Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Was RN "Forced Out?" Ask Mark Felt

An intriguing UPI interview with director Ron Howard. Reading Peter Morgan's play "Frost/Nixon" and then seeing it on stage, he began to ask himself some good scholar's questions about RN:
"I was rediscovering (the interviews by) watching the play, sort of realizing how brilliant a man Nixon really is," the filmmaker said. "Realizing he had a lot of tough decisions to make. ... (Going through in my mind:) 'Did he step down because it was the politically expedient thing to do? Was he forced out by political enemies -- the media. What really went on?'"

2 comments:

cantankerousconservative said...

The reason I refuse to see "F/N" is beacuse (I have read) there is a comment at the end of the film to the effect that Mr. Nixon never recovered, was never taken seriously as an elder statesman, etc. Nothing could be farther from the truth! As to whether he was "forced out," Victor Lasky's "It Didn't Start With Watergate" answers that question, and it's a sure bet Ronny Howard will never make a movie of it.

Fr. John said...

A fair comment indeed. The closing panel definitely underrated RN's post-Presidential accomplishments and influence.