\n<\/p>\n
Possessed of twinkling eyes, quick wit, and a wide, crooked smile, Buckley became the erudite symbol of his cause, especially once he launched his PBS debate series, \u201cFiring Line,\u201d in 1966. \u201cHe rendered palatable a set of authoritarian ideas that cultured people didn\u2019t want to see themselves entertaining,\u201d the historian and author Rick Perlstein, who appears in the film and has chronicled the conservative movement in books including \u201cBefore the Storm\u201d and \u201cNixonland,\u201d said in a video interview.<\/p>\n
Some of the best recent works on Buckley have focused on his famous public debates. \u201cThe Fire Is Upon Us\u201d (2019), by Nicholas Buccola (who also appears in the film), looks at Buckley\u2019s 1965 debate with James Baldwin at the Cambridge Union Society in England, which is featured in \u201cThe Incomparable Mr. Buckley.\u201d The topic: \u201cThe American Dream Is at the Expense of the American Negro.\u201d Baldwin won the vote in a landslide, though Buckley would maintain that he won the debate.<\/p>\n
Then there is \u201cBest of Enemies: Buckley vs. Vidal,\u201d a 2015 documentary about the televised debates between Buckley and Gore Vidal, who were chosen by ABC to discuss their respective parties\u2019 1968 political conventions.<\/p>\n
These debates, also covered in the new film, turned rancorous. Vidal, liberal, openly gay and as mischievous and quick on his feet as his opponent, arrived ready to poke the bear. As discussion turned to the showdown between protesters and the Chicago police at the Democratic National Convention, Vidal called Buckley a \u201ccrypto-Nazi\u201d and mocked his war record. Buckley, clearly rattled, responded by calling Vidal a \u201cqueer\u201d and threatening to sock him.<\/p>\n
The moment remains raw, real, riveting television, with none of the bonhomie on display when Buckley squared off on \u201cFiring Line\u201d with, say, Norman Mailer, a staunch liberal who considered Buckley a friend. It\u2019s the rare public moment in which Buckley\u2019s polished surface cracked.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou saw the street brawler side of Buckley there,\u201d Goodman said. \u201cHe didn\u2019t do it on his TV show very much, but when you push the right buttons you see it.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n