Nixon gets Frosty

In Theaters Friday: Coraline, Fanboys, He’s Just Not That Into You, Pink Panther 2

New on DVD and BLU-RAY: Bottle Shock, Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist, The Secret Life of Bees

If you didn’t catch all the commercials during Sunday night’s Super Bowl, you may have missed teasers for two of this summer’s biggest tent pole features: G. I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. Other than the modern trend of snazzy subheads on these movie titles, Summer 2009 is going to feel like the 1980s again.

David vs. Goliath. Hamilton vs. Burr. Ali. vs. Frazier. NASA vs. Whatever the Soviets called their space program. In the annals of great showdowns, the David Frost and Richard Nixon interview has been glossed over almost completely. That is, until now. Ron Howard’s new film Frost/Nixon is his best tale since Apollo 13, and a worthy player on the field of modern political dramas (not to mention a fun double-bill evening when shown after All the President’s Men).

Howard sets up the film like an intellectual and emotional boxing match. In one corner is Frost, a celebrity talk show host known for his charm when interviewing actors and rock stars, not his fortitude in a political crossfire. In the other corner is the recently resigned President Nixon, a paramount figure all the more defensive and bullish in his wounded state of political exile. Imagine Ryan Seacrest quizzing Bill Clinton about the Lewinsky scandal, Whitewater and China-gate. He would be out of his league.

But both Frost and Nixon go into the interviews—2-hour sessions spread out over a period of days—with their backs against the wall. After agreeing to pay Nixon $600,000 for his time and being denied by every American television network, Frost puts his entire career and bank account on the line with this independently produced program. After decamping to California and spending a year trading presidential anecdotes for speaking fees, Nixon sees this—his first post-office interview—as Watergate damage control, a way to save his legacy and to increase interest in his upcoming memoir.

Frank Langella and Michael Sheen reprise their critically acclaimed roles of Nixon and Frost from the stage play written by Peter Morgan, who penned the Oscar-earning pictures The Queen and The Last King of Scotland. Langella in particular catches the timber and quirk of the shamed president. His Nixon is a complex one, both villainous and deluded, but also passionate and, at times, brutally honest and funny. Sheen makes Frost a likable playboy who’s in over his head and knows it, but also has a deep desire to make something of himself, to achieve and prove all who deride him wrong. He shares this characteristic with Nixon, and this connection blossoms in a speech by Langella, when his Nixon, tipsy and tired, calls Frost before their final interview for one more round of intimidation.

Like Rocky, Frost also has his “Micky.” Three actually. Matthew Macfadyen is Frost’s TV producer who frets over the bottom line and his friend’s career and nerves. Oliver Platt is a journalist and Frost researcher who just hopes the interviews are good enough so he won’t lose credibility in the beltway. Last is another researcher played by Sam Rockwell. Rockwell represents the frustrations of the audience as a professor and author who wants to nail Nixon to the wall by making this interview the trial he never had (President Ford pardoned Nixon shortly after taking office). These four make a dynamic team as they train Frost for the showdown. And what a showdown it is. The program was a worldwide ratings smash in syndication. It turned Frost’s flailing career around, and it offered the best, last words Nixon ever spoke about Watergate.

This is the story behind one of the most important political interviews in U.S. history, and Howard and the cast paint a detailed portrait of the unease and the angst the country faced in 1997. To see clips from the real interviews, click here.