If you're a fan of Gary Cooper, Ernest Hemingway, or both men (or just want to learn more about modern American literature and/or American film history), you'll enjoy this documentary about their unlikely yet fascinating friendship. These two iconic men were total opposites in appearance, personality, temperament, and political views, but were able to forge an enduring friendship based on mutual respect and admiration (though Cooper seemed less starstruck by Hemingway than Hemingway was by Cooper, who exemplified the ideal American male and ideal American hero at the time and was the inspiration for the Robert Jordan character in For Whom the Bell Tolls). Imagine such a friendship between two luminaries in today's polarized and cynical society. This documentary does a great job of exploring the parallels in the two men's lives, and how their respective careers peaked and declined around the same time, and how both also made huge comebacks around the same time that redeemed their careers and sealed their legacies.
Both Cooper and Hemingway are shown as complex, multi-dimensional, and thinking men who were both rugged and sophisticated, outdoorsy and cosmopolitan, and masculine and sensitive, but the differences between the two are also explored. Cooper was calm and friendly, had grace under pressure, grew up on a ranch in Montana but went to boarding school in England, was handsome and well-liked, and was the biggest movie star at the time, but didn't act like a star. Hemingway, on the other hand, was boisterous, liked to tell stories that weren't even true, drank too much, didn't like people, wasn't always nice, and was often jealous of other writers and feuded with them. Honestly, each of these guys could qualify as "the Most Interesting Man in the World." Equally impressive as the men and their achievements were the strong women they were married to (yes, both men had affairs, but I give them credit for being men who were not afraid of strong women).
I enjoyed the interviews with both Cooper's and Hemingway's contemporaries, most of whom are now gone, as well as with their children and the children of their peers. The only reason why I didn't give this documentary 10 stars is that it's a bit long (slightly over 2 hours) and I didn't care for some of the modern special effects, but I still highly recommend it.