Frost \ Nixon 2008 directed by Ron Howard
by Pat Darnell | Bryan TX
All await reprisal for abuse of faith of our Fathers, I watched Ron's latest miracle work. Ron Howard has my attention almost all the time. Maybe it's because of a barefoot boy throwing stones across a fishing pond; or an anthem that could raise a face to pucker and whistle along.
Questions --
How did one become a suffix? How did Nixon become a suffix "-Gate" for every dysfunction in government? I am proud, it turns out, for Ron Howard never abandoning moral dilemma. The movie is not a "re-enactment."
Writer Peter Morgan's legendary battle between Richard Nixon, the disgraced president with a legacy to save, and David Frost, a jet-setting television personality with a name to make, in the story of the historic encounter that changed both their lives. For three years after being forced from office, Nixon remained silent. But in summer 1977, the steely, cunning former commander-in-chief agreed to sit for one all-inclusive interview to confront the questions of his time in office and the Watergate scandal that ended his presidency. [HERE; IMDb]Ron Howard mentions this in our epilogue. He undoes what was did; and makes us believe. Believe what?
Deconstructed Nixon -- that's what --
"I should have been the visceral interviewer," says Nixon at curtain call, "and you, David, should have been the politician. Do you enjoy those parties you throw every year? It is a rare gift to like other people, and be liked in return. [paraphrased]"
One gets the gist of what turns out a working man duel. If I were the other working man, I would most likely be Nixon, in over my head, social misfit.
Only this time each cannot make a wide arcing detour around snobs. Faceless, nameless, "snobs" who would put it all to their special interests agency's, like trained dogs, out for a piece of flesh. People invented, or, real people -- never mind -- our protagonist thinks they exist, and are due a pound or two of his flesh.
Yes a piece of Nixon, in my humble calculations, would fetch a large sum on eBay today. It has for Ron Howard and crew, no?
Nixon blew the whistle on himself, as it turns out. He had a great deal of nerve, Nixon did. But his personality has him confess his betrayal of self, country and Americans. This is a great case for the unreal solution: "Wow, Dick, if only you had visited the future to see how bad it really is."
For this fortnight Richard Nixon is well-played by actor Frank Langella. There is no over the top comedian stuff going on. It is a broadside of crankiness we will well remember after the credits roll. Michael Sheen as David Frost? Eh. As for the rest -- Eh.
HOW TO MEASURE Happy Days?
Yow-zzzer Yow-zzzer Yow-zzzer says the red head, who was Opie. "Pop," goes the bottled soda; "Oops, darn it" slips the Mouth.
In the end ...
Cheeseburger, cheeseburger.... and the tale ends as a moral; with adjustments for loneliness, swollen faced despair, and haunted eyes. And one feels a million miles away, like a friend says steel on steel rides, only to find we have yet to leave the train station platform.
* F
* D
* C
* B
* A [go see the film; pdaf]
2 comments:
Then I thought I'd talk about the Beatles but half of 'em aren't here. Or the Kennedys but they are mostly irrelevant now. Not Eric Clapton, if he plays any slower we'll have to line him up with a lamp post to see if he's moving. Nor Russia, I don't thinks it's there anymore. Had to really strain to think of somebody to talk about, you being from the South and all,a little cerebrally challenged. Somebody will come to mind.
Ah, the old challenged Cerebral ticket, eh? hmmmmm...
Post a Comment