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''Advise & Consent'' is a 1962 American neo noir motion picture based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name by Allen Drury, published in 1959.〔''Harrison's Reports'' film review; June 9, 1962, page 86.〕 The movie was adapted for the screen by Wendell Mayes and was directed by Otto Preminger. The ensemble cast features Henry Fonda, Charles Laughton, Don Murray, Walter Pidgeon, Peter Lawford, Gene Tierney, Franchot Tone, Lew Ayres, Burgess Meredith, Eddie Hodges, Paul Ford, George Grizzard, Inga Swenson, Betty White and others.〔.〕 The title derives from the United States Constitution's Article II, Sec. 2, cl. 2, which provides that the President of the United States "shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the Supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States". The film, set in Washington, D.C., follows the consequences of a Presidential nomination for Secretary of State of a man with a hidden past who commits perjury in the course of confirmation proceedings. ==Plot== The President of the United States (Franchot Tone) nominates Robert A. Leffingwell (Henry Fonda) as Secretary of State. The second-term President, who unknown to the public is ill, has chosen Leffingwell because he does not believe that Vice President Harley Hudson (Lew Ayres)—someone he and others generally tolerate or ignore—could successfully continue the administration's foreign policy, should he die. Leffingwell's nomination is controversial within the United States Senate which, using its advice and consent powers, must either approve or reject the appointment. Both the President's party, the majority, and the minority are divided. Majority Leader Bob Munson (Walter Pidgeon), the senior senator from Michigan, loyally supports the nominee despite his doubts, as do the hard-working Majority Whip Stanley Danta (Paul Ford) of Connecticut and womanizer Lafe Smith (Peter Lawford) of Rhode Island. Demagogic peace advocate Fred Van Ackerman (George Grizzard) of Wyoming is especially supportive. Although also of the majority party, President ''pro tempore'' and "curmudgeon" Seabright "Seeb" Cooley (Charles Laughton) of South Carolina dislikes Leffingwell for both personal and professional reasons, and leads the opposition. The divided opinion of the nominee spills over even into the social setting of a party thrown by Washington society hostess Dolly Harrison (Gene Tierney). In private, the Vice President tells the majority leader that someone should at least inform him if it is true that the President is seriously ill. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee appoints a subcommittee, chaired by majority member Brigham Anderson (Don Murray) of Utah, to evaluate the nominee. The young and devoted family man is undecided on Leffingwell. Cooley dramatically introduces a surprise witness, Herbert Gelman (Burgess Meredith). The minor Treasury clerk testifies that he was briefly in a Communist cell with Leffingwell and two others at the University of Chicago, and Gelman had been one of Leffingwell's students. The committee gives Leffingwell the right to cross-examine Gelman, and Leffingwell does not immediately deny the charge. Van Ackerman is livid over the committee's treatment of Leffingwell. During a break in proceedings, Leffingwell meets with a friend, Treasury official Hardiman Fletcher (Paul McGrath), and it becomes apparent that both ''were'' members of the cell. Leffingwell indicates that revealing the truth might be his only option, a move that will reveal that both were briefly communists. Fletcher begs him not to, reminding him that Gelman's testimony was also tainted by ''his'' perjury. When the proceedings reconvene, Leffingwell presents evidence that Gelman had spent time in a sanitarium after a breakdown, and that when Gelman's job performance failed to improve on his return to work, Leffingwell helped him get a job at a different government agency. Gelman's credibility is further damaged by evidence that Gelman had never taken any of Leffingwell's classes, and that the location Gelman cited as a communist cell proves to have been a Chicago firehouse. Though apparently prevailing over Gelman and also Cooley, Leffingwell confesses to the President that he had committed perjury and that Gelman was essentially correct. He asks that his nomination be withdrawn, but the President refuses. Cooley, meanwhile, finds out the truth about Fletcher and forces him to confess to Anderson, who informs Munson. Despite personal lobbying by the President, the subcommittee chairman insists that the White House withdraw the nomination due to Leffingwell's perjury or he will subpoena Fletcher to testify. The President angrily refuses but the majority leader admits that the White House will soon have to nominate another candidate. Anderson delays his committee's report on Leffingwell for one more day, but the President sends Fletcher out of the country, angering the senator. While the sub-committee stalls a decision on Leffingwell, an overzealous Van Ackerman criticizes and then threatens Anderson in the Senate Chamber. Outside of the Senate chambers, Anderson begins receiving anonymous phone calls from Van Ackerman's men warning that, unless the subcommittee reports favorably on Leffingwell, information about what happened with "Ray" in Hawaii will appear. A worried Anderson flies to New York to confront a fellow Army veteran, Ray Shaff, finding him inside a men-only bar. Shaff admits that he sold evidence of a past homosexual relationship between the two. Hudson, Smith, and others attempt to counsel the troubled chairman, whose wife (Inga Swenson) knows something is dreadfully wrong, receiving more menacing phone calls, then ultimately a blackmail letter. Unable to reconcile his duty and his secret, Anderson commits suicide, his body discovered in his office. Munson, Smith and Cooley are at Harrison's house playing poker when they receive the news. Suspicion in Anderson's death falls at first on Leffingwell's loudest supporter, Van Ackerman, and even extends to the President, who vehemently denies to Munson and Hudson knowing about the blackmail. He confirms the majority leader's hunch that he is dying and that Leffingwell's confirmation is vital because he knows that Hudson, a former Delaware governor with no foreign-policy experience, won't be able to run the presidency effectively. Munson criticizes Cooley for opposing the nominee but not exposing Fletcher, forcing Anderson to bear the pressure alone. Cooley offers to surrender all senate votes previously pledged to him if Munson will do likewise, but Munson is in no mood for more underhanded deals. Anderson's opposition no longer a factor, the subcommittee and the Foreign Relations Committee proceed with the nomination. Both report favorably to the full Senate. In the Senate Chamber Cooley, to the shock of Munson and other colleagues, apologizes for his "vindictiveness." While he will vote against Leffingwell and his "alien voice," the senator will not ask others to follow. Munson, moved by Cooley's action, cites the "tragic circumstances" surrounding the confirmation. Although the majority leader will vote for Leffingwell, he will permit a conscience vote from others. Hudson's quorum call and the majority leader's refusal to yield the floor prevent Van Ackerman from speaking until Munson asks for the "Yeas and Nays", ending debate. The majority leader tells the senator that were it not for the Andersons' privacy the Senate would censure and expel him. Van Ackerman angrily leaves the chamber before the vote. Munson's side is slightly ahead until Smith unexpectedly votes against Leffingwell, and the majority leader prepares for the Vice President to break the tie in the nominee's favor. Secret Service agents enter the chamber and Hudson receives a message from the Senate Chaplain. He announces that he will not break the tie, causing the nomination to fail, and that the President has died during the vote. As he leaves with the Secret Service, Hudson tells Munson that he wants to choose his own Secretary of State. Senator Cooley as President pro tempore assumes the chair, Munson makes a motion to adjourn "sine die" due to the former president's death. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「Advise & Consent」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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