Right after President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Senator Dick Russell (Frank Langella) walks off into an adjoining room, obviously very upset. He's then seen standing and looking at a painting of President Harry S. Truman, as Johnson comes into the room after him. The reason this is important is because President Truman unsuccessfully tried passing a major civil rights bill in 1948, and Russell, a segregationist, had a leading role in blocking Truman's bill. Russell had a long track record of defeating civil rights legislation via use of the filibuster. However, he was unsuccessful in his efforts to defeat Johnson's bill.
The film's source "All the Way" play won the 2014 Tony Award for Best Play and Bryan Cranston won Best Actor in a Play for his role as President Lyndon B. Johnson.
Many of the scenes in the film are based upon real transcripts and conversations.
President Lyndon B. Johnson plays a practical joke on Hubert H. Humphrey by driving his open-top car directly into a lake, but the car is able to float. The car is the famous Amphicar, built from 1961 to 1965, and the incident is based on reality in that Johnson did own an Amphicar, and he would play this exact trick on his friends.
The film was made and first released about four years after its source Tony Award winning play by Robert Schenkkan had been first performed in 2012. Schenkkan also penned the tele-play for this tele-movie. The play also starred Bryan Cranston as Lyndon B. Johnson who reprised his role in this movie.
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content
