Gore Vidal was always good value for money. Writer, polemicist, raconteur, wit and intellectual.Vidal died in 2012, he lived to a good age and this film released a year later is a documentary of his personal and professional life with contributions from those who knew him.Gore was a patrician who came from a political family but had complex relationships with his parents. In a roundabout way he was related to the Kennedys through Jackie Onassis and experienced the Camelot years.Yet he was critical of both Democrats and Republicans as they served the same people, the moneyed and liked to paint himself as an outsider. For many years he lived in Italy.Gore could be charming and also abrasive and was willing to take on all comers. Gore engaged in debated with the right wing author William Buckley Jr, got in a scrape with Norman Mailer and even turned his back to former acolyte Christopher Hitchens when he got too close to the American right and for his support of the Iraq War.This was an enjoyable documentary, I always find it stimulating to listen to Vidal even if he might be exaggerating his stories or embellishing his own importance but I would had liked to see more focus on his writing as well.

I can prove that watching this movie will convince you that this man had the ability to see the future. To watch his predictions coming true is jaw dropping. There is a great scene with Jerry Brown when he ran against him in the primary for Senate in California. One man in an unemployment office told him he had never seen a politician there before. Gore knew based on the political economic structure, he would not win but said Jerry should drop out take a year off and read and explore himself. Jerry, won the primary, lost the election and took a year off to explore his mind. I mean yoga explore. It's uncanny. The most convincing proof is when Christopher Hitchens, his protégé, proclaimed himself the new Gore, Vidal said, " He's not the new me because I am still here and will be here after he's gone." Gore was in his 80s, Hitchens was in his 50s. Hitchens died 2011, Vidal 2012. Of course he was not a God and had some odd views. He didn't believe in monogamy or long term relationships but had the greatest interview about being Gay. He said the difference between a Homosexual and a Heterosexual is the same as having brown eyes and blue eyes. When asked who says so, he said, "I say so." It is truly enlightening to watch. He sees the rich taking over the government, the economic structure, buying Congress to make sure they make all the money and take all the advantages. He was Bernie Sanders, except back then the top 20% had more wealth than the rest combined. Of course now we call them the 1%. I recommend this movie.

I was introduced to Gore Vidal by my tenth grade high school history teacher. Mr. D'onofrio set aside one class period for his students to watch a one-hour interview he had taped from a late night TV interview. This was 1980, long before home video recording was the norm and you could still occasionally catch an author, historian, or philosopher on late night television. Most of my fellow classmates were bored stiff, but I was fascinated by the things Mr. Vidal was saying – things I hadn't heard anyone else say about the state of government and how things really worked in Washington.I searched for material on and by Mr. Vidal, which led me to his play/film The Best Man, which took a decidedly different look at a Presidential Nominating Convention than anything Walter Cronkite ever showed us, and Myra Breckinridge, the most notorious film of its time. (I was too young to see it, and Vidal disowned it anyway.) I sought him out on TV, where had had become somewhat ubiquitous, and always found his interviews thought provoking.Gore Vidal: The United States of Amnesia, a new documentary by Nicholas Wrathall, was a trip down memory lane for me. A decidedly one-sided look at Vidal's life and influence, the film – via archival footage and interviews with Vidal shortly before his death in 2012 – gives a pretty complete picture of who he was, what he thought, and the battles he undertook almost to his last breath. A bastion of the liberal left, Vidal never towed the party line. As harsh a critic of Kennedy as he was of Nixon, Vidal saw the election of Barack Obama as the final indication that the Republican Party would soon go the way of the Whig Party. Would he were around today to see the resurgence of the Tea Party.Author, politician, atheist, playwright, political commentator, humanist, screenwriter, film actor – all roles with which Vidal undertook with gusto, verve, and the conviction of his ideas. The strengths of those convictions led to two notable feuds that are covered substantially in this film. Authors William F. Buckley and Norman Mailer both had memorable encounters with Vidal and thankfully both are preserved on videotape. Vidal's two runs for public office, once for a New York House seat, and once for the U.S. Senate versus Jerry Brown, gives us a glimpse at a man who was willing to put his money where his mouth was, even though he spent substantially less money than Brown did in the Senate race.The film also gives us a more substantial look at Vidal's private life, particularly in the long relationship he had with Howard Austen (a man he lived with for over 50 years with whom he claims he never had a sexual relationship) and with the friendships he had with the likes of Tennessee Williams, Joanne Woodward and Paul Newman.More autobiography than biography, Gore Vidal: The United States of Amnesia is 90 minutes of pure, unabashed Vidal, interspersed with some of his most caustic comments, ie "Our form of democracy is bribery, on the highest scale." or "Envy is the central fact of American life." The film happily reminds us of a time when intellectuals could be entertaining and thought provoking, and unhappily of what passes for intellectual debate today.www.worstshowontheweb.com

Just watched over the weekend the film "Gore Vidal: USA of Amnesia" and I must say that I was highly impressed. The film was informative and educational and thought provoking. Though Gore Vidal was mostly before my generation I knew and heard all about his writings and works even the great essays of our time his views on life, culture, politics and the state of democracy pushed the limits. One thing I can say about Gore was he was no yes man! Vidal always would challenge and question the powerful and the establishment, he would always challenge those running the show. I was lucky enough to have saw some interviews with him in his later years before his passing and it was a treat to hear him speak his words were a world of knowledge and advice. This film tells the history of Gore's life as he grew up went to college, served in service and was educated and became an author writing great stories and essay type works on our moral state of society and culture. This was displayed in interviews and clips and it was a treat to see his debates with the right wing author William Buckley Jr. as Gore always spoke for the left more. Still he was often fighting the left as evidenced when he ran and opposed democrat Jerry Brown in 1982 for California's U.S. Senate seat. And plus during the film Gore states in interviews about the blunders of Clinton, and Barrack as he tells the truth politics is a money game it's bought and paid for thru the banks! And I like the way that Vidal stated that sex was good the feel good pleasure was a must he said it right love affairs and marriages are overrated. He was even outspoken for gay rights and he hated religion, and he was so right when he said companionship and friendship is important and critical as evidenced by him living many years with a male friend! True this film is opinionated, and you may not like or agree with Gore Vidal, but one thing is for sure he was a firestorm of truth, honesty, and down right blunt and brash for the way he saw American life as more should be like him and challenge the political and rich and powerful with more thought provoking ideas and different approaches to society and culture. As Gore was a truth seeker for all he really challenged people and democracy to wake up and live with more freedom and rights. It's clear Gore Vidal was a legend and clearly no yes man!