Like all relationships, sometimes funny, sometimes tragic, and sometimes downright dangerous. Using archival film footage, historian James Laxer provides a gripping retrospective of United States-Canada relationships as personified by successive presidents and prime ministers. It becomes quite clear that our prime ministers, from John A. Macdonald down, have started their tenures on a sort of first-things-first basis by making overtures to their American counterparts. Attitudes and outcomes have varied widely, and this is what intrigues when seen in close-up. The almost comic antipathy between Kennedy and Diefenbaker, for instance, is as palpable here as is the folksy camaraderie of Reagan and Mulroney.

Directed and Produced by: Kent Martin

Written by: James Laxer and Kent Martin

Research and Production Manager: Erna Buffie

Cinematography: Mike Mahoney

Executive Producer: John Taylor

Watch: http://www.nfb.ca/film/in_bed_with_elephant