Gore Vidal's biting, bulls-eye political drama is set at a national party convention in L.A., where Henry Fonda, the liberal-intellectual candidate, battles Cliff Robertson, the no-holds-barred, convictionless candidate, for the endorsement of former President Lee Tracy. In a superbly ironic plot, the tension mounts to the degree that the real issues disappear - and the showdown is played over mutual threats of character assassination. Vidal's dialogue is the spice of the film, but Franklin Schaffner's direction adds a sense of familiar absurdity to the proceedings.