William Buckley Interviews Norman Mailer on Firing Line (1968) Part 3

[@blanemylke4144]

Two fiends united by one common foe: *Gore Vidal*

[@CaptPoco]

English grammar alone is not enough to guide you through to understanding a Buckley question: you have to pay attention to smiles, widening eyes for emphasis, and, of course, the monster pauses. It isn't easy, but at the end of the day you're a better person for it. I wish either of them were still with us...

[@Burps___]

Enough hot air here to lift a passenger balloon.

[@dukadarodear2176]

Buckley, Mailer, Vidal were Alpha Males (unless gayness excludes that possibility) or at least were Alpha Debaters, so they hated each other. There's no love lost between these two. Pity it got cut off just as they both were about to talk about the third party - Vidal.

[@grega1972]

I think if you watch Sergio Leones "The Good ,The Bad and The Ugly " you will see the relationship between Vidal , Buckley, Mailer ....... Blondie - Gore Vidal Angel Eyes- William Buckley Tuco - Yep !! Norman Mailer That movie sums up these three relationships.....lol

[@johnjohnson68510]

5:38 Buckely bites his lip, nervous! The thing with Mailer, though -- isn't he just a blowhard? An awful lot of words being used in this interview, but not much being said.

[@BlantonDelbert]

Some people get drunk and talk and get chastised for it like Mailer often was. However, other people get drunk at public functions and get celebrated like Bukowski was. The entire Symposium by Plato was a drunkfest. I go to this one bar and get drunk and have a great time. I go to this other bar and get drunk and it is always a scandal. Just depends who the audience is.

[@SmartiniMedia]

Great interview. I love getting drunk in public.

[@nilan3000]

Gore Vidal disliked this video.

[@goback3spaces]

I think you nailed it. I've tried to read a few of Buckley's books and the disparity between his brilliant TV presence and his leaden literary style is astonishing. Mailer was a genius writer, but to try to get through God and Man after having watched a few episodes of Firing Line is an agonizing task.

[@pitchfork804]

Forget God & Man! Try his Blackford Oakes spy novels, Saving the Queen, Who's on First, etc. I think he was a much better fiction writer!

[@KickassUncle]

Mailer, the most forgotten of the tragic children of 'pretend' fame that American TV spewed upon its calves.

[@rmarty550]

Refreshing to listen to a couple of intellectuals go back and forth in a civil manner. This is the way liberals and conservatives should conduct themselves.

[@cultfilmfreakreviews]

it can't happen today because liberals think conservatives are BAD, not wrong. before, they thought conservatives were wrong, hence an argument. but since they are now just BAD, there are no arguments.

[@robertstitches9517]

@@cultfilmfreakreviews and vice versa, extremes of both ends are Tiger egging the pudding The only difference is Far right people like Hitler and far left people dont

[@CScott-zu5mv]

@@cultfilmfreakreviews Not all conservatives, just the ones that open their mouth and remove all doubt.

[@1961axis]

This eye business is mildly repellent, and overshadows his masterful employment of not saying anything for five seconds.

[@HaleysComet81]

Buckley is so bored with Mailor, as are the rest of us.

[@petestevens3970]

Such affect. Yuck.

[@markgraczyk5600]

Mailer could be an arrogant jerk in his public appearances, such as during his famous appearance on the Dick Cavett Show with Gore Vidal, but he seems rather jolly and good-humored here.

[@waynedurning8717]

5:40 is an interesting idea.

[@LastOfSixMusic]

i think CaptPoco has the right perspective in viewpoint... This a an extraordinary video and Buckley is intelligent enough to realize Mailer can marginalize his intellect had the drop of a word. Both have something truly to say in the exchange, and their intellect towers above most modern talk show hosts and guests(i.e...think Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Oprah, etc....)...

[@rexmundi1570]

Hitchens would have agreed with Mailer's remark about the far Left being as boring as the far Right. Whatever political views you have don't be boring!

[@jimmbo13]

Im surprised at how civil the conversation remains...it was tense earlier in spots, but they are engaging in legitimate conversation. Seeing the later Cavett bit between VIdal and Mailer had led me to expect some sort of acrimonious exchange

[@sixtiksix]

You can see this type of debate, less the pontificating in any barrack...."you were drunk and elaborating on your accomplishments and were subsequently speared by men inferior to your stature...." "No sir, wrong on all counts, although it was a grand performance...."

[@mrdarcyme]

They both get along so well because they're so different. Both write better than they talk, especially Mailer, who never comes off well in these interviews..

[@Ukedc259]

Mailer seems pretty scared to me.

[@Jbeal666]

@MattCich Fun yes, but they aren't at ease, both respectful of the others ability to drown them should they step outside the boundaries of decorum

[@Imafungi123]

They focus on the superficial aspect of him being drunk instead of any of the qualitative substance of what he was saying. This interview is akin to a tabloid headline or a photograph.

[@123OmgSeriously]

Mailer's talking about his most recent novel which was about his march on the Pentagon and some of his behavior during that time, basically like they said "a confession of sins" which included his being very drunk at the time. That's why they're talking about it.

[@geniusmchaggis]

+Imafungi123 the point WFB makes is that mailer was a drunkard. this was commonly known and very very easy pickins for WFB. mailers point concerning the left and the right is typically deranged. facetious perhaps but it doesnt seem so. he believes his own tripe.

[@Imafungi123]

genius mchaggis So what if he drank every so often or often, this is my point, so what? What is so significant about that, what point was trying to be made?

[@geniusmchaggis]

Imafungi123 mailer drank constantly. he was drunkard. an alcoholic. a continuous drinker. he did not drink "every so often" his book was justification of his drunken performance at an antiwar rally. he was pissy cuz the NYTimes criticized his drunkenness so he wrote an ENTIRE book about his own drunk flaccid ramblings from that night. the act of an egomaniac. a drunk besotted egomaniac. this diminishes the value of his opinions.

[@Imafungi123]

genius mchaggis Opinions are valuable by the logic, reason, and rationality of their syntactical make up, and suchs relation to reality. Attempting to use a possible character flaw as reasonable evidence of entirely dismissing a persons opinions is perhaps a greater character flaw, than being something of a genius who is something of a drinker. Also what is the name of the book you refer to?

[@lancebeckman5549]

@Conail23 Yeah, I think Mailer puzzled everyone with that claim.

[@Jim54_]

Don’t forget, this is the same Norman Mailer that tried to kill his wife with a pen knife, punched out Gore Vidal at a party and had a violent on camera fight with RIP Torn. The man was prone to violent outbursts, and at best could be described as dangerous. That hardly qualifies him to lecture people about much, seeing as he was so mentally unstable

[@sb_dunk]

He was a disgusting man that was more concerned with how people viewed him than contributing any novel ideas. I don't understand why others idolise him, but I think Buckley's stroking of his ego doesn't help.

[@Jim54_]

SB Dunk I agree

[@lanser87]

@nickwade1 HAHA

[@ThePossumone]

Why was Buckley so obsessed with if he was drunk or very drunk or not ?

[@exhainca]

Because he didn't understand that creativity and spontaneity could come from the confused state of being drunk. Buckley was incredibly intelligent and conniving, but also a bit of a square when it came to depravity.

[@CornCod1]

Well, he was a VERY pious Catholic and probably avoided it for that reason.

[@timwarrington2752]

hwy haha

[@stardaddyo9]

Very few people could talk and talk and talk and say absolutely nothing like Norman Maler

[@CraigCastanet]

tedious.