I watched my Academy screener of Frost/Nixon tonight for the next episode of Poliwood, which alas will be postponed because I was empaneled on a jury today (see below). Lionel Chetwynd and I have worked out a temporary (we hope) schedule of night shooting, so we will have the show for next week and the week after – first Frost/Nixon and then Milk, a political cinema potpourri.
Not to let too much of the cat out of bag, I wasn’t as impressed with Frost/Nixon as others have been, finding it something of an elaborate television movie, but I have to admit viewing it in the midst of the Blagojevich scandal gave the film a certain je ne sais quoi or, in the immortal words of Yogi Berra, “deja vu all over again.” There’s a whole lot of what did he know and when did he know it going around as in the Watergate days of yore. From the Chicago Trib: In an interview, Obama said, “it’s an ongoing investigation. I think it would be inappropriate for me to, you know, remark on the situation beyond the facts that I know. And that’s the fact that I didn’t discuss this issue with the governor at all.”
Sound familiar? Maybe all politicians sound that same oily way – comes with the job description, as they say. It will be interesting to see what plays out here. Perhaps we have all become inured to the general corruption of politics. We just shrug. That was my reaction to Frost/Nixon. I imagine I was supposed to root for Frost’s unmasking of Tricky Dick, but I didn’t care one way or the other. I was just numb. Like others, I admired Frank Langella’s Nixon and even more Toby Jones’ picture perfect impersonation of legendary Hollywood agent ‘Swifty’ Lazar, but in the end I didn’t have much of a reaction, in part because it’s a story I knew too well, at least writer Peter Morgan’s and director Ron Howard’s version of it. It needed an element of suprise, the new. How about the childhood of Nixon? Now there’s a film worth contemplating… Richard Nixon, the Teen Years.
He said they wouldn’t have him to kick around anymore. But they do. They’ll always have him, to dig up and drag out and tear to pieces and mount on their walls like a trophy.
It’ll be nice when this passes out of personal memory and people again remember that there was history before Uncle Milty and after John Lennon, even, dare I say it, generations still unborn who deserve some thought over the din of “me me me”.
For all its pretentions, I think movies like this are part of that din.
Wellspring… Indeed, as that other guy said.
You should also see Toby Jones in “Infamous.” He was the perfect Truman Capote. Phillip Seymour Hoffman’s performance was nowhere near as brilliant.
Richard Nixon was a flawed man—but also a Republican. A Democrat president would have been allowed to throw a few people under the bus. The MSM would not have pushed the matter any further. Never forget that Ben Bradlee was a personal friend and biographer to “Jack” Kennedy. Snot nosed kid reporters Woodward and Bernstein would not have dared to upset the Democratic Party establishment.
The Frost/Nixon encounter may be a cherished memory to some – but I can’t imagine whom. My recollection is that by 1977, most people were sick of Nixon and Watergate and were glad to put the whole business behind them. Of course Nixon’s resignation and Ford’s “pardon” left the issue unresolved. But Nixon was still in full self-justification mode, and it would have taken a better interviewer than Frost to make him fess up to anything new or shocking. I think they were both counting on the Nixon brand of infamy to put money in their pockets and some ratings points. So if the movie presents the whole episode as a circus sideshow it would be completely appropriate.
Just out of curiosity, what “kind” of court, Ca or Feds. And have an interesting time. In my misspent life I have served on several juries and find each very interesting, so much for academics not being empaneled. Most interesting was to see how each of the witnesses addressed questions, some talked to the ground, some talked to the lawyers, and the “pros” talked to the jury. The last being the most effective (even though we knew we were being “had” by a professional witness).
I’m beginning to wonder if Obama’s team is’nt just trying to draw in the Repub’s, and after they have tryed to hurt him, come out with how they are the ones to call the feds on this guy.
I too get tired of politicians saying it would “inappropriate” to comment on this or that because of some legal proceeding. Except in rare circumstances, not present here, there would be nothing inappropriate or improper about answering questions from the press. But Obama doesn’t want to answer any questions, and that’s just fine with about 90% of the press.
I love the “Dick Nixon, teenager” idea. I can just see him walking down the halls of Whittier High School — in wingtips and a suit.
Richard Milhous Nixon was a teenage Pat Sajak, working as a barker for the “Wheel of Fortune” gaming booth at the Slippery Gulch Carnival in Arizona during the summers of 1928 and 1929:
http://tinyurl.com/63xl98
Nixon, his mother, and his older brother went to Arizona because his brother had Tuberculosis. They all seemed to have cheerfully and well taken care of Harold, but he died in five years.
What younger brother doesn’t look up to an older brother?
Yeah, it would be nice if Hollywood could make a film beyond its biases, but we all know that answer.
By the way, hows that 59 year old ‘Free Tibet’ bumper sticker campaign going? Anybody seen any ‘Free Darfur’ sticker lately? No? Me neither.
Roger,if you want some wacky teen years,read “Young Stalin” by Simon Montefiore
“By the way, hows that 59 year old ‘Free Tibet’ bumper sticker campaign going?”
I expect China to crumble under the pressure of Volvos all across America at any moment.
How about “Free Zimbabwe” or “Free Cuba”? When do you expect to see those appearing on a bumper sticker near you?
As to the movie, I heard it advertised on TV several times without actually seeing the picture (due to being in the other room or whatever). When I did, I honestly broke out laughing. The clip of “Nixon” sounded more like a bad imitation of Saruman from “The Lord of the Rings”. Or maybe a combination of Saruman and Gimli the dwarf. The movie looks like hokum to me.
Try Pitfire Pizza if you have time to stroll a block or two from the courthouse.