MovieChat Forums > The Best Man (1964) Discussion > Cantwell was JFK, NOT Nixon!

Cantwell was JFK, NOT Nixon!

posted 18 years ago by jelperman
12 replies | jump to latest

John Kennedy was every bit as ruthless and devious as Nixon. He and his brother Robert used to argue over who was the first to call James Baldwin "Martin Luther Queen". They also accused Adlai Stevenson of being a coward during the Cuban Missile Crisis (behind his back, of course).

Joe Cantwell was based more on John Kennedy than Richard Nixon. The difference is that JFK didn't resemble a cartoon villain the way Tricky Dick did, and Kennedy became a martyr thanks to Lee Oswald.

[–] Britney-Keira 17 years ago

Well according to Gore Vidal, the man who wrote the play and movie, in his memoirs, Cantwell was based on Nixon not JFK and Russell was more along the lines of Adlei Stevenson, neither character were based on JFK.

I have an eternal hope.

[–] acountis-3 17 years ago

Not only did Vidal make it clear who he was writing about, but anyone with a clear head would hear Cantwell talk about being poor, making it on your own, not being wealthy like his opponent and hear Nixon. Come on. I didn't go to Harvard, I went to Whittier College. Throw in the part about his becoming famous chasing Communists (Hello? Alger Hiss?) and it's so obviously Nixon that it lacks subtlety!

[–] 17 years ago

[deleted]

[–] motown_mike 16 years ago

OTOH, at one point Russell's campaign manager advises him to "pull a Nixon" (i.e. something along the lines of a Checkers speech), doesn't he?

[–] hodie 17 years ago

<Joe Cantwell was based more on John Kennedy than Richard Nixon.>

Running against each other in the same primary????

I trust I make myself obscure.

[–] jg67 17 years ago

^^^^LOL

"Nature Mr. Allnut, is what we're put on this earth to rise above."

[–] hobnob53 17 years ago

Anyone who thinks Cantwell was based on Kennedy knows nothing of the play, Gore Vidal or political history. LOL is right!

But he wasn't purely based on Nixon -- there was a lot of Joe McCarthy in there too. I hated Nixon, but McCarthy was an outright liar and fraud who attacked people for headlines and power, nothing more. Nixon was reckless, but he usually took a bit more care than McCarthy in what he accused people of. And, unfortunately, some of my fellow liberals still think he railroaded Alger Hiss, whose career as a Soviet spy is beyond doubt or question; but a lot of people on the left hated Nixon so much that their attitude was, if Nixon is your enemy, you must be innocent. Life isn't that simplistic!

[–] shonenbat 16 years ago

Vidal was not a fan of the Kennedys - especially the homophobic Bobby - but he is on the record as saying that the Cantwell character was basically based on Nixon and Russell on Stevenson. Vidal tells the anecdote of JFK reading the play and worrying that he was the model for the Russell character. Incidentally, in the Broadway production the Russell and Cantwell characters were played by middle-aged actors Melvyn Douglas and Frank Lovejoy, so don't read too much into the casting of Cliff Robertson as Cantwell in the film.

[–] foxfirebrand 16 years ago

Other posters have slam-dunked the case for Nixon, but there are elements of JFK there too-- in the movie version, I must emphasize, since these resemblances arise from the casting of the Cantwell character.

Unlike Nixon, the movie Cantwell comes off as an attractive man with poise and confidence-- no sweaty lip and darting, beady eyes there.

And as has been pointed out in other threads, Cliff Robertson played JFK (in PT-109, wasn't it?). I can understand why Kennedy would flash through your mind while watching this movie. He and Nixon were not that different in my opinion, except when their differences were magnified or minimized out of all proportion by a pro-Kennedy press.

[–] hobnob53 16 years ago

I think the differences between JFK and RMN were strong, though, especially in foreign policy, not as great, from our present vantage point, as they may have seemed then. But I don't see any JFK elements in Cantwell, and only a little Nixon: primarily Joe McCarthy, overlayered with a generic southern racist (or maybe the non-racist but anti-civil rights Barry Goldwater), plus Estes Kefauver's headline-grabbing crusade against organized crime in the early 50s.

The press corps certainly liked Kennedy and disliked Nixon, partially due to political leanings and partly from personality. But Nixon had the support of approximately 65% of the country's newspapers and magazines, vs. around 21% or so for Kennedy, which was typical back then -- most editorial pages were strongly conservative and Republican.

Cliff R. did play JFK in PT 109 in 1963, supposedly chosen for the part by Kennedy himself. That made him a box office star and a good choice to play the reactionary Cantwell, with whose politics the liberal Robertson had nothing in common. You're right, I think today some people think Cantwell was based on Kennedy because of Robertson's presence in the movie...overlooking the fact that the play was written in 1960, before JFK had even been elected.

[–] marktayloruk (2384) 2 years ago

They were both consensus politicians , not particularly Liberal or Conservative in practice - or trustworthy!

[–] marktayloruk 13 years ago

Martin Luther Queen-I like it!