I never lived through any of the Nixon fiasco or the Watergate hearings, but I remember growing up in a Irish republican household that saw Nixon as a misguided but overall “good president.” They liked the Catholicism of Kennedy and the foreign policies of Nixon.

Frank Langella plays Nixon after his resignation. Convinced to do a “fluff” interview with David Frost for a substancial amount of money, the movie follows the complexity of charged feelings “good Americans” felt about Nixon.

Nixon is a complex political entity. If we observe among other American presents, he was more liberal than anything but he carried a neurotic hatred of hippies and commies *caugh*.

From a Marxist view he is of course a mass murdering butcher.

So it is difficult to reconcile that with the Frost/Nixon movie which portrays Nixon as a tortured, lonely, win-at-any-cost American.

The movie seems to leave us saying “it wasn’t bad that he killed, it’s that he didn’t kill nice enough.”

Cinematically a good movie. I enjoyed it.