In today’s world of CNN, microwaves, instant messaging, and the post-“USA Today”-ing of the nation, news has been reduced to 30-second sound bites.  If the public can’t learn about it in less time than it takes to brush your teeth, they don’t want to bother.  So to many people, the concept of six hours of one-on-one interviews between a reporter and an ex-President sounds about as interesting as watching paint dry, and about as useful as a screen door on a submarine.  But in 1977, the David Frost interviews with Richard Nixon (broadcast in four 90-minute installments) were the most watched news program in history.  Frost/Nixon has Peter Morgan adapt his stage play for the big screen, bringing to life not just the interviews themselves but the process of how they came together, how they almost fell apart, and how the outcome was in question until the very end.

Occupying the chairs opposite each other, like boxers ready for a title fight, are David Frost (Michael Sheen) and Richard Nixon (Frank Langella, both having played the same characters in the stage version). Nixon is trying to repair his shattered image after becoming the first sitting U.S. President to resign.  He and his inner circle (such as Kevin Bacon as Col. Jack Brennan) are attempting to use the interviews as a way to “set the record straight,” to highlight his accomplishments, and to position Nixon as a sympathetic character who did what he thought was best for the country.  That, and the hefty $600,000 fee he is being paid, is all the motivation they need.  If things go well, he hopes to leave his near-exile in California and somehow begin a new political career in some capacity.

His opponent, David Frost, is the least likely champion for the people.  Regarded as a successful but vapid and generally talentless talk show host, Frost is dying to find success in the United States again.  His idea for the Nixon interviews originates simply with the publicity; “think of the numbers it will draw.”  Despite a lack of financial backing and resistance from the networks, Frost rolls the dice and arranges the interviews, hoping it will all come together in the end.  He hires two investigators to help him prepare, played by Sam Rockwell and Oliver Platt.  Pretty soon Frost figures out he may have bitten off more than he can chew; advertisers are disappearing and the press looks upon the entire interview as a big joke.  Between the realization that in order to succeed he must deliver a hard, solid, difficult interview, and the warnings of his team (especially Rockwell’s James Reston Jr.) that if handled wrong, the man they consider one of the most corrupt politicians in history could actually become sympathetic, Frost struggles to defy all his critics and, optimally, to get Nixon to admit wrongdoing or apologize to the American people.

Ron Howard does an adequate job of directing, as usual, and sprinkles the film with documentary-style interview clips with the “actual” participants (Rockwell, Platt, and Bacon mainly).  And Peter Morgan’s script helps draw the similarity between Frost and Nixon to the forefront of the battle: both are making an all-or-nothing go at getting back on top and winning the admiration and respect of the public.  The difference seems to be that one of them wants to prove that the critics are wrong, while the other secretly believes that they are right.

Without question, Frank Langella makes the film.  His Nixon appears both lost and razor sharp.  He is the master of all things, but moments later a terribly unhappy and lonely man.  Outside of the politics, he delivers a self-loathing Nixon who has no idea what it feels like to be happy, comfortable, or feel even a moment of ease.  For me, the ultimate Nixon moment of the film is after the final interview session; Nixon and his team walk to their cars, but he stops to admire a dog held by a woman in the crowd.  But when Nixon approaches the friendly dog to pet it, he taps it on the head and gently tugs at one of its ears…the dog would have gladly accepted some love, but Nixon simply didn’t know how to do that naturally. 

All in all, Frost/Nixon is a very good film, and whether you enjoy it on the big screen or at home, it makes the journey back to the 1970’s a worthwhile one.  And, fortunately, you only need two hours this time, not six.