3 hours 12 minutes, USA 1996
Director: Oliver Stone; Producers: Oliver Stone, Dan Halstead, Eric Hamburg and Clayton Townsend; Screenplay: Oliver Stone, Stephen J. Rivele and Christopher Wilkinson; Photography: Robert Richardson; Production Design: Victor Kempster; Editing: Hank Corwin and Brian Berdan; Music: John Williams.
Stars: Anthony Hopkins (Richard Nixon), Joan Allen (Pat Nixon), Powers Boothe (Alexander Haig), Ed Harris (E. Howard Hunt), Bob Hoskins (J. Edgar Hoover), E.G. Marshall (John Mitchell), David Paymer (Ron Ziegler), David Hyde Pierce (John Dean), Paul Sorvino (Henry Kissinger), Mary Steenburgen (Hannah Nixon), J.T. Walsh (John Ehrlichman), James Woods (H. R. Haldeman), Kevin Dunn (Charles Colson), Fyvush Finkel (Murray Chotiner), Annabeth Gish (Julie Nixon), Tony Goldwyn (Harold Nixon), Larry Hagman (Jack Jones), Edward Herrmann (Nelson Rockefeller), Madeline Kahn (Martha Mitchell), Saul Rubinek (Herb Klein).
The only problem with making a film about a real-life, modern character is trying to maintain interest. And, especially with a subject matter such as the life and times of Richard Milhous Nixon, another problem is that so many people know what happened. So who do you bring in to direct it? Oliver Stone, the man behind such excellent movies as Platoon, Born On The Fourth Of July, JFK, Wall Street and Heaven And Earth. A man who is obsessed with conspiracies, with intricate details, with delicate subplots which the average viewer would not normally have realised were actually there. He is a man who would take a story like that of Nixon and make you think "I didn't know about that!" And what does he do? An elongated character study which is far from engrossing.
Stone's three hour epic charts the rise of Nixon from his early days on a Southern California lemon farm, his strict Quaker upbringing, his tubercular brothers and the repressed atmosphere in which he grew up. It shows his early political career, running for Governorship of California, his battles with George Wallace and the Kennedys. His subsequent warfare with that family, culminating in JFK and Bobby's murders. It details his eventual rise to power and to the White House, where he inherits the Vietnam War from Lyndon B. Johnson. His relationship with J. Edgar Hoover, the head of the FBI, and his eventual downfall following the Watergate break-in and his inability to stop important information leaking from the inner sanctums of the Oval Office.
As I said before, the problem with making a film about a man who has only just died, and events which occurred only twenty years ago is maintaining viewer interest. Stone fails to do this by making his film phenomenally confusing. The film is out of chronological order, there are flashbacks, flashbacks within flashbacks, documentary sequences etc. etc., which all adds to the underlying feeling of not really knowing what's going on. There are so many ill-defined characters who appear and disappear with such alarming speed that you have trouble following who is doing what and to whom. As an audience-pleaser, Nixon is a disaster. Dramatically and visually, though, Nixon is a masterpiece. Throughout the film, familiar faced pop up in these smaller roles and, although you can't relate them to the film, the actors portraying them are excellent. Oscar nominee Anthony Hopkins, cast in the lead role, is a standout among standouts, embodying the President perfectly. Although not physically like him (the only makeup used was contact lenses, false teeth and a hairpiece), the characterisation is wonderful. He really portrays the duality of the man well. Nixon thinks that he is doing a good job and the final scene, in which he prays with Henry Kissinger (Paul Sorvino) and asks God why the American people hate him so is very moving. And what a supporting cast - Joan Allen (Oscar-nominated), Bob Hoskins, James Woods, Mary Steenburgen, Powers Boothe, David Hyde Pierce, Paul Sorvino, Tony Goldwyn, Fyvush Finkel, Larry Hagman, Annabeth Gish - all giving award-worthy performances. Visually, the film is also stunning. Stone does a lot of research for his films and has recreated the look and feel of the seventies. Also, cinematographer Robert Richardson's use of monochrome footage when referring to Nixon's childhood is very good. A superior score by John Williams and an intelligent, if rather confusing an talky screenplay by Stephen J. Rivele, Stone and Christopher Wilkinson also add to the movie's presentation. Although Hopkins will not win the Best Actor award, he probably deserves to. Nixon is not a film to watch for a relaxing night out. It is slow, narratively confusing, very over-long but, if you have the patience to stick with it, ultimately rewarding at the end.
