Nixon (Film)

• 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 N. Mitchell
• David Paymer: Ron Ziegler
• David Hyde Pierce: John Dean
• Paul Sorvino: Henry Kissinger
• Mary Steenburgen: Hannah Nixon
• James Patrick Walsh: John Ehrlichman
• James Woods: H.R. Haldeman
• Edward Herrmann: Nelson Rockefeller
• Fyvush Finkel: Murray Chotiner
• Annabeth Gish: Julie Nixon Eisenhower
• John C. McGinley: Earl in the training film

Nixon is an American biographical film of 1995 directed by Oliver Stone.

The film tells in non- chronological order, the story of the 37th President of the United States, Richard Nixon. The focus is on the period from 1960 - Nixon's defeat in the presidential election against John F. Kennedy - until his resignation in 1974.

Action

1972: A group of men preparing to break into the headquarters of the Democratic Party before. The burglars are surprised and arrested, an event that as the beginning of the Watergate scandal gained notoriety later. The next scene shows the inebriated Nixon shortly before his resignation in 1974, which can bring tape recordings of conversations from the White House from his chief of staff Alexander Haig to listen to this incriminating evidence, and delete where appropriate.

In the following, not chronologically arranged flashbacks we see stations from Nixon's political career, including his campaign against Alger Hiss in the late 1940s, the lost candidacies for the office of President in 1960 and the governorship of California in 1962 and his civil unrest and the Vietnam War overshadowed presidency of 1969 until 1974. recaps Next to see the poverty of its strictly religious nature childhood in Southern California. Only the death of two brothers by tuberculosis makes it possible the family to raise the money for Nixon's law degree.

The film portrays Nixon as a by popularity courting, but rejected even in the highest office sentient man who can not resolve also the contradiction between his sometimes ruthless approach and its shaped by the parents strict morality. In addition, he feels inferior in comparison with his role model Abraham Lincoln and his former rival Kennedy. In the late years of his presidency he falls into a growing bitterness and paranoia, due to which he can make out, among other recordings of White House conversations. When the compounds of the White House to the Watergate scandal become public, Nixon sacrifices his closest confidants, including Haig's predecessor Bob Haldeman.

Towards the end of the film returns to Nixon's control of the documents furnished by Haig tapes. As an impeachment threat, Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and Haig advise him to resign, which he finally agrees. The film ends with his farewell speech to his employees and excerpts from the funeral to his funeral in 1994.

Background

Nixon was premiered on 20 December 1995 in the U.S. and on 22 February 1996 in the Federal Republic of Germany. The film was shown in a 192 minutes long version in theaters and later appeared in the U.S. as 212 minutes long Director's Cut on DVD and Blu -ray.

Reception

" Nixon " is a bold biography rich in imagination and originality, with a provocative, often subversive sense of personality and history. [ ... ] Gets Stones attitude Toward the end, something of a swindle. After all detected offenses and expletives, the director seems to say that Nixon was a man like any other - partly good and partly bad. So he does what make all the sons symbolically with their fathers: he supports him cope. [ ... ] But is Nixon ' without question everything in the shade, since what, the American cinema Schindler's List ' had to offer. "

" Subtlety can be an overrated virtue. You have to Stone credit for being no loophole holds, with which one could refer to a later misinterpretation. But his heavy-weight symbolism is laughable. [ ... ] Hopkins' exaggerated portrayal of Nixon is at the heart of a film that constantly turns in its conception and presentation in the camp. "

" Historical events serve more underpinning a tragedy of Shakespearean proportions as a brightening to the present day continue acting deformation of policy understanding and confidence in the United States. An interesting visual aspects and formal full effect, in its primary psychological point of view, however, questionable movie. "

" Enthralling and differentiated character study. "

Awards

Nixon was in 1996, among others for four Oscars ( Best Actor Anthony Hopkins, Best Supporting Actress Joan Allen, Best Music and Best Screenplay ) and a British Academy Film Award nominations, but walked away empty-handed. Actress Joan Allen has received awards from the " National Society of Film Critics " and the " Boston Society of Film Critics ", the " Kansas City Film Critics Circle " and the " Los Angeles Film Critics Association ." Allen Stone and director each received an award from the " Chicago Film Critics Association ," Starring Ed Harris of the " Broadcast Film Critics Association ". The "Political Film Society " Nixon honored in their category "Exposé" for " movies that raise public awareness of previously hidden truths about political processes attentive ".