Path to War


Path to War is a 2002 American biographical television film, produced by HBO and directed by John Frankenheimer. It was the final film that was directed by Frankenheimer, who died seven weeks after the film debuted on HBO. It was also the last film produced by Edgar J. Scherick during his lifetime—he died seven months after its initial airing on HBO.

Plot

The film deals directly with the Vietnam War as seen through the eyes of United States President Lyndon B. Johnson and his cabinet members. The starting events portrayed begin in January 1965 with LBJ at the Inaugural Ball and end in March 1968 where he announces to the nation that he will not run for re-election.

Cast

The film stars Michael Gambon as President Johnson, Alec Baldwin as Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara and Donald Sutherland as presidential advisor Clark M. Clifford, who succeeds McNamara as Secretary of Defense.
ActorRole
Michael GambonLyndon B. Johnson
Donald SutherlandClark M. Clifford
Alec BaldwinRobert McNamara
Bruce McGillGeorge Ball
James FrainRichard N. Goodwin
Felicity HuffmanLady Bird Johnson
Frederic ForrestEarle Wheeler
John AylwardDean Rusk
Philip Baker HallEverett Dirksen
Gary SiniseGeorge C. Wallace
Tom SkerrittWilliam Westmoreland
Cliff De YoungMcGeorge Bundy
Chris EigemanBill Moyers
John ValentiJack Valenti
Gerry BeckerWalt Rostow
Sarah PaulsonLuci Baines Johnson
Francis GuinanNicholas Katzenbach
Curtis L. McClarinMartin Luther King, Jr.
Randy OglesbyJohn Stennis
Patricia KalemberMargaret Craig McNamara
Diana ScarwidMarny Clifford
Madison MasonJohn McCone
Gina-Raye CarterLynda Bird Johnson
Robert CicchiniJoseph Califano
J.K. SimmonsCIA Briefer

Maxwell D. Taylor is the American ambassador to South Vietnam. Norman Morrison is a pacifist who immolates himself. Earle Wheeler's nickname in this movie is "Bus."

Reception

Critical response

Television critic Matt Zoller Seitz in his 2016 book co-written with Alan Sepinwall titled named Path to War as the 6th greatest American TV-movie of all time, writing: "This nearly three-hour epic plays like the greatest political drama that Oliver Stone never made.... This is easily the greatest of Frankenheimer's late-period TV work, which equals his finest work from the 1960s".

Awards