"I gave them a sword, and they stuck it in, and they twisted it with relish." - Richard Nixon to David Frost

Rating: 8/10 (10 February 2019)

I was never compelled to see this movie when it first came out. If you lived through the Watergate era, the newspaper and TV coverage was ubiquitous and you couldn't get away from it. So not only did a rehash of the events seem unnecessary for me some three decades later, but I was never even tempted to tune in to the original interviews themselves. But now I am. The film was an interesting chronicle of events and decisions made to bring the disgraced former President into a formal setting and get his perspective on the Watergate break-in and subsequent cover up of those actions. The most surprising aspect of the picture was the way in which it humanized Richard Nixon by virtue of those first two interviews. Nixon's rambling personal recollections in the preliminary program, and the confidence he expressed for his Cambodian strategy in the second interview went a long way to balance out one's preconceived notions that he might have been the devil incarnate. Had David Frost (Michael Sheen) not done his homework coming out of the second show, he might never have 'gotten the goods' on Nixon in a way to demonstrate the President's vulnerability and personal torment for his role in the cover up. As good as narrative was though, I was distracted somewhat by the actors portraying Frost and Nixon. Perhaps it's my personal recall, but Michael Sheen looked a bit too young in the role of Frost, and Frank Langella seemed to me to be a little too old as Nixon, at least from my memory of those two figures in the Seventies. But not to worry, those misgivings will gain clarity just as soon as I get a look at the actual interviews themselves.