"Advise & Consent" is partly about closeted gay Senator Brigham Anderson (Don Murray) who is blackmailed for political purposes. In the film, a homosexual affair in Hawaii with a wartime service buddy makes the senator vulnerable, and he is blackmailed by power-seeking Wyoming Senator Fred Van Ackerman (George Grizzard). To neutralize Senator Anderson, Senator Van Ackerman threatens to dredge up the homosexual incident in Anderson's past, which results in a suicide. Primarily the movie focuses on the nomination of Robert A. Leffingwell (Henry Fonda) to be Secretary of State, hand-picked by the second-term President (Franchot Tone) who is seriously ill. The film's title comes from the United States Constitution which requires that the Senate, using its advise and consent powers, must either approve or deny the appointment.
Director Otto Preminger seems unaware that the stereotyped caricaturing of the gayness in "Advise & Consent" is the very kind of witch-hunting hysteria he thought he was decrying. The message seems to be the senator can be queer and still go to Washington, but is better off staying in the closet. Bosley Crowther of The New York Times wrote about the homosexuality, "It is in this latter complication that the nature of the drama is finally exposed for the deliberately scandalous, sensational and caustic thing it is. Mr. Preminger has his character go through a lurid and seamy encounter with his old friend before cutting his throat, an act that seems unrealistic, except as a splashy high point for the film." The film is based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning 1959 novel of the same name by Allen Drury. Wendell Mayes wrote the screenplay, and Jerry Fielding composed the music.
