Nixon

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Cast & Crew

Anthony Hopkins
Richard M. 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

Oliver Stone
Director

Clayton Townsend
Producer

Oliver Stone
Producer

Andrew G. Vajna
Producer

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Critic Reviews for Nixon

Audience Reviews for Nixon

• Aug 16, 2014

  "They look at you and they see what they want to be. They look at me and they see what they are." Fascinating, absorbing, penetrating, tragic, and brilliantly rendered, Oliver Stone's Nixon is a mesmerizing film. The film is a non-linear retelling of Nixon's life, centering on his final year in office. Through flashbacks we see how his tumultuous life, full of successes and failures, shaped his character, and defined his political career. It's an interpretation of history, certainly, but one that feels all too real. The success of Nixon hinges largely on the central performance by Anthony Hopkins. His portrayal is nothing sort of masterful, embodying a man with a tortured soul. His Nixon is isolated, conflicted, insecure, paranoid, and yet ambitious and capable of enormous resilience. Through this performance, we fully realize the inner turmoil, feel the heartbreak of his upbringing, and begin to understand an incredibly complicated man. His constant ruminations on death, his obsession of living in JFK's shadow, all of this is true to the time. Intimately familiar with the inner workings of the intelligence establishment and the military industrial complex, we understand his paranoia, with its overt overtones to the Kennedy assassination and a sort of secret government behind the scenes. As history, Stone's Nixon seems to largely hold up. Like his brilliant JFK, there are composite scenes and characters, yet the researched nature of the film is clear. Nixon was flawed, of course, but also audacious in his maneuvers. The result is a tenure that yielded countless blunders, yet also a number of notable achievements. The allusions to the "bay of pigs" thing is most certainly a callback to the JFK assassination, with Nixon obviously knowing much more about the events of that tragic day. As Roger Stone's work, Nixon's Secret details, this was the basis of his later pardon. The treatment of Watergate, however, does seem to have some flaws. While it shows Nixon as aware yet in-over-his head, with an inclination toward abuse of power, Stone fails to see the larger reality that Watergate was undoubtedly a sort of set-up of Nixon, a deliberately botched scheme to bring him down. Ultimately, though, it was the cover-up that brought Nixon down, not the act. The direction by Stone keeps the film, at 3.5 hours, always engaging and energetically paced. His choices for casting are brilliant, and the script is intelligently written and nuanced. The flashbacks and constant changes of camera angles, a hallmark of Stone films, does occasionally get overdone, yet this is done for a purpose, as if to convey Nixon's frantic inner-self, never at ease with his situation, himself, or those around him. Overall, it's a thrilling look at one of the most prominent and interesting political personalities of the 20th century. 4.5/5 Stars
  Jeffrey M Super Reviewer
• Jan 23, 2014

  A middling film. The great Hopkins cannot rise above making Nixon a character. Not everyone can be Frank Langella I suppose.
  

  John B Super Reviewer
• Jan 19, 2014

  Oliver Stone's powerful docudrama Nixon is a fascinating portray of one of the most influential political figures of the 20th century. Set amidst the backdrop of the Watergate Hearings, the film explores the career of Richard Nixon through flashbacks as he struggles to come to terms with his political fall. The writing is especially good, and does an extraordinary job at giving a sense of who Nixon was and how he was changed by the political machine. Stone's directing is also exceptional, especially in how he's able to transition through the nonlinear narrative and progress the tone of the film. Additionally, the casting is outstanding, and includes Anthony Hopkins, James Woods, Joan Allen, Ed Harris, Powers Boothe, and Mary Steenburgen. Hopkins in particular gives a phenomenal performance that really humanizes Richard Nixon and gets beneath the stereotypical caricature that Nixon is often depicted as. A tragic tale of the corrupting power of political ambition, Nixon is incredibly compelling.
  Dann M Super Reviewer
• Dec 31, 2013

  A complex, mesmerizing look at the life and presidential career of the much maligned Richard Nixon (Anthony Hopkins), including his working class upbringing, his devastating loss to Kennedy in his first presidential race, and ultimately how the Watergate scandal destroyed his career and the successes he had while in office. Hopkins is absolutely phenomenal in one of his most subtlety brilliant performances, as his body language, facial expressions, and how he delivers his dialogue fully demonstrate the many insecurities Nixon had about himself and his legacy, as well as his desire to be as loved as Kennedy was. Director Oliver Stone adds his share of controversy to the story, but states in the beginning of the film that this is a dramatic interpretation of the life of Nixon, and in terms of how the film is constructed as a drama and not a historical biography, it accomplishes its job more than well. The acting all around (especially Joan Allen as Pat Nixon) is outstanding, and while the film does lose a little steam near its conclusion, it remains undeniably arresting throughout its entirety.
  

  Dan S Super Reviewer

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