Frost Nixon Ron Howard used to be Opie. I liked him then. He used to be Richie Cunningham. I liked him then. He used to make fun movies like Splash where I got to see Daryl Hannah all kinds of naked and Cocoon where we got to see Wilford Brimley naked. I liked him then.
At some point he decided he had a political statement to make and that statement was liberal. I don't like that. His support Obama film that drew in Fonz and Andy really sort of pissed me off, first because he degraded Griffith by putting him in that garbage, but primarily because I despise so-called celebrities thinking they have any business telling me or you how you should vote. That video put him in the same clueless category as the Dixie Chicks, Barbara Striesand, Dave Matthews and the other idiot cocksmokers who think the ability to sustain a note gives them some moral advantage. Fuck them. Fuck them all. Every last one. Opie too.
Frost/Nixon was a complex film. Unless you grew up in the time in which Watergate dominated the nation's consciousness, it probably won't resonate. I did and remember paying close attention to everything that went on. For a number of reasons, one of them being Howard's inability to refrain from taking subtle shots at Nixon, the film failed to capture the moment.
For the record I think Nixon was a good president. He was paranoid, perhaps, and shouldn't have gotten involved in trying to hide the Watergate mess but most of what he did as President was positive. By the same token, I'm a huge George Wallace fan. If all you can see of the man is him standing in the school house door, you miss his true essence and overlook the tremendous good he did for the State of Alabama.
So...
Watergate was a truly pivotal time in American history. Watergate changed the role of media drastically. It significantly altered the way the American public viewed not just Nixon, but the entire presidency -- and for that matter politics in general. I've heard it characterized as the moment this country lost its innocence and that's a fair assessment. The patriotism and America-first fervor that had existed through the end of World War II and through the 50s was generally being chipped away by the muddled effort in Korea and then the growing disaster in Vietnam. Nixon provided the opening for that sentiment to become a groundswell.
Had the current media climate existed in the 1940s, we'd all be speaking German and goose-stepping in memory of our dear Fuehrer today. The horrors of a single hour at Iwo Jima or Normandy surpass two years of Iraq. Nixon made it permissible -- expected even -- to criticize, analyze and cry out against the decisions of political leaders.
But back to the movie.
Howard didn't do a very good job of capturing that part of the story. Unless you already knew why the interview was important, unless you already understood how dramatically Watergate altered the American political landscape you weren't going to get much from this movie. In that respect, he left a vast audience behind. Even those who were born after 1975 or so and were interested in the event didn't get a sense of its importance from this film.
Instead Howard spent a lot of time focusing on Frost's efforts to raise money for the interviews, his relationship with Caroline Cushing and the genesis of the interviews. Again, unless you were there, you really don't care. It wasn't compelling enough to keep you there.
I felt his characterization of Nixon as a doofy, dottering old man who apparently had alcoholic blackouts barely rose above caricature. I've also never understood why Hollywood types -- which Howard obviously is -- feel the need to take creative liberties with portions of the story. Why make Caroline Cushing appear as some trollop Frost picked up on a plane when they had actually been dating for a couple of years when the interview happened? If he's going to fuck around with something minor like that why wouldn't he also just fabricate anything else he wanted to make it fit his "vision"?
Also, if you watch the actual interviews and compare them to what Howard filmed, there are differences. Not in Frost's questions, but in Langella as Nixon's answers. Some were markedly different. Others were in the manner of expression. What is the point of doing it if you're just going to make up what was said or alter the way it was presented to subtly change the meaning?
Frank Langella did a decent job of portraying Nixon. The guy playing Frost should stick to playing werewolves.
There was no nudity. About the closest you had was the girl playing Cushing meeting Nixon and not having her shoes on.
Final analysis? The movie just didn't resonate. It didn't with me even though I grew up with Watergate because it missed the focus. It won't with anybody who wasn't a child of the 70s because it fails to convey the significance.
Fuck Ron Howard. Go back to making movies where Daryl Hannah is naked and a fish.
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