Have any of you seen "Frost/Nixon"? While I
remember seeing the actual series of interviews,
and think this movie is worthy of an Academy
Award, I did have a few problems with it.
Frank Langella nailed Nixon. He doesn't look much
like him, but he captured Nixon's ill-at-ease demeanor
(not as well as the late Lane Smith, but if Langella
doesn't get an Oscar there is no justice). However,
Michael Sheen's David Frost didn't remind me much of
the David Frost I remember from the talk-show days;
the real David Frost was almost too enthusiastic and
so in-your-face that I often wished some guest would
tell him to move back. In the movie, he has to be cajoled
by his staff to get aggressive with Nixon. The real pleasure
is in watching Nixon's cat-and-mouse game as he tries to
keep Frost off balance (and probably avoid having to answer
questions about Watergate). The movie also seems to spend
too much time on Frost and a girlfriend, Caroline Cushing, whom
he met on a plane by simply going up and starting a conversation
with her.
But despite what I perceive are faults, I do recommend this movie,
both for old Watergate junkies (or people who are too young to
remember Watergate), no matter what your opinion of Nixon; and,
since this a TV board, a look at the perils and pitfalls of putting together
a television show.
One thing on but off-topic: I think Frost's syndicated show in the
early '70s had two strikes against it: one, like Dick Cavett he was
perceived as an intellectual (a perception that could be embellished by
the fact that Cavett went to Yale and Frost, to Cambridge); two, he
is English and a radical departure from Johnny Mike, and Merv. In fact,
he had replaced Merv when the latter moved from syndication to CBS
in 1969; when Merv went back into syndication in 1972, he won back
a number of Frost's stations and pretty much sealed Frost's fate;
except for the Nixon interviews, he hasn't really had much impact on
U.S. television since (a couple of short-lived shows, as I recall, but
that's about it).
remember seeing the actual series of interviews,
and think this movie is worthy of an Academy
Award, I did have a few problems with it.
Frank Langella nailed Nixon. He doesn't look much
like him, but he captured Nixon's ill-at-ease demeanor
(not as well as the late Lane Smith, but if Langella
doesn't get an Oscar there is no justice). However,
Michael Sheen's David Frost didn't remind me much of
the David Frost I remember from the talk-show days;
the real David Frost was almost too enthusiastic and
so in-your-face that I often wished some guest would
tell him to move back. In the movie, he has to be cajoled
by his staff to get aggressive with Nixon. The real pleasure
is in watching Nixon's cat-and-mouse game as he tries to
keep Frost off balance (and probably avoid having to answer
questions about Watergate). The movie also seems to spend
too much time on Frost and a girlfriend, Caroline Cushing, whom
he met on a plane by simply going up and starting a conversation
with her.
But despite what I perceive are faults, I do recommend this movie,
both for old Watergate junkies (or people who are too young to
remember Watergate), no matter what your opinion of Nixon; and,
since this a TV board, a look at the perils and pitfalls of putting together
a television show.
One thing on but off-topic: I think Frost's syndicated show in the
early '70s had two strikes against it: one, like Dick Cavett he was
perceived as an intellectual (a perception that could be embellished by
the fact that Cavett went to Yale and Frost, to Cambridge); two, he
is English and a radical departure from Johnny Mike, and Merv. In fact,
he had replaced Merv when the latter moved from syndication to CBS
in 1969; when Merv went back into syndication in 1972, he won back
a number of Frost's stations and pretty much sealed Frost's fate;
except for the Nixon interviews, he hasn't really had much impact on
U.S. television since (a couple of short-lived shows, as I recall, but
that's about it).
