The Incomparable Mr. Buckley | William F. Buckley, Jr. | Full Documentary
“A new American Masters documentary on him settles on one adjective in its title, The Incomparable Mr. Buckley, but not before first suggesting “insufferable” and crossing it out, in reference to a letter Buckley said he once received. Indeed, not many people like the through-and-through WASP Buckley exist any more, with his transatlantic accent and commitment to high-minded rhetorical debate – the latter as a decades-long host of the PBS show Firing Line and also in famous debates with James Baldwin and Gore Vidal. (Firing Line has been revived as Firing Line with Margaret Hoover and is available to stream.) But then the conservatism Buckley trumpeted through his magazine National Review is also bascially a thing of the past, reaching its peak with Ronald Reagan and then declining into near disappearance in the decades after.
The Incomparable Mr. Buckley narrates Buckley’s life with an eye toward that decline, seeking to understand how we got to our present moment.” —Interactive WTTW
Catholic Critique 