Hal Holbrook is just uniformly unbelievable in his character.

FORBES: A Broken Promised Land

"Think of all the boys who will die if you don't make peace, " admonishes Preston Blair, the elder Republican operator (whose "Blair House" home is now the official state guest house) played by Hal Holbrook, exuding wisdom and aplomb.

CNN: What Obama can learn from Lincoln

The cast, uniformly superb, includes Sally Field as Mary Todd Lincoln, Tommy Lee Jones as Thaddeus Stevens, Hal Holbrook as Lincoln adviser Preston Blair, Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Robert Todd Lincoln, David Strathairn as William Seward and James Spader as political operative W.N.

WSJ: 'Skyfall' Upgrades Bond to Triple-A | Film Review by Joe Morgenstern

As the young man (played by Emile Hirsch) travels about, he attracts the interest of a South Dakota wheat farmer (Vince Vaughn, playing it straight), an aging hippie (Catherine Keener), and a retired Army man living on the edge of the California desert (Hal Holbrook), all of whom ask him to put down his backpack and stay.

NEWYORKER: Into the Wild