Into the Blu

Nixon

Posted on 21. Sep, 2008 by Jamie Shuhyta in 1080p, 2.40:1, AVC MPEG-4, Director's Cut, Disney / Buena Vista, Dolby Digital 5.1 (English), Drama, PCM 5.1 (English), Reviews

“I am not a crook” said President Nixon as he vigorously defended his record in the Watergate case. This famous line would forever stain the president’s career and personal life. It’s hard to believe Watergate happened so many years ago, yet it still brings the controversy of all other legendary US cover-ups. Today I will review the film Nixon as presented for the first time on Blu-ray.

Nixon is a 1995 film directed by Oliver Stone for Cinergi Pictures that tells the story of the political and personal life of former President Richard Nixon, played by Anthony Hopkins. The film portrays Nixon as a complex and, in many respects, an admirable person, though deeply flawed. Unlike Stone’s earlier film JFK, Nixon begins with a disclaimer that the film is “an attempt to understand the truth [...] based on numerous public sources and on an incomplete historical record.” The studio did not like Stone’s choice to play Nixon - Hopkins. They wanted Tom Hanks or Jack Nicholson - two of Stone’s original choices. The director briefly considered Gene Hackman, Robin Williams and Tommy Lee Jones. Stone met with Warren Beatty but the actor wanted to make too many changes to the script.^[1] Stone cast Hopkins based on his performances in The Remains of the Day and Shadowlands.

The film covers all aspects of Nixon’s life as a composite of actual events. It depicts his childhood in Whittier, California, as well as his growth as a young man, football fan and player, and suitor to his eventual wife, Pat Ryan. It fully explores most of the important events of his presidency, including his downfall due to abuse of executive power in the White House.

Nixon’s alcohol dependence, as well as that of his wife, is fully implied in the film, as is the medication addiction he faced during his remaining years in office (Nixon’s health problems, including his bout of phlebitis and pneumonia during the Watergate crisis, are also shown in the film, and his various medicaments are sometimes attributed to these health issues).

The film ends with Nixon’s resignation and famous departure from the lawn of the White House on the helicopter, Army One. Real life footage of Nixon’s state funeral in Yorba Linda, California, plays out over the extended end credits, and all living presidents at the time, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton, are shown in attendance.

I actually enjoyed this film and had never truly seen it till now. The casting is really really great, I mean Hopkins not only looks exactly like Nixon but his portrayal is amazing. Oliver Stone delivers the ‘truth’ as only he can, and directs at the helm as only he can. There is a ton of attention to detail and as such the film plays out excellently as an accurate depiction of history and the man, Nixon. Defiantly check this movie out if you haven’t yet to date. 

Video

Video is provided via a 1080p/AVC MPEG-4 transfer, the aspect is the original theatrical version of 2.40:1. The transfer is very strong for a 1995 film presentation on Blu-ray. Sometimes older films lose that ‘high-def’ punch that new films have, Nixon is not one of them I’m happy to say. Even the shots of actual black and white footage on old school 35mm, 16mm, 8mm, don’t look bad at all. There is no visible ‘dirt’ on the transfer which does provide a clean viewing experience. Again this is pretty important simply because of the age of some of the source material. Other highlights include the brightness and contrasts, which are fairly good and constant throughout 212 minute film, yeah it’s pretty long so be prepared to sit for a while.

Audio

The audio track comes via two English choices, either a standard Dolby Digital 5.1, or if you prefer and can support it, an uncompressed PCM 5.1 track. There are a couple of subtitle choices as well, these include: English, French and Spanish. Overall the audio is very good, it’s clean and crisp and it needs to be as most of the movie is dialog. Obviously it’s expected to be a very ‘talky’ type of film, so don’t expect your sub to get much of a workout. There are a few Vietnam War scenes though that do provide some much needed lows, but for the most part it’s the center channel job on this flick. The musical score of the movie is also quite good and provides some nice surround experiences via the 5.1 mix.

Special Features

Specials are a mix of standard and high def, which was nice considering the age of them. You’ll find the commentaries Disc 1 and all other features on Disc 2. Overall the features are quite deep and provide a lot of additional history to the film.

• Audio Commentaries - Oliver Stone talks, and well talks, and hell even talks some more about his movie. It’s ok but nothing all that great mostly because it feels very unorganized and impromptu.

• Deleted Scenes - These are in standard def which kinda sucks, but because this is the director’s cut many of them are actually in the film anyways so nothing is really lost or gained. Altogether there are 11 scenes in this section, but only 5 are really deleted.

• Beyond Nixon - This is presented in high-def, always the best way, and features a look at comparing the film to actually history; overall I found it quite interesting.

• Charlie Rose Interview - Standard def on this one, Stone talks about how his film digs for the truth, the real truth as he says.

• Theatrical Trailer - SD trailer presentation.

Final Thoughts

Oliver Stone has always been known for bring us some great political controversy via the film medium, be it JFK, or here, Nixon. Overall the film is pretty entertaining and does provide some history to boot, can’t argue that. The Blu presentation is fairly strong, while not reference material, it still does look and sounds great for a film that is almost 15 years old. If you don’t own it, or if you owe it on DVD I’d recommend buying it on Blu-ray, especially since you can often find it online for just a little over 20 bucks.