Nixon

DVD Features:

Audio:

• Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound - English
• Subtitles - French, Spanish - Optional

Additional Release Material:

• Bonus Shorts - 35-minute Documentary on Nixon by Sean Stone

Product Description:

Using a nonchronological narrative style à la CITIZEN KANE (from which he quotes), director Oliver Stone explores former president Richard Nixon's strict Quaker upbringing, his nascent political strivings in law school, and his strangely self-effacing courtship of his wife, Pat (played by Joan Allen). The contradictions in his character are revealed early, in the vicious campaign against Helen Gahagan Douglas and the oddly masochistic Checkers speech. His defeat at the hands of the hated and envied John F. Kennedy in the 1960 presidential election, followed by the loss of the 1962 California gubernatorial race, seem to signal the end of his career. Yet, although wholly lacking in charisma, Nixon remains a brilliant political operator,
seizing the opportunity provided by the backlash against the antiwar movement
to take the presidency in 1968. It is only when safely in office, running far ahead in the polls for the 1972 presidential election, that his growing paranoia comes to full flower, triggering the Watergate scandal.

Surprisingly, Stone evinces considerable compassion as he gives us a Nixon of tragic stature and nearly Shakespearean dimension in this powerfully moving film. The star-studded cast, including Ed Harris and James Woods, complements Hopkins's extraordinary performance.

Plot Keywords:

1960s | Biography | Character Study | Drama | History | Politics | Scams And Cons | Theatrical Release | True Story

Production Notes:

• Theatrical release: December 20, 1995
• The film grossed $13.7 million domestically.
• The film includes color, black and white, 35mm, and Super-8 film.
• The Los Angeles Film Critics Association and the Boston Society of Film Critics each voted Joan Allen best supporting actress of 1995. The Los Angeles Film Critics Association also voted Anthony Hopkins runner-up for its best actor award.
• The video releases include five scenes (lasting about 20 minutes total) that were not included in the finished film. They have been added after the film's credits. One of the sequences features Sam Waterston as former CIA director Richard Helms. Helms himself had threatened the filmmakers with a libel suit if it appeared in the movie.
• A companion book, edited by Eric Hamburg, was released and includes the film's screenplay, transcripts from the Watergate tapes, and commentary. The script contains footnotes revealing historical sources used by Oliver Stone.
• Former Nixon aides John Dean and Alexander Butterfield were technical advisers.
• NIXON was the last film for costume designer Richard Hornung, who died of AIDS December 30, 1995, at the age of 45.
• The White House sets in NIXON were also used in two other films produced in 1995; Rob Reiner's THE AMERICAN PRESIDENT and Mel Brooks' DRACULA: DEAD AND LOVING IT.
• Director Oliver Stone's original choice for the role of Richard Nixon was Tom Hanks.

Cast and Crew: