Secret Honor - Criterion Collection

Rating:
Summary: Very mental
Review: Compared to the kind of intellectual history of the 20th century which the last few years have produced, or even compared to the order imposed on ideas in such mammoth books as THE SOCIOLOGY OF PHILOSOPHIES: A GLOBAL THEORY OF INTELLECTUAL CHANGE by Randall Collins, the movie "Secret Honor" offers a picture of a man thinking about a pardon in a legal and political situation that combines bits and pieces of thoughts in agonizing glory. I probably wouldn't be writing this review, except that this videotape is one of the few in my collection which I consider watching all over again whenever I can't quite remember what is on this videotape. The line I have been trying to pinpoint most is, "I'm not saying that two rights don't make a wrong." I had originally heard this as a punch line for a Nixon joke, in which someone told Nixon that Ruby shot Oswald, and Nixon merely said, "Well, um, [muffled clearing of throat], like my mother always said, two rights don't make a wrong." In the joke, it was obvious that Nixon was wrong about what his mother always said, but in the movie, "I'm not saying that two rights don't make a wrong" approaches the complexity of legal argument. This movie is evidence that comedy and law play to the same audience.

Rating:
Summary: A masterful one-man performance
Review: I saw this movie on cable the year it came out. Although I was only 16 at the time and knew almost nothing about Watergate, I was absolutely awe-struck by Philip Baker Hall's riveting portrayal of Richard Nixon. There are no car chases, no love scenes, no special effects -- just one actor relying solely on raw acting talent to tell a complicated story in a way that is so powerful, so multilayered, that it holds your attention for over an hour.

Now that I have a fuller knowledge and understanding of political scandals in general, I'm equally impressed with the alarming depth and accuracy of this movie's "fictional" script writing. The writers obviously had inside knowledge of the plutocratic string pulling that goes on in Washington.

It is puzzling, to say the least, why a movie this good is so hard to come by, especially when one considers how well-known the director is.

Rating:
Summary: "Secret Honor" - best kept secret in Nixon films!
Review: Philip Baker Hall's performance as Richard Milhous Nixon rates as my favorite among Nixon films. His portrayal of Nixon covers all the bases, from quiet obedience to his beloved mother to the snarling, foul mouthed paranoiac we've all come to love (or hate). The film is riveting as Hall's Nixon drags the audience deeper and deeper into his harsh world view and finally brings us to the very edge of his despair. The end will have you laughing, cringing or both. Brings into sharp relief the concept that we are all heroes in our own mind, and it will make you wonder what sort of spirit dwells in the leaders we currently elect if a man this twisted with hate, self loathing and paranoia could be elected president twice. Just an amazing film. Even if you don't subscribe to Hall's portrayal as reality you can't deny that this a talented and powerful performance. This film should be a must have among the "conspiracy" minded.