1962) starring Henry Fonda, Don Murray, Charles Laughton, Walter Pidgeon, Peter Lawford, Gene Tierney, Franchot Tone, Lew Ayres. Long but interesting drama about wheeling and dealing (and blackmail) in the U.S. Senate. Fonda plays a man who is nominated by the President (Tone) to be Secretary of State, and most of the rest of the cast play senators who must deliberate and decide whether to confirm him in the office or not. The movie borders on melodrama, but is still absorbing enough to hold the viewer's attention and to make sense. (Subtitles in English are available for the hearing-impaired, as well as closed captions.) Grade: B