Nixon

Director: Oliver Stone Oliver Stone

Overview

This big-budget, three-hour film chronicles the political life of one our country's most controversial presidents. Although Nixon disgraced himself with his involvement in the Watergate scandals, he was part of some of the latter 20th century's most important events, and this film presents a complex portrait of a complicated man.

Product Details

Release Date:	05/21/2019
UPC:	0738329235413
Original Release:	1995
Rating:	R
Source:	Kl Studio Classics
Region Code:	1
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Stereo, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround]
Language:	English
Time:	3:32:00
Sales rank:	6,386

Special Features

Two Audio Commentaries wiht Director Oliver Stone (Director's Cut); Oliver Stone discusses the film's performances, Style & Script; Oliver Stone discusses the Politics & History of the Era; Audio Commentary by film historian Jim Hemphill (Theatrical Cut); Deleted Scenes Introduced by Oliver Stone; Beyond Nixon Commentary; Charlie Rose Interviews Oliver Stone; Making-Of Featurette; 5.1 Surround and 2.0 Stereo; Theatrical Trailer

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Joan Allen	Pat Nixon
Anthony Hopkins	President Richard M. Nixon
Powers Boothe	Alexander M. Haig
Ed Harris	E. Howard Hunt
Bob Hoskins	J. Edgar Hoover
E.G. Marshall	John N. Mitchell,Spiro Agnew
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
Brian Bedford	Clyde Tolson
Kevin Dunn	Charles Colson
Fyvush Finkel	Murray Chotiner
Annabeth Gish	Julie Nixon
Tony Goldwyn	Harold Nixon
Larry Hagman	`Jack Jones'
Ed Herrmann	Nelson Rockefeller
Madeline Kahn	Martha Mitchell
Saul Rubinek	Herb Klein
Tony Lo Bianco	Johnny Roselli
Corey Carrier	Richard Nixon at 12
Tom Bower	Frank Nixon
David Barry Gray	Richard Nixon at 19
Tony Plana	Manolo Sanchez
Dan Hedaya	Trini Cardoza
John Cunningham	Bob
John C. McGinley	Earl
John Diehl	Gordon Liddy
Robert Beltran	Frank Sturgis
Lenny Vullo	Bernard Barker
Ronald Von Klaussen	James McCord
Kamar De Los Reyes	Eugenio Martinez
Enrique Castillo	Virgilio Gonzales
Victor Rivers	Cuban Plumber
Drew Snyder	Moderator
Sean Stone	Donald Nixon,Edward Nixon,Voice-over during credits [uncredited]
Joshua Preston	Arthur Nixon
Ian Calip	Football Player
Jack Wallace	Football Coach
Julie Condra Douglas	Young Pat Nixon
Annette Helde	Happy Rockefeller
Howard Platt	Lawyer at Party
Mike Kennedy	Convention Announcer
Harry Murphy	Fan No. 1
Suzanne Schnulle Murphy	Fan No. 2
Michael Kaufman	Fan No. 3
Bridgette Wilson	Sandy
Pamela Dickerson	Girlfriend
O'Neal Compton	Texas Man
Chuck Preiffer	Secret Service Agent #2
John Bedford Lloyd	Cuban Man
Christian Renna	Family Doctor,Bethesda Nurse
Michael Chiklis	TV Director
Wilson Cruz	Joaquin
James Pickens	Black Orator
Marley Shelton	Tricia Nixon
James Karen	Bill Rogers
Richard Fancy	Mel Laird
Peter Carlin	Student No. 1
Joanna Going	Young Student
Michelle Krusiec	Student No. 2
Wass Stevens	Protester
Tom Nicoletti	Secret Service Agent No. 1
Chuck Pfeiffer	Secret Service Agent No. 2
Alex Butterfield	White House Staffer
Mark Steins	White House Security
Ric Young	Mao Tse-Tung
Bai Ling	Chinese Interpreter
Peter P. Starson Jr.	Air Force One Steward
Jon Tenney	Reporter No. 1
Julie Araskog	Reporter No. 2
Ray Wills	Reporter No. 3
John Bellucci	Reporter No. 4
Zoey Zimmerman	Reporter No. 5
Mary Rudolph	Rosemary Woods
Clayton Townsend	Floor Manager No. 1
Donna Dixon	Maureen Dean
John Stockwell	Staffer No. 1
Charlie Haugk	Staffer No. 2
Boris Sichkin	Leonid Brezhnev
Fima Noveck	Andre Gromyko
Raissa Danilova	Russian Interpreter
Marilyn Rockafellow	Helen Smith
Bill Bolender	Bethesda Doctor
George Plimpton	President's Lawyer
John Williams	Composer

Technical Credits

Christopher Wilkinson

Stephen J. Rivele

Oliver Stone	Director,Special Effects,Producer
Christer Hokanson	Special Effects
Billy Hopkins	Casting
Peter Kuran	Special Effects
Heidi Levitt	Casting
Chris Loudon	Special Effects
Clayton Townsend	Producer
Andrew G. Vajna	Producer
Mary Vernieu	Casting
Christopher Wilkinson	Screenwriter
Stephen J. Rivele	Screenwriter

Editorial Reviews

Nixon is not a subtle movie, but at least Oliver Stone tries to depict the former president as a tragic character instead of a one-dimensional villain or victim. As the film switches haphazardly between different points in Richard Nixon's life, viewers see that his cold and demanding parents helped shape him into a stiff, socially awkward adult who resented the more charismatic people around him. Feeling unloved and misunderstood, he eventually became undone later in life by his own resentment and paranoia. Anthony Hopkins manages to convey these aspects of Nixon's personality while bringing some pathos to his role, but he's not totally convincing as the former president. He doesn't look like the real-life Richard Nixon and his speaking voice doesn't resemble Nixon's famous unmodulated baritone. Furthermore, he doesn't convey the "stronger" elements of Nixon's personality, such as the craftiness and ambitiousness that enabled him to become a successful politician. Even though this film is ostensibly a character study of Richard Nixon, he often seems like a passive cog in the political machinery. This may be compatible with Stone's belief that the "Beast" (the forces of big business and government that control our lives) is so powerful that even Nixon himself wasn't able to dominate it; however, Stone undermines the credibility of his viewpoint by laying it on too thick and adding too many questionable conspiracy theories (e.g., linking a cabal of Texas millionaires to the JFK assassination). The fact remains that the real-life Richard Nixon was a driven politician who rebounded from several career setbacks to achieve the highest office in the land; this film makes it too easy to forget that he could act decisively and effectively. Indeed, he seems less astute than his wife Pat, who is portrayed as more cagey and articulate than her public persona. Allen's performance is quite good if you accept her interpretation of the role; likewise, James Woods seems fine if you accept that his portrayal of H.R. Halderman seems less imposing than his real-life counterpart. Paul Sorvino does an impression of Henry Kissinger that's both impressive and somewhat creepy, while Bob Hoskins camps it up as J. Edgar Hoover (Stone seems to enjoy drawing attention to Hoover's sexual orientation). Although the actors might not be exact duplicates of the real-life characters they portray, the cast is solid enough to carry much of the film. Unfortunately, Stone's heavy-handed filmmaking style undermines the human elements of his movie. Neither intimate nor tightly paced, Nixon feels like a visual assault with jump cuts, superimposed images, jarring shifts between camera angles and film stocks, and changes between color and black-and-white; borrowing from real-life incidents (e.g., the Lincoln Memorial scene) as well as films such as Citizen Kane (e.g., the scene in which Richard Nixon argues with his wife at the dinner table), Stone tries unsuccessfully to compensate for a disjointed narrative structure with sheer filmmaking bravado. Consequently, the movie seems ham-fisted, which is admittedly not surprising quality for an Oliver Stone film. It is more disappointing in this particular instance, however, since it appears that Stone was attempting to present a more nuanced view of politics.