Advise and Consent

25: At a party, Fred tells Bob that he wants to chair the committee and when he learns he probably won't chair it he tells Bob he'll campaign for Leffingwell. Fred is intense, he says the nomination is the difference between peace and war and he'll fight to get what he wants. Bob walks off and talks to the vice president and they talk about the President's health; it's not good. This is important info bkz at the end of the movie the President dies and the VP takes over. The birth of something new.

45: At the nomination hearing, Gelman (superbly played by Burgess Meredith) testifies against Leffingwell, calling him a communist during his time in college. We know that Leffingwell will not become Secretary of State unless he can counter the charge. Now that I'm aware.

60: Leffingwell (Henry Fonda) tells the President he wants to withdraw his nomination; he admits he lied at the hearing. He says he was a party member and dropped out. He gave Gelman a job to keep him quiet. But the President won't give up on Leffingwell and the fight goes on, led by Charles Laughton who plays the Senator from South Carolina. There's no going back now.

-45: Brigg, the chair of the nomination committee, pressures Leffingwell to withdraw his nomination but Leffingwell tells him it's up to the President. Intense turbulence bkz we know Brigg is being blackmailed. Brigg leaves Leffingwell's house and Leffingwell discovers that his son overheard. Given later revelations the conversation takes on new meaning: Father to son: "I don't know how to explain it to you. I could tell you the truth." At Brigg's home, his wife tells him she got another call from the blackmailer. She wants to know the truth and her husband isn't talking. She mentions that the caller said they had bought Ray. Brigg looks trapped. Discovery.

-25: Brigg's wife reads the damaging letter and looks at the photo of her husband with another man years ago. She realizes her husband had a relationship with him. The next scene her husband is found dead, a suicide. Later, at the end of the movie, the President dies and Leffingwell isn't nominated. The VP wants to choose his own man. The final turning point.

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