This brief portrait follows 28-year-old campaign strategist John Grenier as he maps out plans for Barry Goldwater’s 1964 presidential run and engineers a takeover of the Republican convention. The film focuses on the unheralded men in the background and their hours of tedious, detailed, and essential work. Grenier fields calls, troubleshoots demands, schedules appearances, and reviews itineraries; he recognizes and remedies days that are too jam-packed for Goldwater to even have lunch. Black-and-white celluloid gloriously reflects these machinations behind the scenes. When the lens finally connects with the enraptured crowds at the convention, the film’s narrator attributes Goldwater’s success to Grenier’s efforts: It’s the stuff that “modern political campaigning is made of.” ST