Director: Oliver Stone
Starring: Anthony Hopkins, Joan Allen, Ed Harris, Bob Hoskins, Mary Steenburgen, James Woods, J.T. Walsh, David Hyde Pierce
Studio: Cinergi/BuenaVista Home Entertainment 055753 (2 discs)
Video: 2.40:1 anamorphic/enhanced for 16:9, 1080p HD
Audio: English Uncompressed 5.1 (48/16) PCM; English DD 5.1, DD 2.0
Subtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish
Extras: 2 audio commentaries with Oliver Stone, “Beyond Nixon” – new documentary, Deleted introduced by Oliver Stone, Charlie Rose Interview of Oliver Stone, Original theatrical trailer
Length: 213 minutes
Rating: *****
This riveting filmic portrait of the former U.S. President was critically acclaimed on release and garnered four nominations for Academy Awards, including of course Anthony Hopkins for Best Actor. It’s the first Blu-ray release of the film, in time for the 2008 presidential election season. Of course it is, after all, Oliver Stone, so even he would warn that not every word uttered by Nixon and his staff in the film is necessarily substantiated by hard facts. The idea was a highly dramatic portrayal of the man’s struggles in his public and private lives, with his misdeeds and bad decisions finally closing down on him and forcing his resignation.
The film’s length is due to it going back all the way to Nixon’s boyhood in Whittier, California, and the effect his Quaker mother as well as the deaths of two brothers, had on him. His ruthless ambition gets him all the way to running for the presidency, but he loses twice and is devastated by it. Pulling back from political life, Nixon is later given another chance by the assassinations of both Kennedys. His “dirty tricks” involving the Cuban invasion and other incidents come back to haunt him, and the plan to set up a White House-directed secret information organization independent of existing entities such as the CIA and FBI (which Nixon thought were against him), led to the infamous Watergate scandal. Even that didn’t topple Nixon until the details of his connections were revealed in congressional hearings stimulated by the Washington Post investigative journalism of Woodward and Bernstein.
The use of archival footage by Stone is interesting. Of course the student protests of the Vietnam period are shown – in fact that portion was similar to the previous Oliver Stone film I had reviewed – The Doors. A most affecting scene has Nixon and a couple aides visited the Lincoln Memorial (at 4 AM – rather unlikely) with young war protesters sleeping on the steps and Nixon attempting clumsily to engage in a conversation with them. Some of the TV clips during the hearings are of David Hyde Pierce as John Dean and others of the actors processed to look like videotaped footage of the period to fit in with the actuality shots. Stone also does something odd but often effective in the use of very quick switches to stark black and white, then back to color. And tied in with this, a number of quick shots of Nixon or Pat striking concerned poses but with their mouths shut, though on the soundtrack you are hearing them speaking. Some of the smaller “impersonations” were a delight – including Paul Servino as Kissinger and the wonderful Madelene Kahn as Martha Mitchell.
All in all a very exhaustive view of a very difficult time in the history of this country. All the acting is first rate and the Blu-ray transfer is commendable. I watched half of the film with the DD 5.1 tracks and the other half with the uncompressed PCM surround, and the latter is clearly a major improvement. The extras are fascinating, including the new documentary which features Gore Vidal, John Dean himself and political columnist Robert Novak. The Charlie Rose interview of Stone is also well worth watching.
– John Sunier
