In 1968, the desperate ABC television network, a distant third in the ratings, hit upon the unlikely pairing of the disdainful conservative William F. Buckley with the jeremiad-spouting liberal Gore Vidal to cover the presidential nominating conventions. The ripping good Best of Enemies shows a brief shining moment when these prep-school-educated intellectuals sparred nightly. With access to a treasure trove of behind-the-scenes footage, Morgan Neville and Robert Gordon revisit and revitalize the story to crackling effect. These pivotal debates, which haunted each man for the rest of their lives, were grand political theater, summoning the ’60s culture war like no other event. The two effete, sometimes malicious characters emerge as surprisingly sympathetic, no matter where you sit on the political divide. (PS)