The Incomparable Mr. Buckley | William F. Buckley, Jr. | Full Documentary | American Masters | PBS

One thing I agree with WFB: according to his son Christopher, he believed no bottle of wine should cost more than $20

From the age of around fifteen until my early twenties, a significant part of my education was watching Firing Line. The guests and interviews were fantastic, and Michael Kinsley was a great moderator. There was almost always respectful and civil clash, little over the top manufactured tumult. The occasional panel debates were stellar. For the most part, I disagreed with Buckley, but he forced me to reconsider many positions. High water mark for television.

Haha, I saw that this was a PBS documentary and thought "There is no way this will be fair to Bill Buckle, Jr." Then I was pleasantly surprised...and then they ended the documentary with pictures of Jan. 6. "Ah, there's the PBS we all know."

Had the pleasure of hearing Mr. Buckley speak while I was in college. A great speech; listened to and responded to tough questions. I was photographing him afterwards as he was leaving and he took time to listen and answer questions from students with a most respectful deameanor. Just simply a juggernaut of great thought.

I was a liberal anti Reagan college man in the 1980's..... but I never missed my dose of Buckley.

One thing about William F. Buckley that sets him apart from contemporary conservative figures. He was always prepared to expound on his points and outline his rationale, as opposed to leaning heavily on baseless assertions and doubling down on the equally baseless assumption that their assertions explain themselves.

Truly wonderful and so very important for our times .. bravo PBS

I'm not a conservative but I enjoyed Buckley very much, loved to hear his opinion and dual words with his guests. He was probably the first (and only) conservative intellectual.

Remarkably even handed up to the last few minutes...so I'm impressed.

A great example of how many people want a facade of civility and intellectualism rather than the real thing.

Excellent documentary though i don't like him,. I'm glad the debate with James Baldwin is included. Thank you AM for making these videos available on YT.

It should be at least mentioned in this admittedly even handed analysis of WFB that later in life he regretted his stands on the racial issues that he took during the 1960's. I followed his adventures since the mid 1960's and was elated at the key role he played in the Reagan revolution in 1980. Having said that his recognition of many of our short sighted reactions to the very real race problem in the U.S. and his willingness to admit to a mistaken stance back in the day is the mark of a true gentleman willing to admit error. RIP WFB

Classic Preppie family and Preppie social world at that time, unapologetic elitists and snobs.

Nice change removing the narrative disruption of the cut to talking heads and employing voiceovers instead, credited at the end with but a single photo of each expert whose voice was used. Wonderful documentary!

Is there anyone left in the American culture who still speak with Mr Buckley's mid-Atlantic affectation? This accent seems to be lost to history. I'm 64 years old, and I can recall dozens of public figures who spoke with Buckley's dialect. They're all long gone.

Whether you like WFB or Trump, the reality is WFB would not be a fan of Trump in the same way he wasn't keen on Buchanan. Seems odd to inject Trump into this when Buckley is not around to voice his opinion on the matter. Otherwise a really interesting fair documentary.

I've been trying to forget about Buckley for a couple of decades now. This brings back what an egregious SOB he was. His arguments against Baldwin were basically fascist. I am the elite and the elite should rule (and we will decide when, if ever, you will be allowed to share in that rule, i.e. never). Most of the time he just eluded hard questions by verbal rodomontade. Covered in slimy sophisms, Jesuitical casuistry, and a truly snotty attitude. He must be remembered, unfortunately, but only as one of the clearest monuments to everything wrong with so-called "intellectual" conservatism. (Gore Vidal wasn't such a hot human being but he deserves every credit for helping to put Buckley down and expose his vicious side. LOVED how he got under Buckley's skin.)

In his time I appreciated that he was so cultured & articulate & was a foil to 1970s broad-brush liberals. In recent years more info has emerged of his actual extremism. Never regretted his full-on support of Joe McCarthy, didn't actually break with the John Birchers as depicted, long history of expressed anti-Semitic & racist views (yeah, an edition of NR labeled Pat Buchanan an anti-Semite which was an easy call, but hid the continuing views of WFB).

I tried to read WFB from his different periods, and havent finished any of them, can someone recommend one? To comment on WFB's profligacy and speed in writing- it reminded me of the acclaimed author Philip K. Dick, who wrote like 58 novels ( in a third of the time of Buckley's career); most of them are crammed full of iideas and laced with erudite contemplation replete with references to the Western canon of philosophy, literature and religion; PKD's books are also notable for their highly-developed sardonic wit, and surprisingly, compassion.

Great doc. 👍